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Becoming Smart Is Easy, Actually!

The Smart Path: Practical Strategies for Effective Learning and Knowledge Retention

By Mariam FathalrahmanPublished about a year ago 5 min read

You want to be smart, and most people tell you that it takes 12 years of school, 4 years of college, and 6 years of graduate school to become smart. However, the reality is that you end up homeless—this isn't even a joke. On the plus side, though, when you post on Reddit about how hard it is to get a job, you can do it in perfect English. As you can see from the title, becoming smart is actually very easy, even if you believe that your genetics make you stupid

When individuals like you and me express our desire to become smarter, it encompasses many different things. We want to acquire practical skills, preferably ones that generate income; we want to be adept at problem-solving with the hope of earning money; we want to improve our geds and learn challenging subjects in order to increase our income and impress others; and finally, we want to sound intelligent in conversation—just enough so that others respect us but not so much that we come across as nerds. The issue is that most advice on the Internet is so ambiguous and philosophical that even if it were to be effective, only Oprah and Socrates could actually follow it.

Instead, if you seek for precise guidance that you can put into practice immediately, you will receive the following: consume blueberries since they are a brain food. IQ testing, black coffee, exercise, and more sleep listen to classical music; these things sound good, but eventually you have to learn things. In addition, some geniuses have been known to spend their entire day at a desk and only get two to four hours of sleep each day. So what can you do to actually become smarter than copying and pasting the same six brainteasers from a wikiHow article that were inspired by a quote that was spray-painted on a wall of a New York subway car?

The most important thing is to read. Depending on what kind of reading you choose, fiction can help you learn to read more quickly and improve your vocabulary. It can also make you feel like you have friends if you read a lot of dialogue. However, most people stick to non-fiction, which is actually the key to being able to casually bring up interesting facts in conversation. For instance, just by reading this book, you can come across to anyone as someone who is knowledgeable about history. The secret is to avoid being overly nosy about it—it's amazing how we descended from chimpanzees, after all.

This is considered polite by the standards of a YouTube comment section in real life, but actually evolution is nonlinear, and multiple human-like species once inhabited Earth simultaneously, none of which could even be remotely considered as chimpanzees. Now that we're talking, let's redo that conversation about how humans evolved from chimpanzees. It's crazy, right? I was reading the other day, and apparently humans and chimpanzees. I always thought we evolved from them, but I guess we just evolved side by side

You may sound like you touch grass and be knowledgeable at the same time. The secret is to impart your knowledge without making others think you're stupid. In this way, people will learn from you and see you as intelligent and deserving. Now, where do you locate these books? It's actually very simple. You don't have to read the five books that everyone recommends you read; instead, choose a subject you'd want to learn more about, like cleaning. Google books on cleaning; this one appears to be well-written.

These books are usually expensive, but if you are unintentionally browsing this website, you might accidentally search for the book's title. If that happens, you might click on the first link, which then, oh no, unintentionally downloaded a file, which you opened with the appropriate ebook viewer. Now that you have the book, you will also discover that, in addition to learning many practical skills, you can also pick up interesting facts to share in conversations. There are ten things you should know before you learn a skill. First, if you don't practice a skill, your brain will consider it worthless and you will forget it as well.

We could probably simply go on since, as the saying goes, "you only need to know 20% of the knowledge to master 80% of the skill." This is known as the learning curve. It shows how your talent improves with time, and you can see that even with modest initial effort, you may make significant progress. However, consistent practice is required. Though not everyone has two cars lying around to practice on, you can still practice it by just imagining the moment when you'll need to know how to jump start a car and putting yourself in the situation. For example, imagine you're reading a book about cars and then you see this diagram of how to jump start a dead car with a good car. Ideally, you'll read about it and then go practice it. Find a video and visualize the entire procedure as though it were your automobile. By doing so, you've persuaded your brain to apply all that knowledge.

This is basically how the entire school system works: you learn a piece of information, and because it will be like 15 years before you actually use it, your teacher creates an imaginary situation where that information is useful that is a test. Now that you know it, you'll remember it, while the person who just looked at the diagram and tried to memorize it still won't know what to do if they ever had to jump start a car. This is how you get smart by using everything you learn.

an exam with questions on that precise piece of information; if you answer it incorrectly, you fail or, in the case of cheating, you go to prison. This is typically sufficient to force your brain to at least try to recall the material; the only issue is that after the test, your brain decides it is no longer relevant, so you forget it. Some people believe that studying in intervals, mind mapping, spatial repetition, and repetition will help them learn more quickly and achieve higher marks.

However, if you don't have any practice questions, doing them will actually help you get the most out of your learning since they mimic the real-world scenario in which you'll need to apply what you've learned. create your own, and persuade yourself that the stakes are high. For example, imagine that you're dangling off a cliff by one arm, and someone is trying to pull you up. Then, if you can name every component of a human cell, that person will only be able to help you if you can learn information and make it appear useful to your brain.

This is the reason textbooks are the S tier format for learning as much as possible quickly; they include only material and a ton of practice problems; if you need assistance, you must turn to the appendix's pages. There is no filler, no handholding, and no distractions. Textbooks aren't meant for casual learners since viewing a YouTube video on a subject is more enjoyable and less likely to result in forgetting everything an hour later.

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About the Creator

Mariam Fathalrahman

Whether you’re a nature lover, a history buff, or simply someone who enjoys a good read, there’s something here for you, diving into topics as diverse as the mysteries of Earth and nature. Join me, and let’s explore the world together.

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