15 Unexpected Signs of a Brilliant Mind
Brilliance exists all around us, but it’s not always obvious. Especially if you have not had the pleasure of having an in-depth conversation with a brilliant person, you might have no clue you’re pumping gas next to or buying Twizzlers from a Mensa member.
If you’re interested in brilliant people, there are a few telltale signs that you can use to spot them. While you might find the rare dummy with one or more of these traits, these indicators are designated mainly for the highly intelligent.
1. Desiring to Solve Problems
Whether it is the dollar’s deflation or family arguments, brilliant people often seek solutions—even when none are available.
Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Problem-solving was at the top of his mind, and he is just one of many brilliant people who spend much of their time resolving personal and societal difficulties.
2. Living in Squalor
Studies suggest that highly intelligent people often have piles of clothes on the bed, coffee grinds strewn over the counter, and weeds in the yard. While this is obviously not always the case, these findings indicate that smart people often find the minutiae of cleaning and organization to be a poor use of time.
Ideally, someone’s intelligence will lead them to a lucrative career that allows them to afford a lawn service, maid, and other professional mess-removers if they can’t or won’t, though, don’t be surprised when you walk into your brilliant friend’s pigsty. They’re too busy solving the world’s problems to clean their room.
3. Staying Awake for Long Periods
Like owls themselves, the humans we refer to as “night owls” are often brilliant.
Those who connect to their passions, creative inclinations, and productivity at night show signs of an active mind. The smarter you are, the more likely you are to spend both weeknights and weekend eves awake. There, you finally have a legitimate excuse for your insomnia.
4. Cursing Up a Storm
We’ve all cringed as someone drops “MF-er” in every third sentence. This degree of base language is often a sign of classlessness. In some cases, though, hearing the occasional curse word can indicate you’re talking to an intelligent person.
One study found that those who swear more often have a larger-than-average vocabulary. This may seem counterintuitive, as we sometimes view curse words as a crutch for a limited vocabulary, but the findings are what they are.
5. Dissatisfaction With the State of the World
Smart people are often unsatisfied. You’ll find them criticizing their leaders’ economic policies, pointing out crumbling infrastructure, and critiquing how their spouse places luggage in the trunk.
The status quo is a brilliant mind’s greatest foe. It might be due to your high IQ if you find yourself discontented with just about everything.
6. Dressing Like a Bum
If there is one commonality between your most revered professor and the bum on the corner, it has to be the clothing.
Intelligent people often see spending money on clothing as a waste of resources. They are also embroiled in high-level thinking that makes the latest fashion trends seem mundane by comparison. While many smart people understand the value of looking decent, they are often unbothered by high fashion.
7. Rejecting Popular Media
While the masses consume Stranger Things, many brilliant people watch foreign shows on Acorn TV. While The Avengers and Fifty Shades of Grey dominate the box office and best-seller lists, popular films and novels have a pepper spray-like effect on the brilliant mind.
Brilliant people are intolerant of mindless media, whether books, films, television shows, or music. Their mind demands stimulation, and much of the most popular fare just doesn’t provide it.
8. Using Metaphors Liberally
Abstract thinking is an indelible part of being smart. Being overly literal is boring to a mind rich in imagination. So making analogies and metaphors is a sign of an active mind.
Why say “my life is really shitty right now,” when you could say “when it rains it pours?” Why describe your brother’s Thanksgiving eating habits as anything other than “a pig at a trough?” Life is too short to engage in tedious, literal language.
9. Reading
Those who tell you documentary films are an adequate substitute for books are probably lacking in the brain-cell category.
Books offer a level of depth that allows the reader to understand a subject. For brilliant people who demand answers to every question, reading is the only way to find intellectual satiety. Therefore, those you find reading often are most likely wickedly smart.
10. Dissenting from Popular Opinion
To the mind that values knowledge, being correct is more important than being liked. Therefore, peer pressure is often less effective on smart people, which extends to topics and opinions that might garner general public attention.
In other words, that uncle who has a way of riling up the entire dinner party with a single statement or question might be smarter than you suspect. The same goes for the bad guy or gal du jour that most people in society love to hate.
11. Being Schizophrenic
If you’ve seen the acclaimed movie A Beautiful Mind (about a Nobel Prize-winning mathematician named John Nash), you know that brilliant people are not impervious to schizophrenia.
Authorities have observed that schizophrenics often have “excellent genes,” but something in their environment or ways of living fails to feed those genes in a way that promotes sanity. Furthermore, we have to wonder whether brilliant peoples’ ability to recognize the true insanity in the world will inevitably lead to their own insanity.
12. Being Depressed
Studies have found that a higher IQ increases one’s risk for both neuroticism and depression.
Those who are highly perceptive, analytical, and thoughtful may tend to dwell on the bleaker aspects of life while alsofeeling less connected to the general public. This is one reason why organizations like Mensa and hobby groups for the highly intellectual are important. Smart people also need social connection and chill-out activities—they may even need these reprieves more than the average bear.
13. Being Cool Under Pressure
When many people are flustered in a chaotic situation (like an earthquake or fierce debate), intelligent people tend to be among the coolest heads in the room.
Rather than wasting energy or contributing to the chaos through yelling or crying, smart people know that someone has to find the solution—and, statistically, it will be them. While others are freaking out, the wheels in the brilliant mind are silently spinning in pursuit of a resolution.
14. Being a “Conspiracy Theorist”
Many apply the term “conspiracy theorist” to those who dig beyond spoon-fed narratives and recognize patterns where others see independent, unconnected occurrences.
The truth is that pattern recognition is a hallmark of critical thinking and high intelligence. Therefore, if you’ve heard someone referred to as a “conspiracy theorist,” consider that they’re just looking at problems in a more analytical, big-picture manner than the powers that would prefer them to.
15. Having Empathy for Others
Emotional intelligence is just a branch of actual intelligence.
Intelligent people have high levels of empathy, unless they fall into the categories of sociopathy or psychopathy. Such empathy can contribute to intelligent peoples’ penchant for depression, as they often take on others’ pain as their own.
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