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hey everyone and welcome to top tank
today we're going to learn about 12
signs you have genius-level intelligence
now let's begin number one the natural
observer most people love to talk about
themselves they'll ramble for half an
hour about all their funny little quirks
but a select few people spend less time
talking and more time listening if you
have genius-level intelligence you're
probably more observant than the average
person when you engage in a conversation
you aren't just thinking about what
you're going to say next you aren't
trying to boost your own ego instead
you're genuinely paying attention to the
other person you're picking up on
patterns in their speech in body
language you're taking in everything
they're telling you and you're thinking
of new and interesting ways to brighten
up the conversation the smartest people
rarely step into the spotlight more
often than not they're quiet and careful
listeners who spend most of their time
just taking the world in number two
under control
self-discipline takes years of practice
for most people but impulse control
comes naturally to the highly
intelligent you know how to regulate
your emotions stifle your unhealthy
ravings and find a comfortable balance
between spontaneity and discipline that
knack for self control also helps you
lead a healthier lifestyle filled with
inspirational routines and hobbies this
is so common among intelligent people
you don't let your vices fly under the
radar when you recognize something you
want to change about yourself you just
don't let it slide you find a lasting
solution you make substantial
adjustments to your mindset or your
behavior because intelligent people know
when something needs to change
number three seeking specificity in 2011
a pair of researchers investigated
whether or not highly intelligent people
think differently than everyone else so
they started with something simple that
everybody does making assumptions do
people with a genius-level intellect
make assumptions like everybody else
to test this researchers use two kinds
of assumptions they're called
overfitting and underfitting overfitting
is when you know something very specific
that fits one situation really well but
it doesn't really make sense anywhere
else
okay let's say you wanted to recite a
poem if you started spouting those
verses in your English class well people
would understand you but if you took
your poems out onto the streets you'd
get a bunch of weird looks right
well that's overfitting under fitting on
the other hand is when you choose
something that's way too general it
might fit the larger population but it
doesn't really tell you anything useful
okay let's say you want to study cats
you gather a bunch of data from shelters
and breeders and you decide that cats
have at least one thing in common they
all have four legs hmm well you could
generalize that assumption to the entire
population it doesn't really tell you
anything does it so what do cats and
poetry have to do with your intelligence
people with a genius-level intellect do
one of these two things way more than
the other highly intelligent people love
to be specific in fact you'll catch them
overfitting on a daily basis they'll
make dozens of ultra specific
assumptions that don't really work
anywhere else because as an intelligent
person you're always curious you're
never satisfied with a single vague idea
that sort of makes sense you get too
specific too fast and then slowly but
surely real yourself back in
number four flying solo if you have a
genius-level intellect you probably like
being alone a lot intelligent people
have no problem flying solo because you
put your alone time to good use maybe
you have an active imagination you like
planning out your passions or you just
spend lots of time thinking about life
in general either way as an intelligent
person you rarely need other people to
entertain you now that doesn't mean
you're antisocial or completely
introverted but when you're looking for
a worthwhile way to spend your time you
don't rely on anyone but yourself
number five focus like crazy when a
highly intelligent person gets in the
zone it's hard to pull them out you can
focus for hours at a time diving
headfirst into whatever passion project
you're working on this week that
incredible concentration is one big
reason why intelligent people get so
much done but only if you're excited
about your work you hate doing things
that you find boring or pointless you
get distracted constantly if you're
stuck doing busy work but when you find
something you're passionate about
oh ho there's no stopping you number six
creative clutter while a cluttered room
or a desk can put a damper on your
productivity messy people tend to be
more innovative and intelligent this
idea has been floating around for a
while but a recent study put the power
of creative clutter to the test in their
experiments participants sat at one of
two desks the first was clean and
organized while the second was a
complete disaster it was covered in
random papers office supplies and other
distracting messes while sitting at
their desks participants were given a
ping-pong ball their job was to imagine
new ways to use that ball it could be
something straight forward like a
paperweight or something bizarre like a
hat for your finger researchers just
wanted to see how many ideas people
could come up with in the end people
sitting at the messy
desks came up with significantly more
ideas they were more inventive they
thought outside the box which tells us
that messiness and creative intelligence
go hand in hand
number seven debating anything if you
have a genius-level intellect you can
argue about anything it really doesn't
matter if you don't know much about the
subject one little fact is enough to
keep a heated debate going for hours on
end because you can draw all kinds of
logical conclusions from that small
piece of data you can do more with one
tiny detail than most people can with
pages and pages of information
intelligent people are such potent
debaters because their mind adapts and
makes connections at lightning speed if
you can argue anything you're a creative
and flexible problem solver and more
importantly you aren't afraid to make a
point and stick to it you have faith in
your own brain you know that you can
reason things out as well as anyone and
that intellectual confidence makes you a
force to be reckoned with
number eight emotionally intelligent
arguments while you can effectively
argue about any subject you know when to
push and when to back off you don't
stand there screaming and berating your
opponent you don't make things personal
or try to tear them to pieces extremely
intelligent people understand even in
the midst of an argument how to be
sensitive and respectful imagine you're
caught in a debate with a friend you
might have all the tools to prove them
wrong but you realize this issue means
more to them than it does to you so
instead of ruining your friendship you
get your point across without making
your friend feel attacked or ignored
knowing when to pull your punches is a
rare and valuable skill so if that's
something you do on a regular basis you
might have genius-level intelligence
number 9 brains run in the family
thanks to a twin study in the early
2000s we know that part of your
intelligence comes from your genetics
your genes around 500 of them to be
exact
have a huge impact on the way your brain
develops if for example if your frontal
lobe is larger than average you can
thank your strong gene pool since
genetics play such a major role parents
can actually pass down cognitive skills
like memory or reasoning in other words
if you come from a long line of smart
people you'll probably follow in their
footsteps number 10
texting mania texting has become a
hugely popular form of communication in
fact many younger people think it's
strange to have a conversation over the
phone but texting 24/7 can have a
negative impact on your intelligence you
see texting creates something called
info mania you're constantly absorbing
new information without really
processing anything that means your
brain isn't getting the exercise it
needs to grow and develop so if you
don't spend much time on your phone you
probably have a higher IQ number 11
twisted sense of humor do people tell
you that your jokes are weird or
offensive it turns out a twisted sense
of humor is a reliable sign of high
intelligence this was discovered by a
study at the University of Vienna first
researchers had participants listen to a
few different kinds of jokes some were
mild puns others were gross and way over
the line participants rated each joke on
how funny it was which gave researchers
a glimpse into their general sense of
humor after that researchers needed to
test their brainpower now if their
hypothesis were right people who enjoyed
the most offensive jokes would also have
the highest IQs so they scored each
participant's intelligence using a
series of verbal and nonverbal
intelligence tests just like they
predicted people with a twisted sense of
humor scored significantly higher so if
your jokes don't usually sit well with
people I've got some good news your
intelligence might be through the roof
number twelve the big questions do you
spend hours thinking about the way time
works or how the universe came into
being do you challenge these big
questions on a regular basis if you do
you're probably more intelligent than
you realize
people with a genius-level intellect
enjoy the confusion and uncertainty of
these impossible questions they want to
know the answers but they don't want
someone to tell them what to believe
highly intelligent people like you want
to figure it out for themselves hey
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