| FP

02.16 |

"The 6 Things Really Smart People Do"

1. Quiet Your Inner Voice

You know the one I am talking about. It's the little voice that offers a running commentary when you are listening to someone. It's the voice that brings up your own opinion about the information being provided. It is too easy to pay more attention to the inner voice than the actual speaker. That voice often keeps you from listening openly for good information and can often make you shut down before you have heard the entire premise. Focus less on what your brain has to say and more on the speaker. You may be surprised at what you hear.

2. Argue With Yourself

If you can't quiet the inner voice, then at least use it to your advantage. Every time you hear yourself contradicting the speaker, stop and take the other point of view. Suggest to your brain all the reasons why the speaker may be correct and you may be wrong. In the best case you may open yourself to the information being provided. Failing that, you will at least strengthen your own argument.

3. Act Like You Are Curious

Some people are naturally curious and others are not. No matter which category you are in you can benefit from behaving like a curious person. Next time you are listening to information, make up and write down three to five relevant questions. If you are in a lecture, Google them after for answers. If you are in a conversation you can ask the other person. Either way you'll likely learn more, and the action of thinking up questions will help encode the concepts in your brain. As long as you're not a cat you should benefit from these actions of curiosity.

4. Find the Kernel of Truth

No concept or theory comes out of thin air. Somewhere in the elaborate concept that sounds like complete malarkey there is some aspect that is based upon fact. Even if you don't buy into the idea, you should at least identify the little bit of truth from whence it came. Play like a detective and build your own extrapolation. You'll enhance your skills of deduction and may even improve the concept beyond the speaker's original idea.

5. Focus on the Message Not the Messenger

Often people shut out learning due to the person delivering the material. Whether it's a boring lecturer, someone physically unappealing, or a member of the opposite political party, the communicator can impact your learning. Even friends can disrupt the learning process since there may be too much history and familiarity to see them as an authority on a topic. Separate the material from the provider. Pretend you don't know the person or their beliefs so you can hear the information objectively. As for the boring person, focus on tip two, three, or four as if it were a game, thereby creating your own entertainment.

5. Show The Poker Face

Sometimes smart people don’t even like to act like they’re smart just to test out the mental capacity of the people they are dealing with. They will usually put on their poker face and pretend like they are just passively observing just to see what their audience’s interpretation of the “truth” is. They use this tactic to study the nature of the people they are doing business with and forming a long term relationship with. This way, they can come up with the most effective method of sounding like they know what they are talking about without offering something too unfamiliar or complicated for their peers to comprehend.

6. Understand The Concept Of Time

Smart people never allow distractions or mental unrest to waste their time in trying to figure something out. They are able to recognize what is conducive to their thought process and their journey to accomplish their goals as opposed to what is only pushing them farther away from working their hardest and staying on track.

A smart person is aware that the average human being runs into several pointless distractions every day that only serve a negative purpose in their life. They know how to ignore these imposters of “truth” and focus on using the best of their abilities to be productive for their own well-being.