29 life-changing habits that will make you smarter and ready for success

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If you want to better your life and make better decisions that can help you ace life, here are 29 habits that will make you smarter!

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I was never a smart or intelligent kid academically at school or even now, I did not enjoy studying, but over the years, I absolutely love learning about life.

How I can live life in a better way? So I can make smart decisions in the long run.

School or college did not teach us to how to ace life but exams, I wish we were taught those things that we need to change our life.

There was a point when I was lost and struggling with life, but as time passed, I developed certain habits, It helped me grow and navigate my life in a better direction.

In this post, I will share some of those habits that can help you truly become smart in life and make better decisions.

Table of Contents

29 Habits that will make you smarter

1. Reading self-help books/blogs

The books we studied in school taught us about the subject and not how to live life. Self-help books are one of the best things out there because they teach you exactly that.

These are people who have experienced something already, which you must be experiencing now or may in the future.

They share their whole experience in a book that we can read, think about and perhaps learn from

There is a book about everything from, dealing with break up, grief, depression, and self-love.

There about books about money and finance, business, almost everything!

The same goes for blogs, many authors who wrote a book had a blog first, blogs are free and a great way to find answers to your question.

Find ideas and guidance in life.

At any point in your life, whatever you are going through, reading a book around that topic can be immensely life-changing in navigating your life.

This is a habit you must build in order to live life smartly!

2. Listening to Podcasts

After books and blogs, Podcasts have become a new thing! If you are someone who does not like reading

Listening to podcasts can help you. Just like books, there is a podcast about everything!

I love listening to podcasts where the person shares knowledge through their personal experiences.

It gives a different or deeper perspective on a topic.

Here are some of the podcasts I love listening to

3. Taking online courses and building your skills

This one habit I implemented in my life last year, and Oh Boy! How it has changed my life drastically!

I have been taking online courses and learning about digital marketing and blogging. It has helped me so much in growing professionally.

I am happy because now I have one skill that will stay with me forever, and I can use it for my growth.

Focus on building skills because they stay with your forever and you can use them to make money, help others, and grow

4. Using a Planner

If you tend to forget easily or need a place to organize your thoughts and plan properly. Using Planners can be a smart way to tackle this situation!

Planners can be your best friend, and I love using them for my work

It eases my tasks, and I can easily plan out all work-related things in one place, from making a content calendar to goals and strategies, everything!

Here are my few posts to help you on using a planner

5. Reading fiction books

While everyone glorifies the importance of reading self-help/nonfiction books to become smarter, In my opinion,

reading fiction books is also important, fiction books help in unlocking your creativity and increase your knowledge in other areas

from different cultures, vocabulary, to many more things. If you are in the creative field.

Reading a few Fiction books can help you a lot!

6. Challenging yourself

Challenges are a great way to push yourself for more growth, Whether in small ways or big.

Taking challenges is a part of growing in life. There are so many ways and areas you can challenge yourself in-

In workouts- trying more challenging workouts to build stamina and muscle
In your work field- experimenting
taking a self-care challenge
Taking a self-improvement challenge
take up a 21-day journaling challenge

7. Discovering yourself more

Self-discovery is the only initial way to improve yourself! When you are connected with yourself and self-assured

It is easy for you to make a decision that aligns with your values, dreams, and feelings, but when you are out of touch with yourself.

You tend to feel lost and confused about what you should do, what is right!

Get to know yourself, learn, and try out new things to know what you like and what you don’t!

8. Using your commute time effectively

We all have 24 hours, and at times we feel like there is so much to do and you don’t have to do something or the other

most of the time for many people go away on their commute! You can use this time to read a book, o listen to podcasts!

9. Prioritizing everything

There is no lie, almost all of us have an endless number of things to do in a day. At times, it gets overwhelming because you don’t know what to do, when, and where to begin.

When it happens to me, I find that prioritizing is one of the habits that will make you smarter and is the easiest way to simplify this confusion.

Here is how you can divide and prioritize all your things

Now you know, tasks that are important as well as urgent need to be taken care of asap, and then others

10. Using less screen time

I probably need to be more disciplined, when it comes to using less screen time. I usually sit all day on my laptop and work and as well as use my phone the rest of the time.

It can be challenging, but it is important for both our eyes and brain to use as much screen time as possible.

It is said, It is okay to have a maximum of 4 hours of screen time in a day, anything beyond that is not good for your brain!

Make sure you are taking out at least 1-2 hours in a day completely detached from the screen

11. Meeting people from areas you want to grow in

If you want to learn or grow in an area of life, meeting people from similar a area can help you learn more about it.

You can make connections, find someone to share with, and learn so much from them!

12. Questioning everything

While it is great we are getting so much information from all the sources out there, from news, blogs, books, podcasts, etc…

We must question everything, even if they are said by successful or influential people.

We must not believe everything blindly, whatever someone says, instead, question and find our own thoughts and perspective.

It is great, that we get this information because it opens new perspectives on life and looks at things from a different angle.

At the same, we must also question and take our time to understand what you feel is the best!

13. Saying no when needed

Setting your boundaries is important, and if you feel you don’t want to give your time or energy to something you genuinely do not want to do

Then don’t feel hesitant to say no. Choose your path, choose your happiness.

Society is always trying to shape our decisions and forcing us to follow what they believe in

It is okay to say no

14. Revaluating your social media following

We naturally tend to scroll through social media and follow random accounts that might be pretty useless.

Now it can be tough to distinguish because social media is not just for knowledge but for entertainment too.

Take a look around your social media following and your feed, and see the type of content that mostly pops.

If you use to spend a huge amount of time on that app, you must observe and evaluate what is content, I use for entertainment and connections and some for knowledge.

You may end up finding many that are for neither of them and just fill up your feed and make you scroll all day long.

Revaluate your following so you use it as a minimum distraction, not more

15. Playing brain-challenging games

One of the great habits that will make you smarter is also playing brain-challenging games.

Games like – chess, sudoku, and Rubik’s Cube ( read more names here) help in challenging your brain and make you smarter!

16. Watching Documentaries

Documentaries on someone’s life or area or matters like – money. business, health, and tidiness

All of them are a great way to gain knowledge and a way of doing things!

When I watch a documentary by Mary Kondo on tidiness. It really helped me improve my minimalist and cleanliness habits.

Now, I tend to keep less clutter in life, by only getting things, that I need and using them thoroughly!

Just like that, watching documentaries on different topics can open your way to doing things differently and grow your mindset!

17. Eating brain-boosting food

Nutrition is the real deal in boosting your brain! Including foods in your diet that are good for your brain, such as-

Green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, collards, and broccoli –
Fatty fish.
Berries.
Tea and coffee.
Walnuts.

18. Getting sleep

Sleep plays a major role in removing toxins from the brain and recovering other parts of your body.

Our brain is very much active when we sleep and is working to help heal our body.

By not getting good sleep, we can disrupt that process and affect our bodies in the long run

19. Dopamine detox

Our mind wants instant rewards that motivate us to do certain things more, you can say the instant pleasure that makes us feel good.

With the rise of so many games and social media apps, we get that instant dopamine which is not really healthy.

We keep scrolling or playing because we get rewarded little by little nonstop.

It keeps us hooked on our phones, and we don’t want to do anything else now

Now, we have gotten so used to this lifestyle that we hardly do any work and spend more time on the phone!

This is why a regular dopamine detox is needed!

It helps us in removing all the instant unhealthy rewards from our life for a while and find that pleasure in doing real work.

This way, our productivity increases, and we get so much done!

20. Seek professional help when needed

Taking professional help is the smart way to grow in life

Many of us hesitate to ask for help and prefers to do and handle things by ourself

However, at times taking professional help, can save us time and energy, and we can get learn things better and at times, even faster!

For example, if you wanted to learn how to sing, and as of now, you suck at it.

Rather than trying to learn on your own and struggle with it, you can lessons from a vocal coach and improve your singing!

21. Improving your communication skills

As an introvert, I definitely struggle with it! However, I have realized that only if I knew how to communicate better in person.

I could socialize more and get more opportunities.

I think, improving communication skills can help anyone in whatever field they are in!

22. Take action quickly

There was a time when I wanted to do something if I had a dream or goal

I would spend so much time planning things out like this is how I will do, or once this happens then I will follow this dream

Eventually, I never fulfilled any of those dreams because I never took action

After experiencing it a couple of times, I realized that instead of planning too much, taking quick action is more important!

23. Push yourself away from gossip and drama

Gossip and drama can feel exciting, but it truly wastes our time, the more you start talking badly and discussing with others

the more you will get yourself in drama. instead of wasting your energy on that

Shift to doing things that you are passionate about and truly make life happy and exciting!

24. Feed your mind the right things

I have shared a lot about reading books, watching documentaries, and so on

because in order to be more, feeding your mind the right things is very important

the kind of stuff we watch the most, we end up being like and thinking like

You must separate entertainment and make it a limited part of your day and be mindful of what you are watching, reading, and listening to more

25. Success is subjective

Success is something, we all aim for, and I feel at times, this word can get toxic! It is not just about being rich and famous,

It is a very subjective term, what success may seem to you might e different from others.

Instead of following others and how they evaluate success in their life, try to introspect and find your version of success.

What does being successful truly means to you? Do you even care about being successful?

All this will help you find what your true self wants!

26. Making mistakes is a part of life.

Quite often, when we make mistakes, we become really harsh on ourself

Either we spend all the time regretting or calling ourselves dumb for doing that or we become fearful and give up trying

Society plays a huge role in that because as a kid we were always looked down upon when we made mistakes big or small

But in reality, everyone makes mistakes, of course, we don’t know so many things in life, and as we challenge ourselves to try new different things

We end up making mistakes, we learn and then do not repeat them again

Making mistakes is a part of life, and we cannot ever avoid it, the more you fear it or try to run away from it, the more anxious you will feel and get stuck

27. Being content is more important

While being ambitious and striving for growth is a great thing, it is also important to realize that there is no end goal when it comes to growth and ambitions.

You are constantly affecting your health and happiness telling yourself, once I achieve this, or that then, I will focus on health or happiness.

But that does not happen because there is no limit to growth and ambition

You must take a step back and remind yourself to feel content with where you are, focus on your health, relationships, and happiness while still aiming for growth

28. Stay Consistent

One of the reasons we tend to fail to achieve our goals is because we are never consistent. If you decided, on something, stick to it

Stay consistent as long as it is needed even if you cannot see results now. Results take time and most importantly, consistent efforts!

When I started this blog almost more than one year ago, I saw no results for 6 months, But I had promised to stay consistent and keep improving myself no matter what

Now 6 months later, my blog started kicking off and is still growing!

The same goes for everything in life!

Here is how to be consistent with goals

29. Manage your time well

Lastly, it is important to build effective time management strategies to effectively use your time for everything.

From working to making time for personal care and getting everything done!

Conclusion

So these were my 29 best habits that will make you smarter!

I think, being smart is more about doing things mindfully and by your heart while making, the best use of resources and knowledge!

I hope these few tips help improve the quality of your life!

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