hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about 13 signs of a secretly
brilliant person now let's begin number one the natural Explorer intelligent people have a knack
for exploration you're passionate about learning you're constantly asking questions and you're
genuinely curious about the answers this curiosity motivates you to pursue knowledge throughout your
life you read you listen you absorb information well not because you have to but because it's fun
intelligent people like you are genuinely excited by obscure facts niche subjects and theories that
make them think you enjoy burying your nose in a book or listening to an expert share their
new discoveries with the world but how do we know curiosity is a reliable sign of intelligence well
because of a 2013 study we now have definitive proof their goal in the study was to investigate
whether or not investment affected intelligence in this study investment means dedicating your time
toward the pursuit of knowledge in other words the most invested participants were the ones who were
really excited about learning new things after looking at a sample of 60,000 participants the
data was more than clear intellectual curiosity is an incredibly strong predictor of intellect
and cognitive growth so if you're a natural Explorer there's a good chance that you're one of
the smartest people out there number two problem solving with self instruction smart people share
a lot of the same strange habits but talking to yourself has got to be one of the weirdest
you know what I mean yeah most people imagine geniuses quietly solving complex problems in their
heads but the best problem solvers think out loud you're using something called self instruction to
essentially talk yourself through a problem now normally when you're juggling so many different
things in your head it's easy to get confused your thoughts feel like a jumbled mess but self
instruction pulls the important information to the surface it turns your thoughts into
physical steps so that you can propel yourself from one idea to the next according to a 2012
study self instruction also works wonders for your concentration it's especially helpful when
you're trying to multitask it lets you tackle a range of variables without losing focus so don't
be afraid to talk to yourself okay okay people may give you funny looks and you might sound a little
bit crazy but more often than not self instruction is a marker of brilliance number three unexpected
complexity you can't turn off your intelligence just like you can't get rid of your face or the
sound of your voice so you can tell whether someone is actually intelligent by listening
to a casual conversation alright let's say someone asks you a question most people would give a quick
simple answer right but you see different sides of the question that no one else really notices and
once you start talking you end up diving much deeper than anyone expected you give too many
details and you start connecting stories or ideas that seem completely random on the surface it may
take you 10 minutes to loop back to the original question so to the rest of the world you just seem
like a talker but that's not what's really going on here this kind of unexpected complexity is a
surefire sign of a sharp and clever mind number four unconscious humility truly brilliant people
are surprisingly humble because they know how much they have left to learn they've only interacted
with a tiny sliver of the limitless knowledge at our disposal so they don't see themselves as
smart curious yes tenacious maybe but measuring intelligence doesn't mean much someone who's
actually brilliant it's just a title they don't feel the need to claim because they've got
nothing to prove on the other hand if someone just can't stop gloating about how smart they are it's
usually meaning the opposite they're desperate for other people to believe something that just isn't
true so if you love to learn but you don't really think of yourself as smart though you probably
are number five early reading ability in 2014 a psychological study found that childhood reading
ability actually predicts adult intelligence researchers looked at sets of identical twins over
the course of nine years and during that time they measured their cognitive growth to find out which
sibling would be more intelligent than why it turns out the sibling that learned to read first
was almost always smarter they perform better on cognitive tests and got higher grades even
though both twins were raised in the same setting that's actually the main reason why this study is
so useful most intelligence studies are impossible to validate you never know what factors could
have influenced someone over the course of their life but twins experience the same environments
interact with the same teachers and they learn from the same lessons yet one of them somehow
grows up to be noticeably smarter than the other thanks to this study we know now that reading
ability can predict which one number-6 giving less than your best many of the smartest people
accomplish amazing things without putting in much effort they score in the highest percentiles on
tests they earn prestigious awards and they grasp incredibly challenging subjects without batting an
eye others may complain about how exhausted they are but you may not feel like you're trying that
hard you're just going through the motions in fact you may not remember the last time you had
to give something your best hmm if this sounds like you I've got some good news you're a lot
smarter than you think number seven enjoying your solitude if you're secretly brilliant it'll show
in ways that you probably won't expect for example your intelligence affects your social preferences
a study from the British Journal of Psychology found that smart people are especially fond of
being alone you might spend your time thinking practising and asking questions in other words
you don't need other people to enjoy yourself you can almost always find new ways to spend your time
wisely now this doesn't mean you don't value your friends no matter how intelligent you are you do
rely on social bonding as much as anyone else in fact many smart people are incredibly extroverted
but as much as they enjoy the company of others they're usually more than comfortable flying
solo number eight complex comedy some of the most intelligent people have a notoriously weird sense
of humor but it's not actually that strange it's just more complex you see the best jokes work on
multiple levels and they have different meanings depending on who's listening some jokes are funny
to everyone think about stand-up comedians they tell the kind of jokes that anyone can laugh at
but other jokes appeal to a very specific audience they require a certain subset of knowledge for
them to make sense a physicist for example may laugh at a physics joke that no one else
really understands the same thing happens to most intelligent people you might have a more complex
sense of humor because you can understand why those jokes are funny number 9 identifying your
weaknesses everyone has strengths and everyone has weaknesses there's no way around that and smart
people know that better than anyone they're great at identifying their own shortcomings because they
can look beyond their personal biases but smart people take it one step further instead of feeling
sorry for themselves they're more likely to make a change they'll confront their sore spots by taking
risks and stepping outside their comfort zone if you're the kind of person who's always looking to
improve then you've definitely got a good head on your shoulders number 10 powerful memory people
talk about cognitive skills like they're each separate and independent but you know what they're
not they're all woven together in a big ball of cognition that's why being talented in one area
often affects the others memory is a great example if you have a strong memory you're probably more
observant more careful and more insightful than most people you might shine in all kinds of
intellectual pursuits all because you have the memory to back it up number eleven resistant to
boredom if you're more intellectual you might have a hard time feeling bored most people have
trouble entertaining themselves on a regular basis especially when they're doing something they don't
want to as an intelligent person you might not have that problem no matter what you're doing
you can usually find something worth exploring number twelve impenetrable concentration when
a smart person gets invested in something it's almost impossible to distract them they'll work
and work for hours on end some forget to do basic things like eat and sleep they're just too excited
about whatever they're working on if you have this impenetrable concentration then you might be
secretly brilliant most people struggle to stay focused for an hour but you have a harder time
pulling yourself away this is a rare and powerful skill that will help you learn create and succeed
throughout your life number thirteen continuous experimentation smart people love to experiment
they enjoy tinkering with all kinds of different solutions why well because they're excited by
the idea of solving problems they like taking advantage of their natural creativity to think
outside the box and pave new roads mmm but it's more than that intelligent people aren't nearly
as afraid to be wrong they aren't worried about what the world will think of them if they fail
even the most famous geniuses were wrong hundreds of times before their theories changed the world
that's why intelligent people are more willing to take chances they'll risk making a fool of
themselves because they're interested in solving problems not saving their ego hey thank you for
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