This article is going to basically lay out 3 ways that you can become a smarter person that achieves more, gets more, does more and IS more. Some of these things you may have heard of, and you’ve likely seen these traits in high achievers, but now is the time to start applying them to your own life.

#1) Improve Your Math and Probability Skills

What is the probability that you will be successful in life? Do you have any clue? What is the probability that that girl will go home with you tonight? What is the probability that if you choose this guy over that guy that you will meet the deadline? Do you see the point here?Kids aren’t taught about probability these days and most people have no clue what it is. On the other hand, just about all of the big players like doctors, scientists, hedge fund managers, bankers and tons of PhDs have to study and use it all the time! What does that tell you?The better your probability skills, the better you will be when it comes to making decisions. I can’t teach you this stuff in a blog post, but I’m here to tell you that if you want to be a smarter person you need to look into probability!

#2) Speak like an Educated Person Does

Sounds like a no-brainer, but far too many people get it wrong here. What words would you use to describe an intellectual vernacular? Consider this: 20% of every single Graduate School Exam concerns logical reasoning. In really intelligent circles, that’s how they identify one another – through reasoning and probability skills and the words they use to operate/navigate through situations.

• It’s not about being wordy and incoherent. Instead condense your ideas, package them and then communicate them simply/directly.
• It’s not about coming off like a stogy jerk. Most often highly intelligent people use wit, comedy, irony and charm to temper their lofty verbiage.
• It’s not about soft data and general theories, but hard data and quantifiable/verifiable things.
• It’s not about operating on assumptions or base opinions.

#3) IQ vs. Logical Reasoning

While it’s near impossible to elevate your intrinsic IQ level, you can improve your critical reasoning skills. Here’s a simple example. Let’s say that a guy named Billy goes to a local Starbucks every single day and I say to you, “Billy goes to Starbucks often because he loves coffee.”Really? Why? What assumption am I making here? There are many kinds of assumptions, in particular Sufficient and Necessary. My assumption about Billy is necessary, meaning minimum. To give a sufficient assumption like, “Billy goes to that Starbucks every day because he’s in love with one of the baristas.” I better be ready to back that up with some hard data. Get it? Logical Reasoning & Critical Thought!

Assessment

You cannot improve your IQ. You cannot improve your inherent level of intelligence. You cannot go from a 180 IQ to 200. That’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you can become a “smarter” more effective person.

• Gain a basic understanding of math and probability.
• Study super educated people and how they speak to both other intelligent people and laymen. Critical. Objective. Logical.
• Watch TED talks, read high level articles, concentrate on Hard Data more often than Soft Data. Expose yourself to high IQ stuff and let it rub off on you.
• Be objective, don’t reply on base (sufficient vs. necessary) assumptions and make sure you always take context into account without fail.