Just the other day a friend asked me which hobbies will make a person smarter.
What a great question!
I thought about this question and did some research. From this I found the eight hobbies below that, if followed on a consistent basis, will improve cognitive capacity.
My belief is that any hobby that allows you to experience from the Learning Loop will make you better, stronger and smarter.
So long as you absorb and apply feedback through this loop, you’ll get better at whatever you do.
By applying this learning loop, these hobbies are proven to help people lead a smarter and more balanced life.
Reading – Expand Your Mind
Warren Buffet told students at a Columbia Business School: “Read 500 pages…every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.” Enough said :).
Writing – Structure How Your Brain Thinks
Jeff Bezos doesn’t allow his employees to express new ideas as slides….he only accepts written documents and narratives. There’s good reason for this. Writing is one of the best ways to train yourself how to structure an argument, build a story and convey ideas logically.
Education – Build Intellectual Wealth
Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, said “I am concerned that too many people are focused too much on money and not on their greatest wealth, which is their education.” Education is one of the best ways to expand your mind and increase intelligence.
Music – Expanded Cognitive Skills
While studies differ on whether there is such a thing as the Mozart Effect (a hypothesis put forward by Dr Gordon Shaw, that listening to Mozart while studying boosts IQ), listening to music is one of the very best ways to get into ‘flow’. Whether you’re studying or working on a complex problem, music can help your brain do its best work. And playing a musical instrument has been proven to increase cognitive skills and brain function. So if music is food for your ears, eat well and nutritiously :).
Martial Arts/Dance/Yoga/Focused Exercise – Know Your Body, Know Yourself
Intellectual intelligence is different from body intelligence. Truly knowing ourselves requires us to connect our mind and our body. Any hobby that does this – martial arts, dance, yoga, sports – will help you build this connection and learn about yourself.
Open Mindedness – Take An Expansive Frame
A good deal of the world is closed minded…but thankfully, many people are open minded. Practice compassion, tolerance, love. Look for the good in people and yourself. Be curious and treat the world as a place with boundless opportunity for learning. How we frame things is how we see things, so select an expansive frame rather that a limiting one. Your world will expand and so will you.
Travel – Build Empathy For The World
Travel builds empathy for other cultures. And empathy is one of the greatest ways to build emotional intelligence. See as much of the world as you can, but don’t forget the value of ‘home’. Every country is full of wonder, and that is true especially of the places each and every one of us come from.
Lifelong Learning – Start Curious, Stay Curious
Learning doesn’t have to stop. When I meet eighty and ninety year olds, I can tell the ones that have chosen lifelong learning.
They are still curious and alive with possibility.
Few other pursuits other than lifelong learning ignite our curiosity, keep our minds active and our bodies engaged.
Start curious and stay curious. Share what you learn with someone. Aim to never stop learning.
What do you believe are the most important hobbies that have made you smarter? Please consider sharing your thoughts by adding a comment.
