We believe that success is not just about having innate wisdom, but about having the right habits and lifestyle choices that support and protect your mental health. In this article, we’ve collected 15 habits that successful people share, and we believe combining these Incorporating habits into your daily routine can help you grow smarter and more successful.
1- Ask Questions
Learning involves asking questions and finding answers. As children, our curiosity knows no bounds and everything around us piques our interest. However, as we get older, we tend to lose this sense of wonder and become reluctant to ask questions for fear of looking stupid. the truth is, ask Questions are essential to learning and finding solutions to everyday problems. So don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if they seem basic or simple.
2- Read Across Genres
Reading is a mental exercise that keeps your brain in top shape. Through smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and the internet, we have instant access to nearly every written book ever created by humans. Yet, we often waste time scrolling through social media feeds and watching videos instead of reading Books and articles that help us learn and grow. Reading across genres can help you stay informed, teach your brain to function properly and keep learning new things. So make reading a part of your daily life.
3- Hang Out with Smart People
Surrounding yourself with smart people can help you learn new skills, keep your mind active, and feed your brain. Our surroundings shape our values, beliefs, and ways of thinking. Spending time with intellectuals will constantly help to feed your brain because with smart people, there’s always something to discuss and something to learn from them. So, spend time with people who are smarter than you, and learn from their knowledge and experiences.
4- Take Time to Think
Taking pauses to reflect on what you’ve learned is highly beneficial and is, in fact, an important part of the learning process. When you take time to think, you get to consider all the factors that might directly or indirectly have a connection to whatever you’re doing. You get to plan three to five steps ahead and will seldom be caught lacking. The same goes for conversations – smart people listen more and talk less.
5- Exercise Frequently
Physical exercise has a direct impact on the quality of our thoughts, as the brain and body constantly cooperate with each other. Therefore, physical exercise is advantageous for the efficient growth of positive habits and new information. Make time for at least one form of exercise, whether it’s running, yoga, or working out at the gym. Just move your body more, and your mind will thank you for it.
6- Prioritize Eating Healthy
A balanced diet, rich in needed vitamins and minerals, is the best fuel you can get to power your thought engine. Whole grains, lean meats, nuts, fish, and dairy products should be on your dinner table, and it’s also a good idea to avoid junk food as much as possible. Eating healthy will provide your brain with the right nutrients and energy to function well.
7- Keeping a Diary
Writing down your thoughts, events, and insights of the day is a great way to reflect on your experiences and learn from them. With this, you’ll have the opportunity to analyze the ideas that come to you, thoughts, and questions that arise. Writing frequently makes you smarter overall by expanding your language and communication skills.
8 – Do Something New Even if You Think it Won’t Work
Smart people understand that practice makes perfect, and they are not unnecessarily scared of failure. They know that without practice, nothing can be truly learned. Therefore, they are always willing to take on new challenges, even if they don’t know how to do it at first. It’s impossible to learn a new equation if you don’t attempt questions on it. Likewise, it’s impossible to learn to play the guitar if you don’t try those chords yourself. Sometimes, outstanding and even spectacular successes are the results of something that frightened us tremendously. Therefore, if you want to improve your intelligence, you should not be afraid to try new things, even if you think they won’t work.
9 – Apply and Share New Knowledge
If you don’t intend to use what you learn, there’s no use in studying it. Smart people always make use of their acquired knowledge, not because it’ll help them to succeed, but rather because sharing their intellectual resources makes them more valuable. When you read a book, discuss it with people who have also read it. The best technique to reinforce and comprehend the subject matter is to share new information and concepts. You will learn more during such a discussion about the work itself as well as the lessons other people have discovered. It doesn’t matter who you share your thoughts with – family, friends, co-workers, members of a social network group, or topical forum – because the act of sharing knowledge itself is what enriches your understanding and helps you to draw out more informed conclusions.
10 – Be Selective of What You Put Your Effort Into
Smart people tend to have few friends, but they make up for the lack of numbers with deep and genuine friendships. Those with whom you spend time, including your loved ones, reflect your personal identity and needs, guiding you toward understanding yourself and the world around you. Beyond friendships, when you’re careful of what you give your attention to, you’ll be able to work optimally without unnecessary distractions. Smart people find it easy to get their priorities in order. Think of a mental checklist – it’s far easier to follow the next agenda on your list than to juggle every plan you have at once.
11 – Take Short Breaks at Work
In the era of total digitalization, our brains literally burn out from the bombardment of information. Being in touch with what’s happening isn’t always a good thing. That’s why even a short vacation is sometimes needed to stay creative and stave off cognitive burnout. After working for several hours, weeks, or months, and due to the absence of pauses and moments of mental calmness, we begin to think superficially and automatically. The same goes for reading – you will assimilate better when you take breaks after a few hours of reading. In this free time, you can enjoy a short walk, meditate, exercise, or do some chores around the house – just give yourself a mental time out.
12 – Learn How to Be Organized
In their devices and instant messages, both at home and at work, people that have a habit of making things orderly tend to be smart. Disorganized objects, frequent message alerts, and clutter on a desktop and in work folders all divert the mind from tasks and lower productivity. Your mind will function more effectively the less disorder there is in an area where you live and work. Develop the habit of putting things away right away. Make multiple themed folders on your desktop and avoid saving individual papers there.
13- Be Actively Observant
Being observant and paying attention to the details around you is another habit that smart people often cultivate. It’s not just about watching the world around you, but also actively examining the interactions that take place in your environment, whether on a global, interpersonal, or societal level. This practice may seem uncommon or unpopular, but it’s a useful way to gain a deeper understanding of the world and develop a critical eye for detail.
When you turn your attention outside of yourself and actively pay attention to details, you’ll be surprised by what you discover about your surroundings. Spend a few minutes every day observing the people, objects, and interactions that are taking place around you. You’ll start to notice things that you may have overlooked before, and this can help you develop new perspectives and insights.
14- Sleep Whenever You Need To
It’s no secret that sleep is critical to our mental and physical health. Research has shown that giving our bodies more downtime helps our brains function better in terms of memory, attention, and focus. It’s also been found that those who stay up late and get up early have worse attention levels than their peers who sleep longer.
The brain processes information from the previous day as you sleep, and having enough rest strengthens memory and removes amyloid and tau proteins linked to plaque formation in Alzheimer’s disease. Although there is no set length of time that everyone should sleep, different individuals need varying amounts of sleep. Your main priority should be to rest whenever your body needs it.
15- Habits Require Consistent Practice
All of these habits require consistent practice to become a part of your daily routine. While they may seem simple, they can be challenging to implement consistently. It’s important to start small and build up over time. Choose one or two habits to start with and commit to practicing them for a set amount of time every day. As they become more automatic, you can add new habits to your routine.
Smart people understand that intelligence isn’t a fixed trait that you’re simply born with. Rather, it’s a changeable, flexible ability to learn and stimulate your brain that can improve over time. By cultivating the habits listed above, you too can improve your mental agility, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. As a result, you’ll be better equipped to navigate life’s challenges, overcome obstacles, and achieve your goals.
My most favourite habit I will definitely choose is learning languages and the key points I can identify here is enhances your ability to connect with people followed by understanding a variety of cultures and applying a second or multiple thinking approach. Having the ability to communicate in multiple languages can 100% chance benefit your career and trust me it is a high possibility.
I’ve always associated “smartness” with ones ability to practice critical thinking well. I quite frankly believe that’s all there is to “smartness.”
This is exactly what u needed to hear. I am surely going to practice this point. I know in the beginning it might seem hard but i know it’s possible thank you.
I really love the idea of being selective and hanging around smart people ,it really helps explore new pontentials and think big.
For me, it’s sleeping better. When I started staying up late, my thought process changed a lot.
Appreciate the list. Keeping us on the road to buiding better self.
I love all the awesome habits. My favorite habits are eating Healthly, daily exercise/movement, reading, and spending time with smart people. Btw, I love seeing people of color because I love cultural diversity.
Just remember that smartness doesn’t lead to amassing wealth. There are loads of smart people who are poor or swimming in debt. Wealthy people, although can be smart but are always wise -especially the ones who created the wealth themselves and not heirs.
Most of these habits I have… I like to write always my things down, whatever I’ve done during the day and spent. Like to study my surrounding, and evaluate if it’s worth it to do what I’m going to do at the moment. The most important is to study other people behaviors. You will need people all the time, to interact with in any matter. You have to know how to socialize with them and to share your opinion or business…and scale up to the next level.
These are okay, many are obvious, but they leave out probably the most important one. That is to pursue wisdom. Wisdom and being smart are two very different things and if I had to chose between the two, I’d chose wisdom. Most people think that wisdom is learning from life’s experience. That is partially true, but it’s not the whole story. Wisdom is best learned by being taught it or studying it. It is no longer taught in schools or at home such as ancient Greek and Roman writers, Shakespeare, and certain religious texts. If these aren’t studied, there’s a good chance wisdom won’t be learn. And we need more wise people to hold society together than more smart people.