People who read literature also have an edge when it comes to interpersonal skills. Aside from the fact that reading will give you something to talk about in conversations with other people, studies have shown that people who read have more emotional intelligence than those who don’t.
How to Become a SMARTER Person: 18 Habits to Be More Intelligent
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Many people are under the general misconception that intelligence is a fixed value that’s set when they are young, and that it has no chance of changing as they grow older.
Research shows that improving our intelligence is possible at any age. The things we do and our outlook in life, such as possessing a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset, can contribute greatly to improving our cognitive abilities.
There are simple habits that you can apply in your daily life that can help make you smarter. In today’s post, we feature 18 habits that are guaranteed to make you smarter.
Be consistent about your study time
Many students share with me that their mindset toward studying is that they’ll “study hard”. This might sound good, but it actually means that they don’t have a specific objective or plan.
They’re interested in attaining success at school and getting good grades, but they’re not clear about what positive actions they’re going to take in particular.
For each study session, set a clear objective as to what you intend to achieve. This might be to read through a set of notes thoroughly or complete 30 multiple-choice questions.
Writing
Writing is an essential part of scholarship. Some great scholars have been terrible writers—the strength of their ideas carried them to the top even though their writing style was abysmal. But these are the exceptions. Clarity and precision of expression can only help you as a scholar. Every writer needs to have read Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. To this Super Scholar would add two very practical books on writing: William Zinsser’s On Writing Well and William Stott’s Write to the Point. Finally, every writer, professional or not, would profit enormously from having a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style. The latter is an incomparable reference work on all aspects of going from thought to word to printed page.
Writing isn’t just about filling up a pages with text. It’s also about persuasion. Scholars are not just in the business of thinking up great ideas. They also have to sell them. Indeed, you are selling yourself and your ideas when you apply to college, graduate school, your first teaching position, and especially when you’re trying to get tenure. For this reason critical thinking and rhetorical skills are indispensable to the scholar’s craft. A great book on rhetoric is Edward Corbett’s Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Besides dealing with the basics of rhetoric, it is filled with very helpful advice for the budding writer. Especially useful is Corbett’s suggestion that if you really want to improve your writing, take some great writer and copy a one or several paragraphs by him/her that particularly strike you and do it over and over again BY HAND. Don’t just type them out but write them out in cursive. That way the writer’s style seeps into your very being.
Another useful book on formulating persuasive arguments in your writing is Nancey Murphy’s Reasoning and Rhetoric in Religion. Don’t let the title fool you. Although the book draws many of its examples from philosophy and religion, the lessons on argumentation that it lays out are universal in scope. Also useful here would be a good book on critical thinking of the sort taught in a first or second year college philosophy course. Gary Jason’s Critical Thinking: Developing an Effective Worldview is quite good but overpriced.
Ask Whys When Encountering Problems
Technology does wonders for the modern world, but in some ways, technological dependence stunts the brain’s capacity for problem solving, adapting to new environments, and being a reliable resource for practical things like simple mathematics and navigation.
Finger-painting in preschool was not only a fun activity; it helped open up the mind to new possibilities and ways of solving problems. An artistic mindset creates new opportunities to find new solutions, fresh inspiration, and peaceful confidence.
The blend of these elements in both personal and professional environments allows ordinary people to shine by becoming an innovative thinker and inventive leader. Find ways to incorporate creativity into the dull grind of daily tasks.
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References:
https://www.developgoodhabits.com/become-smarter/
https://www.daniel-wong.com/2018/01/30/be-successful-in-school/
https://superscholar.org/features/7-skills-become-super-smart/
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/you-these-20-things-every-day-youll-become-smarter.html
http://getbettergradesnow.com/