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How to be Smarter Than Your Peers

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Do you know how to be smarter than your peers? What emphasis do you place on continuous learning? Do you even believe a personal learning and development plan is important?

Introduction: How to be Smarter Than Your Peers

I'm creating a membership site and it's taking me a lot longer than I expected. I have to remind myself not to be too hard on myself. The course I'm working on is Creativity, Innovation and the Art of Getting Ideas. I'm using my notes from the books I've read on creativity, innovation, ideation, and problem solving. I have to admit that it's an amazing experience revisiting books I've read on the topic.

You must be wondering what does any of this have to do with how to become smarter than your peers. You'll see shortly, I promise.

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Although the creativity and ideation models are different, they also have a lot of similarities. To see what others might miss, even the people who have read the same books as I have, I created a table. I added the big ideas from the books, as well as the steps in the ideation models. When you do something like this, it's easier to see the similarities and differences. One constant though, is gathering information. One book calls it raw materials

It's important to incorporate the daily practice of feeding your mind with information from diverse sources. And it's important to read books across disciplines. And read books written by non-Western writers. One of the best books I read this year is 0.1%: Join The Club of The Richest, Healthiest, Happiest by Simeon Ivanov. In the book, he talks about SMURT (Specific, Measurable, Unrealistic, Resourceful, Time-bound) goals. For me, that was a game-changer because most people will be doing SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) goals.

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Most people can push themselves to achieve more. But all of us like comfort, even though comfortable is not a great place to be. If you want to learn how to be smarter than your peers, then you have to do what they aren't willing to do. Start the practice of consuming what Rohit Bhargava calls ‘Brainful' media. Don't stay within your silo of specialization, read books from other disciplines and niches. Step outside your comfort zone.

Although I read a lot of books, another thing I do is read book summaries of books I probably won't read. This gives me the key concepts and another way of consuming ‘brainful' information. I subscribe to https://readitfor.me. In the yellow box below, you can use my affiliate link to get a subscription.

Reading a book summary is an excellent way to get the key concepts from business books. It’s also a great way to decide which books to buy to explore more deeply. Click the Readitforme link to join. Think of this subscription as your speed-reading superpower. You read the summary, therefore, you can digest and process the book faster. Additionally, read a summary a day to develop your idea muscles.

What the Most Accomplished People Do

The most successful people have mental and verbal abilities that would delight any philosopher of yore. How did they become that way? One book and one word at a time. To be smarter than your peers requires you to set aside time everyday to develop your mental and verbal powers. I mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating. Studies show that people with an extensive vocabulary earn more money.

Johnson O’Connor, a Harvard-educated engineer, and founder of the Human Engineering Laboratory, now called The Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation https://www.jocrf.org/, over a 20-year period tested thousands of Americans – of all ages, occupations, and levels of education – in an effort to identify and measure human aptitudes and study their relationship to a knowledge of English vocabulary.

He found that in nearly all cases, vocabulary correlated with executive level and income. In a study, documented in Earl Nightingale’s Lead The Field, O’Connor tested executive and supervisory personnel in 39 large manufacturing plants, and found that:

  • Presidents and Vice Presidents averaged 236 out of a possible 272 points

  • Managers averaged 168 points

  • Superintendents averaged 140 points

  • Foremen averaged 114 points

  • Floor bosses averaged 86 points

Information obtained directly from The Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation based on an in-depth research study conducted in 1984, shows that company presidents have significantly larger vocabularies than the norm group of clients tested by the Foundation. The Foundation’s clients average higher levels of education than the general population and therefore, have significantly higher vocabulary levels. Compared to this norm group, 50 percent of the company presidents scored above the 75th percentile in vocabulary.

In another research study published in 1990, results show that a sample of company managers from across the USA tended to have significantly higher vocabulary levels than the Foundation’s general testing population, but lower levels than company presidents.

These studies provide evidence that a relationship exists between an extensive vocabulary and executive success. The more extensive your vocabulary, the higher you are in the organizational hierarchy. From the studies, The Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation concluded that one’s aptitudes, or natural abilities point the direction for career satisfaction but that vocabulary will affect how far a person is able to go in a chosen career.

Source: Journey to Getting It by Avil Beckford. When I created this workbook in 2007, I called the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation to get information about the study.

The above study proves that building your vocabulary is important.  One of the things I do is to have a word and its meaning emailed to me every day. Additionally, during the time you schedule for professional development, read diverse books and take courses to update your skills. I read books every day, but I need to get back in the habit of taking online courses.

Now having said all of that, simply reading books and taking course will not make you smarter than your peers. It's picking out the ideas and applying them that will make the difference.

Have your read?


Non-Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future by Rohit Bhargava


idea hunter, macgyver secret,creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, decision making, improve your career,idea hunter book review, idea hunter summary, skills you need to thrive in 2025, skills you need, future proof your career,ability to learn,why learning how to learn,learn how to learn skills, tips for learning how to learn, what is best way to learn,what are lifelong learning strategies, how to be smarter than your peersWhen you review the information in the above table, you'll notice that creativity, ideation, innovation, problem solving and analysis are prominent. Learning the skills will give you an edge over your peers. How do you plan to learn the skills?

The Process: How to be Smarter Than Your Peers

To be smarter than your peers takes some effort on your part. And you have to make the actions a habit so they are automatic. Below are some of the things you could be doing.

  1. Learn a word a day.
  2. Read a book each week and choose books that make you think. Diversify your reading by reading broadly. You could read books that teach you skills.
  3. While reading, record interesting phrases to use as quotations in your written communications to make them shine.
  4. Take very detailed notes. Write notes in your own words.
  5. Review your detailed notes.
  6. Pick out the big ideas.
  7. While reading, always be on the lookout for ways to apply the information to your work and life.
  8. Connect the new information to what you already know. Never read in a vacuum.
  9. Compare notes from similar and dissimilar books.
  10. Join the Great Books Foundation.
  11. Join the Center for the Study of Great Ideas.
  12. Sign up for the School of Thinking‘s newsletter.
  13. Subscribe to book summaries.
  14. Join an online book club.
  15. Take free online courses.
  16. Listen to free podcasts.

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Conclusion: How to be Smarter Than Your Peers

Your peers will not be doing the above activities. According to Og Mandino,

“The greatest secret in the world is that you only have to be a small, measurable amount better than mediocrity… and you’ve got it made.”

Think about that for a second! Your peers will not be doing those activities. If you consistently do the above 16 things, in no time people will not only notice, but also admire the change in you.

How to Be Smarter Than Your Peers: How Avil Can Help You

Digest 30 Books in 30 DaysDigest 30 Books in 30 DaysDigest 30 Books in 30 DaysI have two products that will help you to be smarter than your peers. One is a book that you can purchase on Amazon. And the other is the MoreReads: Blueprint to Change the World program I created to help you learn the skills the World Economic Forum says you need to thrive up to 2025. You can buy the program on my website.MoreReads: Blueprint to Change the WorldMoreReads: Blueprint to Change the WorldMoreReads: Blueprint to Change the World

For the MoreReads program, you'll go through the process of picking out the big ideas from the books you read. And you'll also learn how to combine ideas  to make them bigger and better.

You're encouraged to always tie the ideas to a human need – a hot button. I advocate that professionals profit from their reading time. Click on the link in the yellow box below or the Buy Now link to the left to buy the MoreReads program. Thank you for supporting me and my work.

The most accomplished people use books as problem solving tools. They carve out the time in their schedule to find solutions in the pages of a book. Let me help you to solve your own problems. Additionally, this program helps you to learn valuable career skills. Click the link MoreReads: Blueprint to Change the World to buy.

This article contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on a link and buy any of the books from Amazon, the company will pay me a small commission. UPDATE: First published January 2010.

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The post How to be Smarter Than Your Peers appeared first on The Invisible Mentor.


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