17 Small Things To Do Every Day To Be Much

Smarter
PRODUCTIVITY(/PRODUCTIVITY)

BY MENTORPALOKAJ(/AUTHOR/MENTORPALOKAJ) | 11K SHARES

Intelligence is flexible and there are alot of things to give it a daily boost.For
smartthinking your mind needs 3 things:
Readfullcontent
1. To be trained in thinking processes

2. To have plenty ofinformation

3. To focus on a problem or idea
For example, Thomas Edison was able to think of his light bulb because:
1. He was a trained logical thinker
2. He knew a lotabout electrical engineering
3. He focused on solving a problem
Here are a bunch of things todo every day to help your mind to think smart.

1. Drink 2 glasses of water within 30 minutes of waking up

Since youve been asleep for hours, your body has not gotten water for 6-9
hours. Water is neededfor the filtration of waste productsand fluid balance.
Two big glasses of water offset thefluid deficit you had from sleeping. Studies
on kids (study1
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666309005029), study2
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666309006394)) show
that drinkingmore water increases their ability to complete mental tasks. Make
sure your brain is not dehydrated at the beginning of the day already.

2. Read a book summary during breakfast

Reading books is great, butbreakfast is far more suitable for something shorter.
Instead of reading news articles that have little impact on your life/intelligence,
read best selling book summaries. You can find summaries by:
Googling your book title + summary, for example 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People summary
Use a summary subscription like Blinkist orgetAbstract

3. Listen to stimulating podcasts/audiobooks during your

commute
Even if you spend only 10 minutes on your bike like I do, load your phone up
with intellectually stimulating audio. Good sources could be:
TED talks (their app lets you pre-download audio so you dont eat your
mobile data)
Blinkist has some of their summaries in audio form
Audiobooks you purchased
Podcast of your favorite authors

4. Drink green tea while working

Where caffeine makes many people anxious, green tea (especially Matcha tea)
contains l-theanine. This aminoacid causesan increase in alpha brain waves in
the brain:

(http://cdnmedia1.lifehack.org/wpcontent/files/2015/05/1s2.0
S0924224499000448gr3.jpg) In practice this means that where coffee can
induce anxiety, high quality green teas cause a relaxed focus without inducing
sleepiness. This is also why l-theanine is available as a supplement to aid in
relaxation andincreasing cardiovascular health.

5. Take naps during the day

Napping helps your mindrefresh. Its been shown that napping during learning
increaseslearning speed. Your mind has a rhythm that determines when it gets
sleepy and when it needs sleep:

sleepy and when it needs sleep:

As you can see on average people feel more sleepy than usual between noon and
4 PM. This is a perfect time to have a nap, and will increase your alertness and
productivity for the rest of the day. Personally Ive has good results with postworkday naps too (around 6 PM).

6. Dont take sugar during the day

In fact, if you can cut it altogether. But if you cant for whatever reason, just
make sure not to have it during times where you need to focus. Sugar highs and
the following lows are not good to keep your brain functioning smartly. What
does work very well are fatty acids. Try toswitch any sweetstuff during lunch
for something more substantial like fish or eggs.

7. Do social media / meme websites only a couple of times a

day
The brain adapts tothe information you throw at it. If you bombard it work nonstimulating and fast switching information your focus will get destroyed. Keep
your brain functioning on a higher level by throwing stimulating things at it. If
you feel the need to procrastinate, set a timer and dont get lost in mindlessly
scrolling.

8. Play games instead of watching series or movies

Watching tv is a passive activity. Your brain is consuming information, but not
processing or interacting with it. Substitute or supplement this entertainment
with gaming. A 2014study
(http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v19/n2/abs/mp2013120a.html) showed that
even a simple game like Super Mario has visible impact on brain plasticity
(flexibility).Anotherpiece of research covered by Forbes
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2014/04/06/thesurprisingconnection
betweenplayingvideogamesandathickerbrain/)shows the same. Actively
engage your brain where you can, instead of letting it slumber passively.

9. Read a book instead of watching tv

Similar to playing games instead of watching tv, reading a book is an active
exercise for the brain. Where watching video entertainment is a passive
consumption of information, reading a book requires your brain to actively
construct mental images of what you are reading.

10. Do some programming

Programming is a great way to learn to think logically and in patterns. Coding
used to be hard to learn but with free websites like Codeacademy and free/paid
platforms like Udemy it is easy and fun to learn. Consider itthe next level of
puzzles. As an added advantagelearning to code in your free time increases your
employability in the job market.

11. Watch TED talks while cooking

Preparing dinner is a great time to catch up on some cutting edge developments
in Technology, Education and Design (ted.com(http://ted.com)). It turns what
would otherwise be downtime into a fascinating and stimulating block of time.

Its like watching the news, only you are watching the worlds most inspiring
individuals talk about their work.

12. Do some simple exercises during the day

The body and the mind are strongly connected. Physical fitness helps the brain
function well. You dont however have to go to the gym every day to benefit
from this (though you can of course). Doing somepush-ups throughout the day
and walking or skipping up some stairs has a great impact already. Try to do
something physical every hour or so, even if its just getting up, stretching a
little and tensing all your muscles as hard as you can for 5-10 seconds.

13. Spend time with someone smarter than you

Habits are socially contagious. It is a well known fact in science that obesity for
example spreads through social networks (linktoresearch
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17652652)). The habits and thinking
patterns of those you spend time with rub off on you.Expose yourself to people
who are smarter than you in order to benefit fromthem.

14. Talk to people who disagree with you

Get into (friendly) discussions with people who disagree with you on any topic.
Arguing with them allows youto either:
Sharpen your arguments
Be convinced that you are wrong
In both cases you win. In the first you convince the other person by out
reasoning them, and I the second false logic you previously had is not
eliminated.

15. Go for a walk in nature

Walking through nature has a number of benefits:

There is more oxygen since plants produce it
The human mind calms downwhen surrounded by plants
Walking helpsyour blood circulation
Having a walk in a park at lunch time can greatly help you work smartly for the
rest of the day.

16. Carry a notepad

Great minds like Leonardo Da Vinci always carries a notepad. They used it to jot
down ideas, sketches and questions they had for later review. Having a little
book on you and writing down interesting things can greatly help you train your
curiosity and logical thinking.

17. Take 10 minutes at the end of the day to plan tomorrow

By planning tomorrow the day before you begin the day with a plan. This allows
you to work much more productively. Many people are busy all day, but not
actually productive. A great part of being smart is knowing that hard work is
inferior to smart work. Pick your battles in advance.
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