Smartness does not equal intelligence, this is something discovered by researchers not so very long ago. It was revealed that intelligence is the ability to acquire new knowledge and the necessary skills to use it. On the other hand, smartness has been defined as a collection of often counter-intuitive traits that help you to reach your goals. This proves that you do not need to be a highly intelligent person to be genuinely smart.
If you are smart, it means you have the ability to think rationally through a problem instead of taking mental short-cuts. Following are the few traits that smart people tend to have:
Their uncertainty breeds possibility:
Smart people are often not certain of their decisions and actions. This is something that pushes them to seek further proof, to get better answers, more creative ideas along with evolving themselves during the process.
They offer different perspectives:
Because smart people are not sure if their answer is right, therefore, they offer their ideas as different perspectives. They do not force on accepting what they believe as right, instead, keep their mind open for all kinds of possibilities.
They hear and learn from others:
One of the important factors that make people smart is that they are always ready to listen to others. They do not believe that what they are saying is an end to a conversation, they are not threatened to learn something valuable from others.
They think before responding:
Smart people always think about their answer before sharing with others. It is because they allow their thoughts to guide them to give a reasonable answer instead of saying something that is not relevant.
They don’t argue with people:
There are so many people who care about more being right during a conversation. They are not concerned with finding a solution to a problem. But smart people do not argue and focus on fixing problems rather than just being right.
They are able to differentiate between short-term and long-term desires:
Smart people have the ability to disregard the desire for immediate gratification for the sake of a greater goal. Instead of being driven by impulses, they differentiate between short-term wants and long-term desires.
They do not fight with others:
Smart people are smart because they remain calm when a conversation gets heated up. They do not become aggressive and are not tempted to fight with the people around them.
They do what they love:
The smartest thing that makes people smart is that they know how to figure out what they love. They pursue their interests without any judgment and do what they love to.