WHY SMART PEOPLE ARE SMART...

 You are not born instantly smart! Nurture vs. Nature. Nurture wins in smartness over time!
You may have seen a child prodigy who can play any classical piano piece at age 7 or a kid who can speak 14 different languages.  We we sit back in awe of the talent, but to begin to think that was just a gifted talent or "high levels of intelligence" without any work, practice or discipline is way off. 

We are all blank slates when we're born. We inherit some inherent above average abilities from our DNA and talents from God, but ultimately our futures depend on our work ethic, practice, and discipline. There are many super smart people who never amount to much, because they lacked the desire to refine their talents and hone their intelligence. And, on the other side of the coin, there are people we all know who had the odds stacked against them and went on to do amazing accomplishments. Point being, people aren’t born smart .People learn how to work with what they’ve got, and become smart as a result. Here is a top 5 of how to be smart!

1. Smart people read a lot!
As the quote goes, "Leaders are readers". Now it's amazing when someone who can download books into their brain and remember every single piece of information. But don't compare yourself to them. They are outliers! For most people, reading has to be a practice and a habit.
Reading is a skill just like any other. Go too long without reading and stretching your brain, and you’ll find the task to be  difficult — especially when it comes to recalling what you’ve read.
Smart people read often. And with practice they get better over time.

2. Smart people hang around other smart people.
If you want to become smarter, you have to spend time around people smarter than yourself. Remember this quote, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
When you spend time with smart people, their drive, their knowledge, their awareness inherently rubs off on you. It raises the standard you hold for yourself. It stretches your brain in ways you can’t get elsewhere.   Hold dear to this quote. “You are the reflection of the five people you spend the most time with.”

3. Smart people are ok with making mistakes
People who understand how intelligence is cultivated understand that “mistakes” are part of the process in learning. Every misstep is an opportunity to learn a lesson, improve, and move forward. Par of becoming “smart” is not fearing mistakes and instead embracing them. Just try to learn more from other people's mistakes hence the importance of reading!

4. Smart people see value in all types of knowledge.
Smart people think, “That’s interesting. I didn’t know that. Tell me more.” Always be curious and see opportunities to learn. There are never enough hours in the day to know everything, so look for golden minutes throughout your day to learn. Smart people embrace random moments of learning, and see them as opportunities to expand who they are and their awareness of the world.

5. Smart people work (very, very) hard.
Being “smart” is not a cake walk. You ever hear the phrase it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert. There is a reason for that as practice makes perfect. Hard work to dig into your craft and really learn it inside and out is the key to smart! Smart people don’t shy away from this sort of discipline. They create a life and a schedule that encourages it, forcing themselves to get done what they need to get done in order to remain in a constant state of growth.
This is the key to improvement, and to intelligence in general. It doesn’t just “happen.”
It takes hard work.

In summary, read, hang around with other bright people, be open to failing per process of learning, be open to all wisdom, and work hard. You do this and you will be smart! Enjoy! Keith Daniel Washo