Whether you’re trying to survive an intensive college schedule or
just want to seem smarter in front of your friends, you can do a lot of
things to both look and be smarter. Here are ten simple tricks for
boosting your real (and perceived) brain power.
Obviously,
one of the best ways to boost your intelligence is to read more! You
can read faster (and thus consume more knowledge) by getting your speech
mechanism out of the equation. So give your mouth something to do, like
eating, humming, or chewing gum to get through that stuff quickly.
Then, take some time to absorb and reflect on what you read to keep it
in your memory. Whether it’s War and Peace or just the Wikipedia Random button, you’ll be surprised by how much more you learn when you’re reading not just fast, but well. Photo by Zitona.
The
more you can contribute to a conversation, a meeting, or other
discourse, the smarter you’ll come off. Even if it means admitting
ignorance or asking questions, you’ll still look better than if you stay
silent—and you might actually learn something in the process.
Expressive speech is key: you can boost your credibility a lot by simply
making sure you speak with an engaging tone. Change your pitch and
volume as necessary, and try to minimize the number of pauses as you
speak. A little confidence goes a long way. Photo by MagneticNorth.
When
someone’s trying to convince you of something, they can often resort to
logical fallacies, appeals to your emotion, and other “workarounds”.
Learn the most common forms of BS so you can detect them as they come
up. By knowing what they are, you’ll also be able to avoid dishing out
those same fallacies yourself, which can be a big hit to your
credibility if someone catches you. Image remixed from Evan Vucci (AP) and Pablo Martinez Monsivals (AP).
When
engaged in a heated discussion with your friends, you’re bound to
stumble upon a few holes in your knowledge. It’s okay to admit when you
don’t know something, but if you’re feeling particularly self-conscious
and want to keep up the appearance of intelligence, the key is
emphasizing what you do know. If you’re in an argument, don’t
stress disagreement so much as agreement—that way, you aren’t straying
away from things you know about. You’re stressing the parts you do know
while still taking part in the discussion. Photo remixed from originals by auremar and artenot (Shutterstock).
A
healthy body means a healthy brain. So, in between all the reading and
mind-expanding, make sure you’re leading a healthy physical life, too.
That means eating right and getting regular exercise. A number of
studies. have shown links between regular activity and intellecual
capacity, productivity, and creativity. Will spending all day at the gym
make you smarter? Not quite, but sitting around all day will not only
kill you, but hinder your brain from being at its absolute best.
While
mumbling to oneself is often looked at the behavior of a crazy person, a
recent study showed that talking out loud to yourself can help give you
a temporary cognitive boost when trying to find something. The theory
behind it: when you give yourself verbal labels to a task you’re
performing, you focus better on the task at hand at any given moment. So
when you feel the need to open your mouth, don’t fight the urge—it
might help you get things done faster. Photo by atomicjeep.
People who know a second or third language are often perceived as smart by others, but research shows that it can actually make
you smarter, too. If you know a second language, you’re able to adapt
to and switch between certain mental tasks better than those that only
know one, so if you want to give your brain a real boost, learning a new
language is a real (and useful!) way to do so. It’s not actually hard
to do, either: all you need is this simple four step method to learn in
just a few months.
Technology
really has made our lives easier (after all, that’s what Lifehacker’s
all about), but sometimes it’s worth doing things the hard way. Take GPS
navigation, for example: it’s great that you can essentially never get
lost, but if you rely on it too much, you’ll never truly learn your way
around. Instead, wean yourself off your GPS dependency and actually
learn your way around town, develop a sense of direction, and learn to
navigate using your brain. Doing things the hard way can help keep your
brain sharp, so don’t be afraid to forgo the easy stuff once in a while.
Photo by Ramunas Geciauskas.
There’s
a lot of work going into researching what makes us smarter—much of
which we’ve mentioned here—but it’s also important to know what won’t
make you smarter. Check out our list of nine stubborn brain myths that
just won’t die to see just a few examples, like “the internet is making
us dumber” (it isn’t, if you use it properly), “listening to classical
music makes children smarter” (unlikely), or that “brain games make you
smarter” (don’t waste your time). The less time you spend on silly
myths, the more time you can spend actually expanding your brain, so get
these out of your system now. Photo by Igor Nazarenko (Shutterstock).
The
last step? Just believe you can be smarter. Studies have shown that
this simple belief can actually make it true. That isn’t to say you
should be pompous: you need to assume you aren’t that great yet,
which will leave you open to learning new things and asking new
questions—the exact sort of things that can make you smarter. But it’ll
never happen if you believe your intelligence is somehow fixed, so once
that roadblock is gone, you may find you’re much freer to pursue the
level of intelligence you want. If you’re having trouble doing that, it
may be time to recalibrate your reality—attitude is everything. Title image remixed from Alberto Zornetta (Shutterstock) and Petr84 (Shutterstock).