You might be pretty smart, but are you wise? A smart person knows facts, but a wise person knows truths. A smart person can find a solution to a problem; a wise man avoids the problem altogether.
They say that wisdom comes with age, but who wants to wait that long?
It would be better to start working on becoming wise soonest possible. While experience matters, there are other ways to boost your wisdom than taking the long route of experiencing it yourself.
Use these strategies to start becoming wiser today:
- Read books. Books are one of the best ways to gain wisdom quickly. Authors condense the information they think is most important into a few hundred pages that you can learn in a week or two. It took the author a lifetime to learn these things, and you can access it all in less than a month. What a deal! I will caution you to be picky when choosing what to read so that you pick the best books to take you to your destination. Not every book is for you.
- Find a mentor. A mentor is an expert in an area of interest to you. A mentor can help you with your relationships, fitness, career, or any other specialized facet of life. The right mentor has excellent experiences to share with you, imparting wisdom.
- Revisit your past for mistakes. Your mistakes have a lot to teach you. If you shift your perspective, they have loaded gems to learning. A misstep is just a step in your growth.
- Most mistakes are avoidable. Think about how you could have prevented your mistakes from happening in the first place. Go through them one after the other, think through them with a new perspective and make it your daily habit.
- Most of your mistakes could have been handled better after the facts. Again, review your missteps and consider what you could have done versus what you did.
- Examine your past for success. You have had success in many areas of life. But you probably did not take the time to learn as much from them as you could have. Review your successes. What did you do right? Can you do that again? There is power in replicating success in different areas of life.
- Evaluate your day. Your day is the most precious resource you have. Spend 30 minutes at the end of each day and see what you can learn from your day.
- Did you spend your time well?
- What mistakes did you make?
- What did you do well?
- What could you have done better?
- How can you have a better day tomorrow?
- Learn from the mistakes of others. You can also learn from the mistakes of others. Everyone around you is making mistakes. Feel free to examine mistakes by others and learn what you can from them. Other people’s mistakes can be of benefit to you.
- Invest time to think. Think before you speak, decide, or take action. When something out of the ordinary happens, think. Not enough people take the time to think. Investing your time in thinking can avoid a lot of challenges. Do you have your thinking corner?
Older people have many experiences. But you will frequently hear them say, I wish I had known this when I was younger.
You can start becoming wiser today. You can learn many things immediately after you are ready; to benefit from them while you have the energy to implement them. You do not have to spend a lifetime making mistakes to become wise.
Learn from your experiences and the experiences of others. Read great books. Get a mentor. A little work now can pay off for the rest of your life.
