It's a common misconception to think that intelligence is like genius. A person can have a natural genius and be stupid as hell i.e. have a low level of intelligence. On the flipside, a person who has very little natural genius can be highly intelligent. Just look at the world of politics. How many would you say are geniuses and yet who can claim that they are not winning at life based on their positions?

For example, take Sheldon Cooper in the Big Bang theory, obviously he is a parody, but he is a perfect example of a genius with a high IQ who is straight up not that bright. He may have a high intellect, but he is not very intelligent per se. He may have a high intellectual form of intelligence, but he is not that bright. Then take Penny, who is meant to have a very low level of intellectual intelligence, and yet is arguably the brighter of the two.

Basically there are many forms of intelligence, there is practical intelligence, emotional intelligence, streetwise intelligence, intellectual intelligence et cetera et cetera. People who are highly intelligent tend to have a little bit of all those forms of intelligence.

Have you ever read the book Outliers? It's a great read which explains how people genuinely become successful, and highlights how naturally gifted intellectual intelligence is not really that important. Basically there is a cut-off point, as long as you at least have an average IQ you can become highly successful so long as you're willing to learn and get the right opportunities. Gladwell who wrote the book provides countless evidence to back this up.

Intelligence of the sort that brings success and happiness in life is something you can learn. Obviously, not everyone will be able to learn it, but you don't have to be natural genius to be highly intelligent. You just have to look at successful people to see that.

In regard to this post, it is based on my experiences of being around highly successful people. All of these traits are the traits that I have personally come across in people who are highly successful especially in regards to life and career happiness.

If I was to write a post about the signs of a person who has a high intellect, so a high IQ, the signs would be very different. But that's not what this post is about. In my view what makes a person intelligent is that they know how to succeed in life i.e. at being happy.

And that's the signs this post aims to show, because surely the most intelligent people are the people who succeed at being happy?

But of course it is all subjective, and each to their own! Thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts! :-)