You asked how you can become smarter, but I think what you really mean is "How do I find the thing I'm passionate about?" (as some others have mentioned) When y

You asked how you can become smarter, but I think what you really mean is "How do I find the thing I'm passionate about?" (as some others have mentioned) When you have passion for a particular topic or field of study, learning about it very deeply won't feel like work and you'll naturally learn as much as possible. Provided you have the aptitude to actually digest and act on the information. Are you not trying as hard as you think you should because you're lazy or because you aren't studying the right thing for you? It's an important question to ask yourself. Or are you simply not smart enough to master the fields you think you want to be in? Not everyone has what it takes to be at the top of a field. When you find something you're passionate about, the intuitive understanding of how that thing/field/career works comes along with it (in my experience anyway).