How to Be Brilliant in 10 Simple Ways

1. To begin, forget all of the limits that you or other people have set for your own intelligence. Forget about your test scores, or the fact that you have not excelled in certain subjects. Being smart means being confident and not calling something a failure before you even try.

2. Stop being afraid of “looking stupid”. If there is a conversation going on around you, get involved, disregard your inhibitions. The people that speak up are the ones that learn, they are the ones that will in the long run become far more intelligent than those who saved themselves the possible slight embarrassment of “looking stupid” for a brief moment.

3. If you feel that you are incredibly intellectual, realize that arrogance is just as much a thief of knowledge as insecurity is. The moment you stop being able to learn from others is the moment you completely stunt your ability to grow. Listen to others; you may be immensely surprised by what they have to offer.

4. Talk to your friends and families about what they know and do. If you are a student, most likely your friends are learning entirely different knowledge than you are, just ask them about it. If you are an adult, there are countless careers that your friends and family have that play completely different roles in society than your career does. Stop talking about the celebrities and the weather and start talking about the beautiful and unique knowledge we all have to share.

5. If you are given a chance to try something new, work in a different environment than you are used to, or travel anywhere at all, take it. Getting stuck in a pattern of only enjoying the same experiences will bring you no ability to grow. You need to step outside your comfort zone to learn.

6. Read more. I am not telling you to read several books a week, just follow some blogs, search for articles, or watch videos. Find what interests you and expand your knowledge of it in little ways every day. The more you know, the more confident you are in sharing that with others, and the more satisfied you will feel in general.

7. Participate in activities that inspire you to be creative. Many people feel that you have to be one or the other, really smart or really creative. Creativity is intelligence. Just because you are amazing at calculus doesn’t mean that you cannot compose your own songs on the acoustic guitar. Music, art, crafts, and hobbies of all kinds inspire thoughts that are different from reading or memorization of facts. Innovative thinkers are the building blocks of this world, allow yourself to think outside of the box and be creative.

8. Talk about the things that everyone seems to be afraid to talk about. No one wants to bring up politics or religion or any topic that may inspire the least bit of emotion due to the fact that they fear controversy. Debating is healthy; it doesn’t have to be harmful. Be respectful and understanding of the beliefs of others, and realize that you can learn from them even if you do not agree. Start talking about what matters, you will be surprised by how much more value it will bring than partaking in only comfortable conversation.

9. Exercise and be healthy. Try to think more when you exercise. The endorphins released during physical activity free up your mind of stress and waste. Exercising actually physically clears your mind and is a wonderful way to start thinking of new ideas or contemplating different topics you don’t usually have time to think about when they are mixed with the every day thoughts.

10. Above all, the main way to be truly brilliant is to never stop appreciating the opportunities you have to learn. It is realizing that you will and can learn your entire life. Life doesn’t stop educating you after you leave school or your new job orientation. The difference now is that the teachers are just a little more disguised, and often you have to be confident and motivated enough to seek them yourself in their various forms. Realize the power of your mind and believe in it. Believe in that, and you will never be anything but brilliant in your own unique and beautiful way.

My Explanation of Love

I find that there have been many situations in deeper conversation where people ask me what I think of love and my answer leaves them staring at me taken aback, very confused by the words that just struck right into their hearts. It is because for one reason or another, we all have stopped talking about love. We talk about things that entertain us, stories that make laugh, situations that frustrate us, and little daily antidotes that spark conversation. But ask yourself this, how often do you sit down and reflect about the single most important, beautiful, and terrifying thing that you will ever encounter in your short life? The answer for me, is every day. Why? Because everything else is disposable and empty.

When you leave this world you will not take with you the shiny car sitting in your driveway, the touchdowns you had in high school, or the awards and medals you have saved to remind yourself of your self worth. No. The only way you exist in the end is through the love that you have shared with others. Even if you were famous in one way or another, even if you are remembered after you are gone, that is not preserving any part of you other than a memory. The people you touched, the hearts you changed, the lives you altered, and the emotion that you brought to life with those people, that is what keeps you alive, you will live forever in the love of others. This is because love is endless. As Morrie Schwartz said in my favorite book Tuesdays with Morrie, "Love is what keeps you alive, even after you are gone."

If you are rethinking some things right now, you are probably questioning something everyone seems to question their entire life, what is love? If love is what gives my life meaning, if it is the sole way I can leave any part of who I am in this world, what is it? One thing that love certainly is, is terrifying. It is vulnerable, and we don't like to feel vulnerable as people. We like answers, we like order, and we like to protect ourselves. We don't want to take a chance on believing in something that could hurt us or let us down. However, if you live life in this fashion, you end it with nothing. You must embrace love, in order to embrace true and endless happiness. Embracing love means accepting the fact that there is so much about it that you will never begin to understand. Love is illogical, unpredictable, and unexplainable. Therefore here is the twist in my story, my "explanation of love" is that there is not truly an explanation, and that is the single most beautiful aspect of love.


Love is an energy with endless power and needs no explanation. It is what will carry you when you don't believe in it. It is the look in another person's eyes when no words need to be spoken to express how deeply moved you are by their presence. Love is tears in difficult times. Love is the way it feels to hold a small life you brought into this world. Love is promises and devotion. Love is humility, honesty, and gratitude. Love is a feeling inside of you that takes over your every thought. Love is painful. Sometimes love gets ripped from you when you aren't ready to let it go. Love can give you hope in the most hopeless of situations. Love has so many forms. Above anything else what you need to understand is that love will never fail you.

Now a lot of you just shook your heads and debated not continuing to read this when you read the words "love will never fail you". How can that possibly be true? Have I not seen the divorce rate, do I not understand that love fails every day? Have I never experienced heartache? No, I understand all of those things. The thing many people do not realize is that people fail, and a lot of times we don't understand exactly what our plan is with love. We can never fully know what love has in store for us. What we can know is that love never fails. Love is believing in the plan it has for you. Love is having trust in an endless love, and in the power that holds.


My advice to you is to stop being afraid of the unexplainable. Stop trying to make yourself immune to emotion because that is what you believe society wants from you, or because you think that is the safest choice that you can make. Life isn't about being safe and never looking foolish, life is about being alive. My advice is to accept when love seems to fail you and realize that it truly has not. I am telling you to take down your walls, and feel love. So many things in this world are mediocre and shallow,  love should never be one of them. Open up your heart to it in every aspect of your life. Take it all in. Be vulnerable. Take a chance at being broken. Fight like hell not to let it go when you have. And if it does go, appreciate it, and be thankful for every moment it was with you. Because it returns in so many different ways and forms. Hug your parents, try to understand their love for you. Hold your children, tell them how proud you are of them and how blessed you are to have something in your arms that you love so completely. Open up to your friends, let them love you for who you are, do not portray an image that you feel they would want more. Love the people that you meet, learn from them. When you speak to people, put away all distractions and really be with them, listen to them, and be grateful for the opportunity you have to share conversation with them. Make sacrifices for those you care about. If you are in a relationship or friendship where love and respect does not exist, move on, and understand that love is not something you can live without. Understand that you deserve love. Love yourself for all that you are. Love the god that you believe in, feel every spiritual emotion that you desire. Love your community. Love your enemies. Love the person you are with, fully, publicly, endlessly, love them to a point where it actually physically moves you, and do not let that end. Never hide your love, never repress it, and never lose appreciation for it. Recognize how important it is. Understand deep in the core of your being that it is truly the only thing that really matters. Strive for it. Fight for it. Live in it. Realize the explanation for love, is that there is no explanation, and stop searching for one. Because that fact is the most beautiful and wonderful gift this world has given you.