To be on this page, reading this post, you must have wanted to be that smartest guy in the room at some point. The smartest cookie in the jar, not a-know-it-all type of guy who bores people with baseless facts but that guy who talk sense. To think smart, you do not have to have the highest IQ. You can have an average IQ and people will still flock to you for ideas and answers. Follow these simple practices to think smart:
Get Enough Sleep
Fresh brains think smart therefore make sure you get enough sleep every night to help you start your day strongly and energetically.
Read a Lot
To know and to think smart, you have to be an avid reader. Those people you admire when you are hanging out with them did one thing that you can also do; they traded their time to know what they know today. Read whatever is readable, know whatever is teachable, and teach whatever is knowable.
Smart Positioning
How do you position yourself when you are with friends or in a crowd? Those who stay at the center always tend to have all eyes on them. Take the middle seat, or the front seat where people can only sit facing you. This is a power move and is very common in political meetings when presidents or country heads meet. Who will the camera be pointing at and to whose table are the microphones set? Position yourself as the center of the meeting.
Say Less than Necessary
You probably did not expect this because you expected to dominate with your oratory skills. Guess what, you are acting as the meeting chairman and you want to listen to other people’s opinions. That is why you positioned yourself smartly so people can talk as if they are responding and reporting to you. Show that you are in control and contribute only on those topics you have in-depth understanding of.
Ask Questions
When you ask questions, you automatically send people in defensive mode and they will be responding in reaction to your questions therefore you are playing the offense. You are acting as an attack dog that bites and stay behind letting other dogs kill the prey.
When asking questions, you must ask deep questions, not just how have you been, where did you buy your shirt? A question like, we are going to go round the table and tell each other what we are most excited about this month. You are going to put people on the spot and the more off guard you find them the more they pledge allegiance to you. This is called quantum of proof where each and every one has to defend their ideas on why they are excited this month.
Play Sudoku
Surprisingly, this game of numbers is found to boost IQ of those who play it. It is a game of logic, sometimes it involves trial and error through deep reasoning and that is what makes you smart. If you can think in terms of numbers or play puzzles that need logic to solve then you stand a chance of being crowned the smartest cookie in the jar. Build your mind strength every day.
Think of the Impossible
You are probably going insane by asking yourself, how can a person think of what no one can think about? There are so many impossible things that people can think about but nobody does. Just the other day I was in the airport and wondering why air planes do not reverse. They must be pushed or pulled by a vehicle yet they are huge and powerful and can fly. At first I thought they do not have reverse gear but guess what, they do. After a few minutes of research, I found out that the safest way to back up a plane is by pushing/pulling it away since pilots cannot see far to the tail and because airports are always busy. In extreme conditions, air planes can back up by applying breaks on one side of the wheels and raving the engine on the same side. This will cause the air plane to move in a spinning motion then you do the same on the other side of the engine but it is not easy on the engines. Think beyond what you can think of.
Originally published at joshokello.com on September 17, 2015.
Originally published at medium.com