Some people are born intelligent, while others become smarter as they go through various life experiences. Being smart means focusing on things that matter while skipping all negative things. A smart person likes to work smarter than harder. 

There is a misconception that people can become smarter as they need to be born with a smart mind. Yes, some people are blessed, but other people find a way of enhancing their mental capabilities. You need to know how to do it, So the question is how to get smarter. The answer lies to changing your lifestyle and habits. Daily one percent change in your routine allows you to get 365 percent change in a year. Are you ready? Check 

13 Ways to Boost Your Intelligence

It would be best if you challenged yourself with a variety of things to boost your intelligence level. Here is what you can do to become smarter.

Method No.1 Exercise Regularly

Whether you stick with the night routine or day one, go and do some exercise regularly. I am not asking you to join a gym and start weight lifting. Anything lighter like a morning walk would do the great magic. 

The purpose of an exercise is to increase your muscle movements. Stretching your legs during walking and running will increase blood flow all across your brain. Try different moves of yoga every day and see how it will boost up your cognitive ability.

Method No.2 Learn Something New

You should never stop your learning process. Here the plan isn't to enroll in a traditional school or college but try new methods of learning such as:

• Watch an informative Youtube video and revise whatever you learned. 
• Learn a new language or skill online-  
• Listen to TED Talks and podcasts
• Learn new language for enhancing problem-solving skills

The purpose of learning is to speed up cognitive, analytics, and other brain function. If you keep doing the same thing you already know, you make the most of only your stored memory. It's time to add some new things and make the most of them. 

Method No.3 Dive into Books

One habit that helps you become smarter over time is book reading. Depending on your interests, choose some books and start reading them one by one. While reading a book, you use many brain functions such as long-term storage memory, abstract reasoning, working memory, comprehension, and predicting.

Besides, you enter into a new world. Learn new concepts. People who feel sleep deprivation issues in their life should read one or two pages daily, and they will see how quickly they fall asleep; it's because reading is a relaxing life habit. 

Please make a list of good books and buy a few of them. Before going to sleep, pick a book instead of scrolling over Facebook and Instagram. This little habitual change will boost your intelligence level to a great extent. At-least try it for a month and see the difference in your memory.

Must Read: How to Boost Self-Esteem at Workplace

Method No.4 Set a Morning Routine

Most successful people on earth have made it crystal clear that one can become a billionaire only by setting a proper morning routine. Early birds can get the best food from the world. So, you can become smarter if you start your day early.

Before sunrise:

1. Do a light morning walk or go jogging with your partner.
2. Come back home, take a cup of coffee, and prepare a healthy breakfast.
3. After breakfast is done, get ready for the office or make a to-do-list for the whole day.
4. Stick to schedule.
5. Rinse and repeat.

Method No.5 Take a Good Night Sleep

If you want your brain to work properly, then you need to do proper rest. People with sleep deprivation have serious life consequences like PTSD, hallucination, and other issues. You can't make any good logic when your mind is inactive. 

A good night's sleep relaxes your mind. While no sleep at night will affect your working memory, many studies have proven the same.

Therefore, if you want to become an intelligent person. Try to complete your sleep cycle every day. A well-rested mind can think better, focus well, and analyze in the best manner.

Connect Dots between Good night Sleep and Productivity

If you want to stay alert and more focused, start taking a good night's sleep. Can't have a decent night's sleep? You might have some night job. It's okay, go for a day sleep but complete at-least 8-10 hours. People think that shifting rest. They assume completing 8 hours of a normal sleep cycle in two shifts would be great. However, it does more harm than good.

Sleep is a natural cognitive enhancer. According to research, a good night's sleep can enhance our sleep. You often have observed that it's hard to focus on little work things in the morning when you don't sleep well at night. You start to forget something as your memory disrupts due to a disturbed sleep cycle.

Method No.6 Eat food for Brain

You want to make the most of your mind, eat food that is good for your mind. Walnuts and almonds are two nutrient-rich foods that should be a part of your diet every day. The best food that enhances brain functions is fatty acids, Vitamin K, chocolate, pumpkin seeds, coffee, blueberries, and nuts. Please make a list of all items vital for proper brain functioning and make them a part of your monthly diet.

Method No.7 Play an Instrument

According to research, people who play instruments can change the brain's shape and power, and some improvement in brain cognitive skills is also noticed. It's because playing an instrument would boost up the plasticity of the brain. A seven-point increase in brain IQ has been noticed in both adults and children only through this activity.

If someone asks you how to become smarter, tell him the secret lies in any musical instrument. Don't know how to play an instrument? No worries, it's time to spend one hour only on learning. You will learn an instrument and then use it to enhance your brain functionality.

Method No.8 Boost Your Social Interaction

According to the study, socialized people have higher cognitive performance levels than those who don't like interacting with people. When you get exposed to society, you have a golden opportunity of observing different people's attitudes. You try to know more about them before you respond to them. So, this way, you exercise your brain's cognitive process. 

Every day, 10-minute social interaction will do great good for you in the long run. You look around and switch focus from yourself to others. Getting to know the phase activates your mind, and it's how you reap great benefits. People who deal with all kinds of people are smarter than others as they have experienced all sorts of behavior and know how to deal with a specific person in the best manner.

Method No.9 Write and Reflect

Every day, you should write something. During writing, you think and reflect on yourself and specific subjects. People who write journals can channelize their thoughts quite well. People who don't write often have messy ideas. However, through writing, they can add precise meanings to these thoughts.

Another benefit of writing is sharpening memory. Suppose you write a journal and take notes every day. You act like a student who writes notes and absorbs information. Through writing, you pay more attention to feelings, things around you, subject matter, emotions, memories, and experience. This combo is good enough to boost brain functioning.

Writers are often considered intelligent creatures on earth as they can write not only what they experience but also reflect and relate to other experiences. This knowledge works as power for their brain, and it's how they get smarter than others.

Method No.10 Stay Hydrated

As you know, almost sixty to seventy percent of our body weight is water. If you want your brain to work correctly and complete all its functions in the best manner, you need to drink plenty of water. Drinking eight to ten glasses a day is a good practice. When you stay hydrated, your heart will pump blood throughout your body. Vital oxygen and nutrients will be delivered to all body cells, including brain cells. This oxygen increases the natural functioning of your brain.

Read more why Stay Hydrated is Important at Work

On the flip side, when you don't hydrate yourself, your body gets dry, and you feel tired quickly. 

It feels like you don't have enough energy to complete routine tasks. Dehydration may impair your long-term memory recall or some short-term memory functions as well. Thereby, you should put regular checks on your water so that your brain cells get all required nutrients and oxygen; and you can complete routine tasks with proper focus and attention.

Method No.11 Become a Trainer or Mentor

Learning through teaching is not a new thing, but it's a habit that would help you become smarter. If you are good at certain subjects like digital marketing or something, one way to enhance your skills is to start teaching others. Don't have time? It's okay, every day explain a new concept to an internee in your office. 

That way, you will put all your brain's cognitive functions into motion and get the best results out of this. Be a helpful colleague or teammate; if a person doesn't know how to format a word document or apply formulas on an excel sheet, go ahead and tell them how to do it step-by-step. The more you teach, the better you will learn about a subject matter. This learning will increase your intelligence graph over time.

Method No.12 Discussion and Debates

Get involved in forum discussions and debates. You may like to talk about games, go to a forum and talk about it with other gamers. An argument or discussion often helps you get an idea about other people's sides, like what they like and how they contradict you. Seeing both sides of a picture clear your view and understanding. You can become smarter by getting to know other people's opposing viewpoints than yours. Next time you will have a topic, you would know what you think and what others think. This process increases your analytical and evaluation skills.

For example, you can start a discussion about a particular product with the general public. You would know what they hate about it and what they love about it. If you are a seller of that product, you would see both positive and negative sides. This knowledge will help you improve the product better and sell it better.

Method No.13 Get out of Your Comfort Zone Sometime

One of the best methods to become smarter is to get out of your comfort zone. You may feel uncomfortable while driving alone in another city. If that's what bothers you the most, go and do it. The reason for this change is to do something meaningful and learn from it. The idea that I can't do that or I wouldn't say I like this should be avoided. You need to get ready for new things and use your creative skills. 

In your comfort zone, you don't challenge your brain much as you complete a normal cycle. However, when you go on holiday and break this routine, you often feel fresh and more energetic. A break from practice is a good thing that helps you focus more on performance. So, go and try this.

Wrap up

In this post, I explained 13 ways to boost your intelligence. Now you know how to become smarter. The idea is to put your brain to some fair use by learning new things, getting out of your comfort zone, or becoming a mentor. You may not try all of them but at-least give a few of them a good try. Playing puzzle games or chess isn't good enough; you need to think outside the box. Yes, crosswords help in learning but add some new habits to get smarter with time.

i