If you browse across the web, you will find the same sh*t over and over again: get enough hours of sleep, make informed and fast decisions to become a great leader, stay curious, even you are going to end up like the cat. But those who have established themselves as the “intelligent ones” will always be the exception to the rule.
As Aristotle says it,
There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.
Just remember, rules are meant to be broken. Aristotle might have wanted to say that those who are considered to be the top 2% of the genius population will always defy the common norm and make everyone question each step they take.
Of course, IQs are one of the mechanisms to measure the “intelligence.” And to add to that, being street smart and getting straight As may come easily when we think of “geniuses”. But these are the five traits the brilliant minds have which set them apart from the common rule:
1. Nocturnal Rebellion
The wicked minds don’t think of rest. Rather, they tend to work more at night, according to Psychology Today. A study showed that intelligent individuals chose to sleep during the weekends than the less knowledgeable counterparts. They defy the common norm of going to sleep on time and waking up as per the doctors say. What I mean to say is that they set their own time for everything: when to sleep, when to work, when to wake up.
2. Driven by Curiosity
There is nothing as the curiosity that drives the intelligent ones, and the drive makes them significantly innovative, creative and original. Questions like why, how or what always keep bothering them, leading them to new found knowledge.
3. Expert Decision Makers
The genius crop makes decisions thinking about all the consequences their action will take in the future. Not only that, they tend to make instant decisions while still being future oriented, considering all the options, analyzing the patterns and taking all the statistics into account.
4. Calm, Cool and Collected
Everyone has to go through the storm once in their life, but how they tackle with the storm differs. Brainy people are more productive while tackling the storm as they have the capacity to see the storm clearly and can stay “calm, cool and collected” while moving across the storm.
5. Abstract Thinkers
Go back to your high school when you might have seen some nerdy looking guy staying alone, eating alone, and on top of that, doing unconventional things alone. You might have been in the midst of extremely intelligent guy if you did. But it doesn’t mean that all intelligent people are abstract thinkers.
(h/t: forbes.com)