Get smart with 5 techniques in an ever-changing world

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Knowledge is power and you are going to need it to survive in this world that is changing constantly. It is important to get smart with modern knowledge because even if you are highly educated or you barely made it through high school, the information you know may not be relevant now.

You do not want to be lost in conversations with your family members, especially those intelligent children. You do not want to look stupid when speaking at work with employers, employees, co-workers, potential business associates or worse yet customers.

How about when you meet new people on the street, at the supermarket, or a party? You want to leave a great impression in the first few minutes of that conversation. Here are 5 techniques to help you get smart and survive this ever-changing world.

Get smart with 5 techniques

1. Keep up with current events

We no longer depend on the news at night or the morning paper to know what is going on in our world. We are now bombarded with news every second on social media and it seems like the majority of people we know get smart daily because they are keeping up very well. Do not feel left out in conversations about current events. Be in the know with this technique.

Search “news pages” on Facebook, Instagram or the social media app that suits you and select the big names first. Go to the pages of CNN, BBC, NBC and BuzzFeed, and click like or follow. Then, find the popular pages that offer local news or news in your community and do the same. These pages will update you on current events and you will get smart at your fingertip.

2. Read novels to get smart

Read a novel a week to get smart. You will learn about different people in various societies in the past and present. You will see how they handled conflicts that are personal, social, financial, or political.

The stories will interest you as you enjoy their experiences with finding love, wealth, power, good health and family life. Knowledge about the lives and situations of many people of different cultures would equip you for any conversation that you have. You do not even have to visit a bookstore or join a library.

Download a reading app on your phone or tablet. The popular ones are Amazon, Google, Apple, Goodreads, Nook, Overdrive and Epic! Start with reading the free books and then you can make purchases when you get more into it.

Download the must-read classics first if you have never read them before. Some of these are The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

When you get smart after reading these literary works, use your intelligence wisely and try not to show-off too much.

3. Learn new words daily

An extended vocabulary is a very effective way to sound intelligent. As long as you know the meanings of the words and you use them in the correct contexts, you are on the right track.

You can use both simple and impressive adjectives and their synonyms when you are speaking with your family members, friends, children, business persons and those you have just met. Here are some tips on how you can build your vocabulary and get smart in no time.

While reading novels, newspapers, or articles on the internet, stop on the words that you do not know. It may seem easier to just gather the meaning of a word from the context of the sentence, but if you really want to get smart then get out a pen and book and write down these words.

Research their meanings online or in a paperback dictionary and record them immediately. Another strategy you can try is using vocabulary videos on YouTube.

These videos spoon feed you a lot of words that you may not know or do not use in your daily conversations. Play the videos over and over on your headphones until you get smart enough.

Also, you can learn new words with visuals around your home. Write words and their meanings on Post-its and stick them on the walls of your bedroom, kitchen and bathroom where you frequent. Having the words in your face daily would imprint them in your mind.

4. Associate with like-minded persons

We all know the expressions “show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are” and “birds of a feather flock together”. If you want to get smart, you need to associate yourself with smart people, it is that simple.

This does not mean that you have to unfriend or stop talking to the current people in your life. It means that you need to focus more on the people who are on the same path as you are. Measure the time spent with like-minded person as compared with those who add little value to your mission and start making changes.

If you need to meet more intelligent people, start with social media since this is one of the purposes of the platform. Research groups and pages that focus on things in which you are interested. Click Like, Follow or Join to become part of communities filled with people around the world who are either verse in what you want to learn or are searching for the same knowledge as you are. You will make friends along the way and get smart as you want to be.

5. Develop a project

The best way to become great at something is through practice. Getting smart is a mission that requires a person who is well rested, eating healthy, feels energetic and has ambition.

If you do not fit this description, break out of the routine lifestyle and develop a new project to keep your mind ticking and your body active. This strategy prevents you from becoming lazy, uninteresting, unhealthy, and unintelligent.

You will have to change your diet, go to bed earlier, walk around your house and then develop a project to keep you on your toes.

There are several types of projects you can undertake. A creative project allows you to explore your talents in writing, painting, drawing, singing and dancing.

Consider publishing your own books for fun and earn funds on a direct publishing website like Amazon KDP, Apple ibooks, CreateSpace, Barnes and Noble and IngramSpark. Also, you can try starting your own business by turning a skill you have into profits.

Start an online business, teach something you know to a niche market or buy and sell items if you have the right capital and ideas to work with.

Also, you can start a kitchen garden to feed yourself, your family, homeless persons, or you can become a commercial farmer. By interacting with people every day conducting business and having conversations, you will get smart and be the best person that you want to be.

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