I once saw an interview with Shaquille O’Neal stating that when he grew up, he wanted to be smart; this was the first time I ever thought of intelligence as something you can develop and not just a trait to be born into. You can become “smart” through living a whole life and learning as you experience the world, or by becoming wise beyond your years.

Becoming more than your years is many things, among them lucrative, rewarding and simple. I have put together 3 rules that should you comply with; you will explode with intellect:

1. Be present in your life; do not be a spectator. 
2. Manage your time.
3. Read.

Firstly, by being present I mean to absorb what is around you, learn from living, dont make life teach you twice. Next cut out the waste, stop scrolling start creating, stop gossiping and go be someone worth talking about. And Finally the true purpose of my writing this, start reading.

There is no excuse for a literary man to be any less than 3000 years of age. If you can read, you need not be entirely original. A man who does not read is the equivalent of a man who is trying to build every component of a car from scratch. This man must make rubber for tires, forge an engine, figure out every problem. A literary man on the other hand may simply walk into a dealership and leave with a brand new model. So yes you may grasp the wisdom of men who lived 3000 years ago and thus become wise. 

Before we begin I will caution you:

Do not read a bit and think you are the wisest to ever live.

A man who only reads other mens ideas and thinks of none for himself is low. 

Now, where to begin. Everything is connected, warfare, history, science, you name it, it all connects to this life we live. The important part is to find information that resonates with you. Begin with an area you’re strong in, and as you round out your knowledge base, shift to areas of weakness. Lets say you have a great memory for history but dont understand human relationships well, start with history and you will learn both history and relationships, when you shift to psychology things will start to click and this is where wisdom lies, connection. The ability to retrieve information from your memory and deploy in effectively(making connections) is intellegence. It is in this manner you will become greater. Now is the time to demonstrate to yourself the truth in what I am telling. 

Begin,

-B