HowToBeMoreIntelligent101: The First 38 Reviewed, Plus 2

1. Read staggering amounts, regularly returning to the classics both fiction and non-fiction.
2. Write your own notes of your daily learnings aiming for super concise summaries. In that way you must squeeze and reveal the essence of a subject.
3. Stay active during the day. That's not just 'go to the gym'. Stay active; you'll notice the ideas flowing so much more quickly and easily.
4. Reduce TV watching drastically. Talk, write, cook, listen to music, walk, shoot ball, hold hands....Instead.
5. Find a mentor. He/she inspires. He/she can spend some time with you. He/she will challenge you.
6. Develop other parts of the brain. Reading loads? Take up art.Writing loads? Take up the guitar. Playing in a band? Cook more simple, fresh food.
7. Write your personal manifesto. What do you believe in? What do you stand for? What are your resolutions without needing a New Year...Bonus: Zen & The Art of Cubicle Freedom.
8. Ask deeper questions and thus build your knowledge base upon which your best thinking-and intelligence-is dependent.
9. Multi subject. Read some chemistry along-side some marketing strategy. Some Cubism along-side some leadership coaching. Be amazed at how synergy comes into play, ideas spark and smartness is boosted.
10. Play with scale. Go smaller; consider the minutiae; go bigger: consider the landscape.
11. Change your environment and notice how the dulled, 'not smart' feeling will leave you.
12. Write a list of what you believe to be fundamentally true. And now ask what if everyone of those 'facts' were in fact malleable...?
13. Sit quietly on a beach for 1h with a blanket wrapped around you and watch the waves crashing. And now through boredom, through oh why? through meditative experiences will arise one or two epiphanies. Maybe some genius.
14. Sort out your music by mood and use it to change your mood; make sure there is 'I feel pretty damn smart' category. Keep it to yourself; humility allows smartness.
15. Start travelling again.
16. Admit that you make mistakes, errors and crazy decisions. But you are learning. And fast.
17. Go back to the primary source of your data more often. Read the wikipedia article. But then note and certainly read some of the sources quoted.
18. Every 45 minutes stop, stretch and ask: what is truly important at this point?
19. Create a virtual advsory team: assemble your heroes from all fields, alive, dead, imaginary and when you want inspiration, ask: what would they do?
20. Watch the World at War, the Ascent of Man and 2001, A Space Odyssey. Summarise each episode of the first two. Reflect on the third.
21. Stop the relentless interrupts to your quality thinking.
22. Go back-packing: climb high, breathe deep and take no photos. Just be there.
23. Crack algebra once and for all.
24. Read the history of the Periodic Table.
25. Review your week and intemise what could be improved for next week. Focus on when you were smart.
26. Focus on some of the other elements of intelligence apart from numeric/linguistic e.g. spatial (go shoot ball), musical (borrow a keyboard and learn some basics) and artistic (sketch with some charcoal).
27. Learn Chess and/or Go for mental stretch. And hopscotch for mind-body co-ordination.
28. Sleep until rested. Do not press snooze. Get up and stretch into activity. Fatigue causes stupidity.
29. Focus on the task for the time.
30. Work in intense pulses of application, say 90 minutes. Then take a proper break.
31. Develop your thinking: treat it as a skill.
32. Observe your thinking to refine it and get more bang per buck.
33. Use proactive thinking: what do I need to anticipate?
34. Use critical thinking: what do I need to do better?
35. Use lateral thinking: what do I need to do differently?
36. Get to grips with the subjunctive case in Spanish.
37. Listen to personal development audio books while driving between business meetings.
38. Take any major conspiracy theory and explain why it is false/accurate in 100 words.
39. Re-invent your working environment so that (1) distractions are minimised (2) the vital few are prioritised and visible (3) the trivial many look after themselves.
40. Look after your brain. Keep it oxygenated by stretching and breathing deep into the lungs. Keep it hydrated with pure water. Avoid it getting over-heated with fresh air. Avoid it getting chilled with a hat when necessary ;).