 How would you react when you hear your friend's sister receives a 4.0 CGPA in her exam? Probably, she's smart. But let's say you watch a tourist not leaving a tip for the restaurant staff while traveling in another country. Do you react the same way? And what about when someone talks to you about their emotions and explains why they feel the way they feel? This is where BookSmart, StreetSmart, and EmotionallySmart comes into the picture. Oxford Dictionary defines BookSmart as being highly knowledgeable about academic subjects, but only knowing a little about real-life people and interactions. On the other hand, some people might refer to StreetSmart as common sense, or having tact. It's also known in the scientific community as social intelligence. Psychologist Edward Thorndike explained that social intelligence is understanding other people, managing them, and acting appropriately in social situations. Being emotionally smart is when you're aware of your emotions and can control and express your emotions while also being capable of managing interpersonal relationships with empathy. With the right habits, you can become academically, emotionally, or socially smarter. With that said, here are five habits that will help you to become smarter. Curiosity doesn't kill the cat. Is your mind always searching for answers to these questions? What is that? Who made it? How does it work? If so, you have a curious mind and always feel the need to dig deeper beneath the surface. Research published in the journal Neuron concluded that curiosity is linked to better memory and learning capacity. The reward circuit in the brain becomes active when you're curious. You're more likely to learn and retain information when the reward system interacts with your hippocampus, a brain region responsible for forming memories. Curiosity makes you passionate and interested in a subject. So memorizing information about it becomes easier. Mental Exercises Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Scientists Stuart Ritchie and colleagues conducted a study of identical twins ages 7 to 16, where they discovered that differences in reading during their childhood years influenced their intellectual development. In other words, when you read more, you'll improve your reading skills and can learn more complex knowledge. Reading does not only make you academically smart, but it can make you emotionally smart as well. In a 2013 study, psychologists David Kidd and Emanuel Costano demonstrated that reading literary fiction helps readers understand other people's emotions better. Each twist and turn allows readers to delve into the minds of others and think critically about them. Empathy, creative thinking, and vocabulary are all developed through these mental exercises. Write your feelings. If writing it is, this dash at the paper of a phrase, this sweep of a brush, that's the question Virginia Woolf asked herself back in 1923 as she wrote in her personal diary. One fascinating thing about this English author was that she chronicled her writing process on a regular basis. She loved to document her feelings and thoughts while she was working on a novel. Emulating this daily habit practiced by Virginia Woolf helps you be conscious of amazing things while emptying negative thoughts out of your mind. According to researchers Kit Klein and Andrew Bowles, writing your experiences in a journal improves your working memory capacity. When you write, you're constantly driven to think about recent life events and their outcomes as you try to express them logically. Researcher James Penn Baker also explained that through journaling, attention is paid to emotional experiences, which may increase the understanding of your emotions. When you journal, you can express your emotions in a safe, self-directed environment, enabling you to become more aware of how you feel and think. Listen to silence as you meditate a dreamy voice from the podcast guides you. Whatever thoughts come and go in your mind, simply observe them as if from a distance. Mindfulness meditation emphasizes being aware of what you're thinking while being in the present moment. A study conducted by neuroscientist Sarah Lazar and colleagues has proven that long-term meditators had more gray matter in the frontal cortex, a brain region that makes executive decisions and is involved with working memory. Working memory affects many cognitive functions such as understanding language, reasoning, and problem solving. And what's interesting? 50-year-old meditators had the same amount of gray matter as 25-year-olds. Become a people watcher. Organizational psychologist Ronald Rigio says that people who are street smart know how to play various social roles. Being observant of social interactions and subtle social cues will help you understand unspoken social norms in a community. Pay attention to how others behave and what they say to help you read the other person's thoughts and feelings. Also develop the habit of watching how people of different cultures and ethnicities interact so that you can also be culturally aware and sensitive. Keep in mind that being smart is not restricted to doing well academically. Smartness also means you're attuned to your social environment and the feelings of those around you. Be proud of the progress you make as you cultivate these habits to become smarter. Whether your goal is to be more emotionally sensitive or navigate better in social environments, you're truly capable. And remember, you matter.