How To Become a Little Bit Smarter Every Day Effortlessly
Strategies I’ve been implementing in my daily life to grow.
“I want to be smart. I want to understand how the market works. I want to have an opinion on politics. I want to understand how to create a product that sells. I want to learn how to write, edit and publish a novel.
I want to learn how to manage my emotions in a way that enhances my life and doesn’t hinder me. I want to learn how the body works and how I can prolong my life and be as healthy as possible.
I want to change every self-limiting belief I’ve ever set about myself and become the intellectual person I know I’m capable of becoming.” — Me.
This is the conversation I had with my partner a few weeks ago as we were walking home from a coffee shop. I was sipping on cold brew, feeling immensely relieved that I finally spilled my guts to someone.
I’ve never had an interest in self-learning before, I’d listen to educational podcasts, but unless it benefited me in that very moment, it would go in one ear and out the other.
I didn’t care to listen when my partner would talk about the stock market because it didn’t affect me, I didn’t care about learning how to control my emotions, and well — basically, I didn’t care to actually learn anything.
Partially because I’ve never been good at school or academia, which led me to believe that if I’m not good at basic math, then who am I to learn about stocks or investing?
However, as time has been going by, and as I’ve been diving more into entrepreneurship and creating my own business, I’ve realized that… learning is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself.
When you’re the smartest or at least one of the smartest individuals in a room, you’ve got the upper hand on everyone.
There’s a reason I’m attracted to my partner; he’s one of the most intelligent human beings I know. My friends often call him the human version of Google.
So with that being said, I decided that I want to go on a journey of reprogramming myself. Every single day for the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to do something to make myself a little bit smarter in all areas of life. Even things that don’t always interest me.
Here are a few resources and strategies I’ve been utilizing or am planning on using.
#1. Podcasts.
Podcasts are one of the easiest tools you can utilize to brush up on any area of your life.
I listen to podcasts while I’m working out, when I’m showering, when I’m cooking, and especially when I’m walking or driving.
I used to hate listening to them because my naive self would say, what are they really going to tell me that I don’t already know? Or, why should I listen to them? What they’re saying isn’t relevant to where I’m at in life.
This egotistical way of thinking held me back in so many ways. In an article on Emarketer, Senior Analyst James Belcher says,
“Many of the top podcasts are in the educational and business genres, so it’s not surprising that podcasts today appeal to the more educated and higher-income consumer segments.”
There’s a reason why successful people are the way that they are; it’s not only because they work hard and stay focused on their goals, but it’s because they also invest time into learning from people who have already done what they’re trying to do.
Instead of always listening to podcasts that would benefit me at the moment, or entertaining podcasts like Crime Junkie, an old favorite of mine, I’ve switched up my genres drastically.
A few go-to’s of mine are The Skinny Confidential, where I learn a ton of information on blogging as well as how to be my best and most healthy self.
As well as Andy Frisella, who talks a lot about business, politics and how to build discipline within yourself to reach your goals.
#2. Read the right self-help books and avoid the self-gurus that don’t provide you with true value.
There are pretty fluffy self-help books out there, the kind that tell you that you can become a millionaire if you just ask the universe and have the ‘right’ mindset.
I try to avoid those; I also try to avoid self-help gurus that tell you you’re capable of achieving anything in life when the cold, hard truth is that not everybody can achieve success because not everybody has the discipline or ability to do so.
For example, one of my best friends wants to become a millionaire vlogger who gets sponsorships from Nike and REI. She’s been talking about this for years, and yet she hasn’t recorded any videos or even tried to learn anything about vlogging.
My point is, there are people out there who will tell you that you can achieve anything and everything, but they forget to tell you the most important part:
In order to achieve anything and everything, you actually have to work really freaking hard for it.
The people who buy into this spend the rest of their life dreaming and not actually doing.
I’ve started cherry-picking who I read to ensure they’re not trying to feed me BS.
You have to pick books that challenge your way of thinking, that make you see new and different perspectives, and help you understand how real life actually works. These types of writers never fail to inspire you to shoot high, but also to remember that it’s going to take a lot of time and effort.
A few favorite authors of mine currently: Ryan Holiday, Nassim Taleb, James Clear, Ayodeji Awosika, Napoleon Hill, Eckhart Tolle, Paulo Coelho, Robert Greene, Stephen Covey, etc.
#3. Get uncomfortable.
I am not comfortable learning or asking about things I have little knowledge of.
It’s taking me forever to understand how the stock market works, but the only way I’m gaining any understanding about these things is because I take myself out of my comfort zone and ask 37,000 questions.
I watched videos, listened to a podcast on The Skinny Confidential that went into detail about stocks and investments, and then I asked my partner a dozen additional questions.
Creating a blog has been one of the most challenging things I’ve done; I have little to no patience when things don’t upload properly, or the font I want isn’t looking right, but in those moments of agitation where I’m frantically searching for how-to videos, I learn and gain a better understanding of how things work.
Learning new things will make you uncomfortable, but growth is not meant to be easy or comfy.
#4. Surround yourself with intellectual individuals.
When you hang out with your friends, do you learn from them, or do they learn from you?
I have two very close friends that are polar opposites of one another. One is the individual I mentioned earlier, who has been wanting something forever but hasn’t done anything to achieve it.
I don’t learn much from her; she’s usually the one asking me questions and advice, which is fine, but if you spend the bulk of your time with people who you can’t learn anything from, then how does that benefit you?
My second friend is a program manager at a tech firm, she clawed her way to the top and worked very hard for her achievements, and while we both have very different roles, I can still learn things from her, and she can learn things from me.
My point is if you want to grow intellectually, then surround yourself with people who are on the same wavelength as you and are also on a similar journey.
This doesn’t mean swapping your existing friends for smart ones; this means being more intentional about who you do spend your time with. Find the people who consistently raise the bar and push you to set bigger and better expectations of yourself.
#5. Pick up new hobbies and activities that challenge you.
People who exercise regularly have higher IQ scores and are more productive than their sedentary counterparts.
Whether you’re an athlete, an avid gym-goer, a yogi, etc., taking time out of your everyday life to do some form of physical activity can do great things for your brain because it releases ‘feel-good chemicals’ such as dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins which all lead to less stress, sharper focus, and more energy.
Recently, I’ve picked up two new hobbies. One is learning a new language.
People who speak more than one language have improved memory, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, enhanced concentration, ability to multitask, and better listening skills.
The second hobby is hot yoga. I go once a week, and it’s been life-changing. According to Healthline, hot yoga reduces stress, eases depression, and provides a cardiovascular boost.
In my experience, hot yoga has forced me to be more disciplined, it’s taught me to relax my body and chattering thoughts, it’s helped my body significantly, and it allows me to have more energy throughout the week.
Another hobby I’m hoping to pick up is graphic design, but that’s for later. It’s important to set future aspiration goals — keeps life more exciting.
These are a few things I’m trying to do on a consistent basis to grow and evolve.
If you’re not learning, you’re not growing, and if you aren’t growing, you’re plateauing which, I don’t know about you but I never want to be doing that which is why I’m putting in the necessary effort to learn.
Ask yourself what you’ve always been interested in but have been scared to try out. You’d be surprised by your own answers.