How to Become More Intelligent Than You Are Now

Edited by Josh W., Ben Rubenstein, Lucas Halbert, Horses4Ever and 115 others

Do you ever feel less intelligent around other people? Are you embarrassed when you don’t know the answer to a teacher’s question? Everybody has those times when they just feel like they don’t know anything. Of course, you can’t know everything, but no matter how smart you are, you can start becoming more intelligent today.

  Steps

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   Improve your memory. Much of what is generally considered intelligence is simply the ability to remember things well. You can improve your ability to retain and recall memories in a variety of ways, including using mnemonics and by paying more attention to details.
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   Study more effectively. If you find yourself at a loss when your teacher puts you on the spot, or if you perform poorly on exams, you may not be studying enough. Even if you study a lot, improving your study skills can make a big difference. A variety of wikiHows offer tips to help you.
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   Read a lot. Just about everything that humans know can be found in print, whether in books and magazines or on the internet. Become a voracious reader, and you’ll expose yourself to more ideas and information. If you’re a slow reader, consider learning speed reading. Consider jotting down notes, and perhaps looking up a word or two in the dictionary.
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   Visit the library frequently and pick up anything which looks interesting to you. The subject matter is not quite as important as is the act of reading. Always have something good to read at hand.
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   Be more curious. How do some people get to know so much? Good memory skills are only part of the answer: you also have to be curious. If you’re satisfied going through life with little or no understanding of things you’re unfamiliar with, you won’t learn much. Make a conscious effort to be more curious by reminding yourself that developing your curiosity will broaden your horizons and help to make you more intelligent.
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   Research. Curiosity without initiative is like having a car that’s out of gas — it won’t take you anywhere. Fortunately, when it comes to knowledge you’re never far from success. If you read a word that you don’t know, look it up in the dictionary. If you wonder how airplanes fly, read a book about it. If you want to know more about politics, pick up a newspaper. With Internet access now pervasive, there’s less excuse for not finding something out that you want to know.
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   Learn how to look things up. If you know how to use references, from an internet search engine to an encyclopedia, you’ll be able to find the information you want more quickly and effectively. Effective researching skills will nourish your curiosity because you’ll become more confident in your ability to access knowledge. If your research skills leave something to be desired, take a class or workshop on how to research, ask a librarian or teacher, or simply practice researching. Or just press the "help" tabs on the internet and computer programs and read.
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   Figure things out on your own. There’s a lot more to intelligence than “book smarts". We can all learn to perform everyday tasks at work, home, and school better and more intelligently. If you don’t know how to do something, resist the urge to ask somebody else to do it for you or show you how. In most cases, you’ll be able to figure it out on your own, either by trial-and-error or by researching. While it usually takes longer to figure something out than it does to ask about it, you’ll learn more about the overall process, and you’ll remember it better. Most importantly, you’ll exercise your problem-solving skills instead of your “do as you’re told” skills.
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   Ask for help. It’s great to figure things out on your own, but sometimes you don’t have enough time to do so, despite your best efforts. Don’t give up; ask somebody to show you how. Make sure to pay close attention and ask any questions that you have, so that you’ll never have to ask the same thing again.
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    Exercise your mind in different ways. Most of us are good at the things we excel in naturally or the activities we do everyday. Challenge yourself to learn a new skill or to think in a different way, however, and you’ll actually become more intelligent. Choose something you’d like to learn to do (play the accordion, for example) or a subject you don’t do well in (maybe math) and focus on that thing. Initially, you may be uncomfortable and feel even less intelligent than you did before, but if you study or practice diligently, you’ll become more confident, and you’ll make new connections in your mind.
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    Teach others. In order to teach something to somebody else, you’ve got to know it pretty well. When you try to explain an idea or skill to somebody else, you’ll not only remember it better yourself, you’ll also find that the other person’s questions will help you find out how well you really know what you’re talking about.
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    Learn a new word each day. Go through the dictionary and find a word that you don't know already, then practice using it throughout the day. When you come across a new word when doing #3, look it up.
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    Do your homework if you're in school! Don't procrastinate, finish it last minute, or copy someone's paper. The homework is there for practice, and when you do it, you'll become more confident in that subject. But remember, homework time is not the same as study time, so you can't count homework as studying.
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    Find a hobby that interests you. Many people increase their intelligence by attempting to get better at something that they're already good at. For example, not only does it make a computer programmer look smarter if they know C++, but it can help you with your job.
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    Surround yourself with intelligent people. Being around people that are smarter than you can help you become more knowledgeable.
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    Read the news. Keeping up with current events will let you know what's going on in the world. You can catch up on what the world is doing while exercising (step 3).
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    Practice your writing skills as well. Writing allows you to input your knowledge into creativity. Whether you write short, fantasy stories or reports on WWII, it's always great to practice your writing skills. Try exercising your brain and writing a little something every day, whether it be describing your emotions or writing descriptive paragraphs about the weather. Sometimes, just brainstorming can help you create fresh, new ideas.
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    Learn a new language. It has been proven that learning new languages makes one generally smarter. Children who knew two languages or more had more grey matter than those who didn't. And grey matter is responsible for processing information, including memory, speech and sensory perception.