How do you get more intellectually confident?

12 comments

1. Focus on the right thoughts

2. By accepting that you will always until you die have more things to learn. And by truly absorbing and committing to memory the knowledge you gain. And most importantly, by fact checking and checking the sources of the knowledge you acquire.

3. Think about the ways in which you *are* smart, be they trivial or fundamental, and acknowledge that you’ll always remain ignorant of many things.

4. You can’t get smarter. Whatever God gave you is what you have.

   You can be wiser and better educated. That’s just work.

5. I feel like you’re asking two different things. You’re asking for wisdom and you’re asking for intellect.

   If you want to figure out solutions to your own problems you have to know take them on paper so you can start visualizing where the gaps are. You have to understand with the gaps are in your plan so you can find solutions to those little issues so the whole entire issue can be resolved.

   as far as intellect goes, that’s usually more of an educational thing. intellect is really only testing the shit you learned in school. Literally school-based stuff. So all you have to do is go back to the basics of reading writing and arithmetic. overtime, you can have an increase in your intellect, depending on how you feel about intellect.

   One way to be perceived more intelligently is to remain quiet for a while and study people and listen to them. You have to do this for years. You don’t need to declare an opinion every single time. Just listen. Collect data, and then you can start discussing shit.

6. Stop focusing on intelligence, start focusing on achievements, skills and knowledge. Confidence will build up as you gain more of those. If you keep a good (honest) perception of your current level of abilities you’ll eventually be able to realize that you can do/understand pretty much anything, given enough time to gain the skills and knowledge necessary. Of course the amount of time and effort required varies from person to person, but as you build up your skillset and knowledge base you will bring a lot more things into reach. That’s when you will not only be confident, but also comfortable in challenging yourself.

   Edit to add:

   I like to train my creativity by thinking about close to unrealistic solutions and see if I could make them work. If I can’t see how I usually dial down on the “stretch” until I find something that would likely work. I do that even from problems I don’t personally have to solve. It’s just a habit that I’ve developed. I think it has helped my confidence in my creative problem solving because it’s sort of a second nature now.

7. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

8. Being comfortable with being an idiot in public if required. Many people hold their pride and nod along even if they don’t understand anything. Be mindful, ask questions, no matter how stupid. You will start assimilating more knowledge and developing better approaches to problems by learning from people smarter than you due to intelligence/experience. Soon you will be smarter than most people around you, but always keep in mind that there’s always someone smarter than you.

9. i think the way to do it is to know knowledge is the process of learning that begins in the womb and ends in the grave. You will always be in a space of learning and it is the beauty of life. We often make the mistake to compare out levels to those who do not have the same path. I have two friends who went away to school for their first two years of college and because of that there are something experiences and things they know better than I do and that cool. Back in the day I used them as a resource not feeling like they are better because we are all better than someone and someone is always better than use in this life. Be open, be willing to learn, be willing to do more, and enjoy the journey.

10. Move with the dumbest people.

11. Learn more. Read books, watch smart people talk, try and practice new skills and get feedback on how you’re doing.

12. Study hard. Read, learn, try new experiences. Build new neural pathways. I study every morning before I truly start my day. The topic varies, but I’m focused on always learning. I’m not smart at all, but I can make up for the gaps in my intelligence with frequent studying.