8 unusual habits that indicate a high level of intelligence

What is it that sets highly intelligent people apart?

Sure, they might hold advanced degrees and high-level jobs, but there’s a lot more to them than that.

There are things that they do that might surprise a lot of people because they’re not normally associated with intelligence. 

We’re normally thinking of astrophysics and neurosurgery, right?

Well, I’m talking about their habits instead. And what you’ll find is that some of them are quite surprising and odd.

So here are eight unusual habits that indicate a high level of intelligence, even though they might not seem that way on the surface.

1) Being alone

We all like to be alone sometimes, but highly intelligent people tend to really seek out alone time and really prosper in it.

Why is that?

It could be that they find socializing stressful or distracting. They often have very complex, deep problems to apply their intellects to, and they need their complete focus to do it.

It could also be that they simply don’t feel the same need for social interactions as most other people.

Einstein famously summed his feelings up, saying, “I live in that solitude which is painful in youth but delicious in the years of maturity.”

After all, they’re usually very inspired by, immersed in, and consumed by deep thoughts and intellectual questions. They may relate to others in a more remote sense by reading their writings and responding to their challenges, for example.

So rather than having to talk to people face-to-face like most of us, they can still find their place and do their socializing without having to leave their libraries.

Whatever it is, highly intelligent people seem to be better equipped for being alone than most others.

2) Talking to themselves

Most people talk to themselves.

It’s just that most of us have a voice in our head that sounds like our own that we talk to ourselves with. Except for those rare people without internal monologues, that is.

We tend to keep our conversations on the inside.

But many really intelligent people talk to themselves using their outside voices. Famous scientists like Einstein and Marie Curie were both known to have long, audible conversations with themselves that generally confused and sometimes worried others.

So, while you might think that walking down the street talking to yourself out loud is just for the ultra-happy or mentally ill, that’s surprisingly not the case.

You can bet, though, that the conversations that really smart people are having with themselves are a whole lot more interesting than any others!

3) Reading voraciously

This probably doesn’t seem like such a surprising habit for intelligent people to have.

After all, we usually think of people pouring over piles of books as being pretty bright.

But the kind of appetite for reading and, indeed, any other method of taking in information that they possess is nothing less than exceptional.

You’ll find them reading books, papers, and websites as well as watching videos nearly all the time unless they’re writing or talking about what they’ve learned, that is.

Often, they read many books all at once, switching between them as their interests oscillate.

Their thirst for information is normally insatiable, which can be both a blessing and a curse. Sure, they learn a lot and keep themselves mentally stimulated.

At the same time, this habit may have a negative effect on their social lives.

4) Walking a lot

It’s not that walking is all that unusual; it’s that this is a surprising habit of highly intelligent people.

They tend to walk a lot outside if possible, but when they can’t go on these longer outdoor walks, you might find them strolling down corridors or even just pacing back and forth.

What’s this all about?

Are they walking because they’re easily agitated or have a lot of nervous energy?

While that could be part of it, it’s not the whole answer.

Walking is great for your health as it moves your muscles, burns calories, and especially improves your circulation. This includes bringing oxygen to the brain to help stimulate mental processes.

On top of that, walking outdoors in natural settings has actually been demonstrated to have the effect of reducing stress, so this may be another reason why big thinkers walk a lot.

5) Being a night owl

When we think of morning people, we tend to think of bright, bubbly, and highly motivated.

But to me, I’ve always associated getting up early with sacrificing the best part of the day – sleeping in!

So I was pretty thrilled to find this London School of Economics study that confirms what I’ve always thought. Staying up late correlates with IQ.

They found that the brighter the person, the later they tend to turn in for the night.

This doesn’t necessarily mean they get less sleep. It just means that they’re staying up late and using the nighttime hours for other activities.

The authors of the study suggest that this might be an evolutionary feature. 

Since humans in the past did most of their normal activities during daylight hours, those who were active after dark were probably doing novel and creative things. If these people came up with bright new ideas, they may have been more likely to pass on their genes.

So maybe staying up late is an evolutionary advantage!

6) Swearing

By “swearing”, I don’t mean oaths to serve and protect or that kind of thing.

I mean curse words, obscenities, and vulgar expressions that have no place in polite society.

Or do they?

Surprisingly, very intelligent people actually tend to use these words a lot more freely and creatively than do people of lesser intelligence.

Then again, it’s about how they’re used.

Some people drop F-bombs with every second or third word, and this doesn’t seem all that bright.

Myself, I came home from my first day of kindergarten, and when my mom told me to clean my room, I told her to F*$% off. She didn’t seem all that impressed at my intellect!

A 2015 study looked into the age-old suggestion that people use swear words because they have little else in their vocabularies and came up with a surprising result.

Not only was this old myth debunked outright, they actually found a positive correlation between using curse words and higher verbal fluency. That’s only one of the many components of intelligence, it’s true.

However, at least we know that people who swear a lot use these words on purpose, as they have many more to choose from. Swearing is a way they choose to express themselves!

Related: If someone uses these 10 phrases, they’re self-conscious about their intelligence

7) Messiness

If you think of a genius, you might picture a rumpled, messy-haired, deep-thinking Albert Einstein-type character strolling through a university campus or an advanced mathematics professor scrawling messy formulas over every inch of an office.

I do. These are the images that have often been used to portray the ultra-clever in movies and TV representations, so that’s why we might share them.

However, they haven’t just been created out of nothing.

They’re based on characters like the frumpy Einstein with his unkempt hair and the unusual and tortured mathematician John Nash. In real life, both were known to be quite messy and seemingly disorganized.

However, studies have shown that chaos and messiness in one’s environment may actually inspire or at least predict higher levels of creative thinking. 

It has been found that people who prefer order in their environments are more traditional and conventional, while those who prefer disorder tend to break with convention.

They’re able to think outside the box, color outside of the lines, and follow a bunch of other clichés.

8) Procrastinating

If you’re like me, you’ve probably always associated procrastination with laziness and perhaps even lower IQ.

After all, putting off ‘til tomorrow what you can do today seems like a silly thing to do and one which might actually cause you problems in the future.

Doesn’t seem all that bright, does it?

Perhaps, then, we need to be more specific about the kinds of procrastinating we’re talking about. 

I was surprised to find out that people with a high level of intelligence share the habit of procrastinating, but only when it comes to regular, mundane, day-to-day things.

They’ll put off ironing their clothes or cleaning up their offices. Doing the weekly budget or the laundry can always wait.

Why?

Because they’ve got better things to do and think about. 

Their minds are usually occupied with really big stuff like quantum computing and inventing sources of clean alternative energy. They don’t have time to make the bed!

Conclusion

These eight unusual habits that indicate a high level of intelligence are things that you might notice in a lot of different people.

None of them by itself means you’re smart. It’s only when they start to add up that you see the patterns of a truly intelligent person emerging.

And if you think these habits are odd, you’re right. The super-bright just aren’t like the rest of us!