How to get smarter every day

How to get smarter every dayHow to get smarter every dayIntelligence is a work in progress. Everything a smart person knows, they learned from somewhere at one point or another. Getting smarter doesnt necessarily mean a huge commitment of time and energy every day.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIf you can consistently train your brain to adapt to new situations and information?- ?you will get smarter with time.Work on your personal prioritiesIn five minutes, you could decide what to do next week. Track what have you learned so far to avoid getting complacent and help learn new things.Planning in a few fun anchor events gives you something to look forward to. Make a list of things you want to learn in the upcoming days.Dont over-plan and under-act though. A decision alone changes nothing. Action is the greatest giftstoff that only you can give to yourself, so get started.Reading is insanely essentialOpinions vary on whats the best brain-boosting reading material, with suggestions ranging from developing a daily reading habit to picking up a variety of fiction and nonfiction books.I have recommended a few books in the pastherehere, andhere.Charlie Munger once said, I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of youEmbrace life longlearningUse theFeynman Techniqueto make sure you understand things. This is perhaps the single most effective studying tool that you can use to focus.Learning is best when you connect it to things that youve already learned. The more you know the more you can connect.Dont stop looking for answers. If something doesnt make sense to you, look for ways to expand your knowledge so that you do understand it.S ubscribe to insightful newslettersA smarter you is just a few newsletters away.Barking Up The Wrong Tree,Farnam street,Brain Pickings, andThe Longreadsare a few newsletters you should subscribe to.These newsletters share ideas on how to be awesome at life.It pays to have a knowledge source from where you can learn something new daily. Use Pocket to save insightful pieces you come across for later reading. Before going to sleep at night try to finish those.Give yourself something topursueDo something. Create something of value. Share your works. Start a passion project. You will learn more in the process even if you failure. You will be a better person than you were before you gave it a shot.No matter what you do create value.Every online break doesnt have to be about checking social feeds. Replace hours of social browsing with something more mentally nourishing activities.Challenge yourself to do something original.Start reflecting inwritingWrite down what you learn. It doesnt have to be pretty or long, but taking a few minutes each day to reflect in writing about what you learned is sure to boost your brainpower.Write a few hundred words a day on things that you learned. Always take notes. Records brilliant thoughts you get through the day for later use. Be willing to try new things?- ?even if they dont seem immediately useful or productive.You never know what will be useful ahead of time. You just need to try new things and wait to see how they connect with the rest of your experiences later on.Share what youlearnOne of the best ways to learn something is to teach it. If you really want to learn something, find a way to teach it to others.Share your thoughts with others via a blog, podcast or vlog. Answer a question on Quora. Teach what you know on Udemy.Explain what you learn. It might help others and it will definitely help you, just for the sake of learning.The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thi nks, says Mortimer AdlerWhen you share, you remember better. It challenges your understanding and forces you to think.Publish what you learn. It will help you organize your thoughts.Take time to sit insilenceTake purposeful breaks. Giving yourself space for your brain to process what its learned.A growing body of evidence shows that taking regular breaks from mental tasks improves creativity and that skipping breaks can lead to stress, exhaustion, and creative block.Idleness is not a vice, it is indispensable for making those unexpected connections in the brain you crave and necessary to getting creative work done.Spend some time tothinkThere is one activity that will have a tremendously beneficial impact on your results thinking.Unless you schedule a time to think, to really do nothing else but think, you wont do it.Dont just read for other peoples opinions, read for facts and then think. This requires time and effort. Youll have to learn how to focus.That space needs to be free fr om distractions. Your mind is a novelty-seeking device. It evolved to pay attention to things that are new and interesting.Evaluate your ideas. Ponder them. Thinking is asking yourself questions about ideas.AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, for instance, makes his executives spend 10 percent of their day, or four hours per week, just thinking. Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, schedules two hours of uninterrupted thinking time per day.Increase mental intensityDeveloping mental strength is a work in progress. Mental strength requires that you continue building new neural pathways by learning new things.Mental strength involves more than just willpower it requires hard work and commitment.Force yourself to use your brain more.The more regularly you pick up a new skill, or study a new subject, the stronger your mind becomes. Try to pick up one new thing every week, then continue working on it as you learn new things.Focus, strategy, logic, and creativity are just a few of the mental muscles you shoul d be exercising more regularly.Cultivate self-awarenessAwareness is a powerful tool.The power of being self-aware is that it helps you become conscious of your own habits and decide if you need to change them.Self-awareness keeps you in touch with your emotions and the underlying feelings that influence your actions and thoughts.Self-awareness is a tremendous tool for helping us understand ourselves and be at peace with who we are. It leads to self-confidence by building on the knowledge of who you are.Create a daily habit of self-reflection.Observe your mind when you are immersed in emotion.Compete withyourselfGet one percent better every day. Focus on tiny consistent improvements every day.Learn to beat your expectations of yourself. You will learn how to handle your limits and challenges in the process.If everything is too good, youre probably stuck not being awesome.Calvin Coolidge says All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually withou t effort, and effort means work.If you want long-term success, stop avoiding whats hard.Stay hungryBefore yougoIf you enjoyed this post, you will lovePostanly Weekly(my free digest of the best productivity and self-improvement posts).Subscribeand get a free copy of my new eBook, The Power of One Percent Better Small Gains, Maximum Results.Join over 24,000 people who are on a mission to build a better life.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people