Intelligence comes in many forms. While skills like logic, math, spatial reasoning, and language tend to be associated with being “smart,” plenty of other high intelligence markers may not seem so obvious at first glance. Some habits and tendencies displayed by the most brilliant thinkers and innovators throughout history could even be called peculiar.
Though these behaviors may appear unintuitive, they serve critical cognitive purposes for enhanced information processing, innovative thinking, and managing extremely active minds. Upon closer examination, the weird habits of highly intelligent individuals offer a fascinating insight into how differentiated brains work.
1. Daydreaming Enhances Creativity
Intelligent people have very active, curious minds with constantly whirring thoughts and imagination. This leads them to daydream significantly more than average. Their drifting focus allows creative neural connections as their minds explore abstract concepts and scenarios. Daydreaming enhances open-minded thinking and idea-generation abilities.
For example, Albert Einstein was known for staring aimlessly for hours while lost in thought. These daydreaming sessions allowed his mind to visualize insightful scientific concepts.
2. Solitude Facilitates Deep Thinking
Brilliant minds often purposefully seek alone time to engage in deep thinking without disruptions. Social interactions can overstimulate an active mind. Solitude provides space for reflection, complex problem-solving, and thought development without external noise.
Isaac Newton, for instance, isolated himself for 18 months while developing groundbreaking physics theories that he likely could not have formulated as swiftly without focused solitude.
3. Inquisitiveness Fuels Learning
Highly intelligent people are intrinsically motivated to keep learning. Their natural curiosity leads them to ask questions about the world and people around them frequently. This inquisitiveness continuously supplies their minds with new perspectives and information to fuel further intellectual growth.
Marie Curie, one of the most significant scientists in history, was passionate about learning. Her non-stop questions as a child motivated her pioneering research as an adult.
4. Cluttered Environments Support Volume Thinking
Brilliant individuals often have remarkably messy desks and workspaces full of piles of books, papers, and other disorganized items. However, this clutter visually represents their volume of ideas and curbs perfectionism to maintain focus on the bigger picture. The clutter is a side effect of active minds that overlook minor details.
Groundbreaking mathematician John Nash was known to work in offices littered with intricate mathematical formulas scrawled over every surface when he made critical thinking breakthroughs.
5. Procrastination Prioritizes Mental Effort
Very smart people often procrastinate on everyday routine tasks. This is not due to laziness but because mundane activities seem like a waste of mental effort that could be applied to more complex pursuits. Intelligent minds crave challenges and thus will instinctively avoid tedious work.
Even esteemed writer Ernest Hemingway put off household chores as much as possible, preferring to devote his mental energy to writing despite the messy consequences.
6. Pride Reflects Intrinsic Motivation
Brilliant people tend to be very private about their abilities and accomplishments unless required for practical reasons to share them. Their pride comes from intrinsic rewards like satisfying curiosity rather than needing external validation. Publicizing intelligence is often seen as a pointless status concern.
Even after developing the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein remained extraordinarily modest, refusing to publicize his achievements out of disinterest in fame.
7. Obscure Interests Demonstrate Engaged Thinking
Very intelligent people commonly have niche interests that seem rather obscure, esoteric, or even bizarre to the general public, like memorizing pi to hundreds of digits or studying intersecting lines of obscure philosophers. These passions reflect how their minds proactively engage with concepts that mainstream society overlooks.
British mathematician John Horton Conway became enthralled with the abstract visual patterns of Penrose tiling, dedicating years to studying their anomalies.
8. Irony and Sarcasm Represent Skeptical Humor
Highly intelligent people often appreciate witty, ironic, dry, or sarcastic humor more than silly slapstick or straightforward jokes. This preference reflects how their minds detect complexity and subtlety. Their humor reveals an instinct to challenge assumptions and avoid taking things at face value.
Pioneering scientist Marie Curie preferred laughing at dark humor and irony rather than lighthearted comedy, seeking depth over simplicity.
9. Confidence Demonstrates Self-Acceptance
Very intelligent individuals tend to have higher self-esteem and lower social anxiety levels. They are self-accepting due to their competence, making them less dependent on others’ opinions. This lends them a sense of confidence that may come across as egotistical to less capable people.
Brilliant physicist Richard Feynman was known for his boastful storytelling manner. But this reflected his authentic self-assurance more than arrogance.
10. Recognizing Principles Indicates Systematic Thinking
Extremely smart people commonly see the bigger picture rather than memorizing concrete details. Their minds grasp underlying patterns and principles that allow more effective analysis. But this can cause them to miss apparent specifics that less abstract thinkers would catch.
Visionary inventor Nikola Tesla had lofty theoretical abilities but failed at hands-on experiments. His systematic thinking exceeded his practical skills.
Case Study: How Mark Became More Intelligent By Adopting These Habits
Mark was a 28-year-old office worker who felt professionally and personally stuck in a rut. He yearned to enhance his intelligence and live up to his full potential. After learning about the counterintuitive habits of highly intelligent people, Mark decided to incorporate more of these behaviors into his lifestyle.
First, Mark scheduled one hour of undisturbed solitude every morning to think deeply about passion projects without external distractions. He also started taking daily 30-minute walks for daydreaming sessions to spark creative solutions.
To fuel his curiosity, Mark treated questions as his new default whenever meeting someone rather than making small talk. He also pursued obscure interests like collecting antique maps to engage his mind.
Moreover, Mark cleaned up his desk except for valuable tools to reduce unnecessary clutter. He occasionally procrastinated tedious tasks to prioritize more challenging goals requiring deeper thinking.
After several months of making these changes, Mark felt his concentration, abstract thinking, and creative problem-solving improve notably. Colleagues and friends commented on his fresh perspectives and insights. While some habits still felt unnatural, Mark realized optimizing his behaviors for intellectual growth could expand his capabilities in remarkable ways.
Conclusion
In summary, highly intelligent individuals share many unexpected tendencies like procrastination, solitude-seeking, and mental disorganization. But when examined closely, these seeming quirks enable enhanced information processing, complex thinking, and creativity characteristic of genius intellects. Next time you observe an eccentric habit, consider whether it may support advanced cognitive abilities rather than dismiss it as odd. The weird habits of intelligent people offer a window into the inner workings of our most remarkable minds.
