How often do you consider Wisdom as something to improve upon, or to grow? Most of us tend to take wisdom for granted, or believe it is something that just comes with time. However, when applied with intent, there are ways to improve your wisdom quotient.

Wisdom is essentially good judgement. It’s a combination of intelligence, knowledge, and experience. For example, it’s easier to be wise if you’re intelligent, but not absolutely necessary. Wisdom can be thought of as having the experience, the knowledge, and the ability to make good judgments.

While it does take time to obtain wisdom, there are some tips that can help you get there faster. Don’t rush it, though. Sometimes, time is exactly what is needed and recognizing that will help you put in that time.

The more you know, the more your knowledge will add to your ability to make wise decisions. Experience is one way of gaining relevant knowledge. There’s no downside to becoming a wiser person. Wisdom will always help you to better navigate your way through life.

Follow this process and you’ll develop greater wisdom:

Take Note of Your Successes

Understanding what made you successful at something is a key component of maximizing your wisdom. Why were you a better student in math than your best friend? Why were you able to reduce your marathon time by over 30 minutes?

Take Note of Your Failures

Reviewing your failures isn’t as fun as reviewing your successes. However, there’s much to be learned from your failures. Repeat the above exercise with your failures this time. Understand why you were unsuccessful in each case. Was it a lack of preparation? Was it a lack of commitment? Did you trust the wrong person?

Learn From the Journeys of Others

Why reinvent the wheel? That statement gets used quite often, but it’s true. If somebody has already gone through what you are trying to, use what they have done. Read about people who have been successful in what you are trying to learn or attempt.

Review Your Day

At the end of each day, review all of your successes and failures for the day. What went well? Why? In what areas did you struggle? Why? Reviewing each day is a wonderful way to build your wisdom and to avoid repeating your mistakes. Grab your journal and start keeping clear notes. Please see my post on journaling for deeper self understanding.

Find Yourself a Mentor

A good mentor will streamline your learning and help you create a path towards success. This will be much quicker than trying to do everything on your own. A good mentor will cost a fair amount of money, but you should be able to see a return on your investment quickly. Ask a lot of questions and get references. Make sure they are held accountable for actionable items that can be measured.

Consider joining a club that teaches subjects you are interested in learning. Hemi-Sync, Transformative Learning (The Ayurveda Experience), and Grokker offer wonderful personal growth courses. These are high-quality training that can help you keep up to date with your skills or gain new skills.

Study the Successes and Failures of Others

You’re not the only person with successes and failures. Who do you consider to be a wise person? Look at your friends, family, and coworkers. Read autobiographies of historical figures. What can you learn from all of these people? What about their journeys can you apply to your own life?

Try Not to Focus on Money

People who are obsessed with making money will jump around from job-to-job or opportunity-to-opportunity. They may let go of opportunities too quickly, giving in to ‘shiny new object syndrome’. If you take the time to build a good foundation you will have the necessary wisdom to earn decent money naturally.

Consider Yourself a Philosopher

Considering a wide variety of perspectives can help you to better understand the world. A Christian can learn a lot from reading about Buddhism. A nihilist would be well-served to consider existentialism. Actively expand your understanding of the world around you.

Put Your ‘Listening Ears’ On

No matter how much we learn and how much we come to know, there is always more to learn. You cannot tell simply by looking at someone what they are capable of. Learn to listen to these people and find out what they know. Listening is about becoming interested in them and asking the right questions. They will appreciate the recognition, and you will gain insight from them.

Read, Read, and Read Some More!

If you read the right things, you can learn a lot. The latest Dean Koontz novel may be stimulating, but probably won’t do much for your wisdom quotient. Reading Don Miguel Ruiz or Gregg Braden might be good, though. Reading is a way of receiving the knowledge of the greatest minds in history. Reading will not make up for getting experience, but it will help you to learn more about what you are trying to accomplish. You want to constantly be learning new skills and ideas. The more you know, the more you can apply to your life. This will help you gain the necessary wisdom you seek.

Take on an internship on something you have wanted to learn and gain experience with. Don’t concentrate on what you may get paid. This is something that you can do as a secondary effort, or you can go full time if needed. Learn as much as you can and ask a lot of questions.

Try to Avoid Jumping to Conclusions

Before you make a decision, take the time to get all the information necessary. Assuming too much is a great way to make a poor decision. When you challenge assumptions, you will increase your ability to be discerning and not get caught publishing unverified information. This makes you the authority.

Release All That Is Not Important

Small details will only get in the way of your success. Try to figure out what details are important and try to downplay the ones that aren’t. Others are likely to make a big deal of small items. Don’t let this get to you. It’s likely you have heard the term choose your battles. You don’t want to be fighting over every little issue that comes your way. Choose the right ones.

Try Not to Act Impulsively

Calm yourself and make wise choices. Impulsive decisions are the result of out of control emotions. Strong emotions are great and have their place, but you don’t want to make important decisions when your emotions are running wild.

Really Get to Know Who You Are

Study yourself. You’ve examined your successes and failures, but you can take that further. Understand how you think and behave when you’re stressed, happy, tired, or frustrated. Become an expert on yourself. It’s much easier to fool yourself than it is to fool others.

Gain a Ton of Life Experience

A huge part of wisdom is experience. You don’t gain experience by sitting on the sidelines. You have to get in the game if you want to maximize your wisdom. Experience and wisdom go hand in hand.

Choose one classic philosopher and study their works. Find a group of people that you can discuss it with.

Wisdom is a somewhat vague concept, but we all know it when we see it. Wise people see the big picture and never lose sight of the forest for the trees.

Wise people are self-aware, have a good understanding of human nature, and enough experience to have a strong foundation for their decisions. Some people seem to naturally possess more wisdom than others, but wisdom can be developed in anyone.

Recommended Reading:

Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience:

Thinking, Fast and Slow:

A Short History of Nearly Everything:

Mastery:

Meditations: A New Translation

The post 15 Steps to Improving Your Wisdom Quotient appeared first on Mindful Mystic Mama.