When I was 13, I was one of the dumbest people you can ever imagine. The only things I knew were things everyone else knew, so most people did not consider me intelligent. However, a decade later, at 23 when I meet people and discussed with them, even those who were older than me by 10-15 years could hardly cope with my level of reasoning. What actually changed? What do you think made a dumb 13-year-old me become one of the most intelligent people at age 23? That’s what I want to unpack in this blog post.
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing with you one thing every intelligent person does in the secret.
Now here is the deal. The number one thing that differentiates intelligent people from other average individuals is the love of knowledge. Though most people believe that highly intelligent people were born with intelligence, most times it’s not so. Instead of being born with intelligence, intelligent people do in secret what most people don’t know about. If you want to really see what I’m talking about, think about the three most intelligent people you know. When you visit these people, what’s their priority, the TV or the library?
Do another thing. Go out and ask random people to tell you the number of books they have read in the last 12 months. Most of the time, the answer you’ll get is none or one book. Now go to the most intelligent person you know and ask him to tell you the number of books he has read in the last 12 months. Usually, most intelligent people would have to pause and think, because they’ll either not be able to remember the number of books they have read because it’s much or because the number is between 10 and 20. What actually differentiates intelligent people from everyone is that intelligent people read a lot in the secret. Though they appear to be naturally intelligent in the public, when they are alone, intelligent people do read as if their life depends on knowledge.
Show me anyone who isn’t curious about knowledge and I’ll show you an average individual.
I’ve seen intelligent women and men. I’ve seen intelligent people who are tall and those who are short. We have many white people who are intelligent as well as black people. What I’ve never seen is an intelligent person who doesn’t seek knowledge every day.
This is my personal story. When I was age 15, I started becoming a very serious student. I would wake up early in the morning to read for an hour before I went to school. When I returned from school, I wouldn’t watch the TV or soccer. I would read, read and read. When I was 17, a friend initiated me into reading self-improvement books and I fell crazily in love with any book that could teach or inspire me to do or think something new. By the time I was 20, I can’t remember anyone who read as much books as I was reading, so it became so natural that I knew what even 50 years old people didn’t know.
You think about this. What do we call intelligence? Who are those we respect as being very intelligent? The answer is very simple; people who are considered intelligent are people who know far more than everyone else.
What the public doesn’t know is that these people who appear to be gods are as ordinary as everyone else. The reason someone knows so much about so many things is not that he was born with the knowledge. In fact, it is not usually because such individuals have better brains. Most of the time, it’s because intelligent people make knowledge of their daily food.
If you have a friend who is very intelligent, go and spend a weekend or one week with him and observe his routines. What does he do first thing in the morning? What does he do during the day? What does he talk about? Check his browser’s history. What do you see there? How many hours does he spend on social media? How many hours does he spend watching movies?
You’ll be shocked if you get to know how most intelligent people live.
Take, for instance, I don’t use any social media for my personal need. That’s crazy, right? Well, I also have never bought a TV set in my entire life. I don’t watch soccer or do many things most people consider entertaining. Now you may think that I have a very boring life, right? Wrong!
I enjoy reading books as much as anyone can enjoy Instagram or Facebook. I enjoy making research as much as anyone can enjoy soccer matches. I get my entertainment, just like everyone else, only using a very different means.
Now, what’s the purpose of this blog post?
Well, first, the reason why I wrote this post is to explain to you that intelligence isn’t a gift or talent that people were born with. Instead, it’s what people become after a conscious effort to improve their minds every day of their lives.
Second, I want to challenge every young person to seek knowledge. The more you know about life, the better your life will be. The knowledge you get from reading, listening to, and watching educative materials will lead you into wisdom, which is the application of knowledge. I know so many people who are poor, but they will never read books or listen to audio programs about money. If only these people can read about money, their financial intelligence will increase and they’ll be better financially.
Similar thing happens in all areas of your life. To improve any area of your life, you have to sit down with people who have improved their lives in such areas. Nothing in the world gives you a better opportunity to do that than books, educative videos, magazines, and audio programs.
Lastly, if you want to be among the few people who are cherished and loved by all because they know what others don’t know, you have to change some of your daily routines. You can’t wake up every morning to social media and know what no one knows. You can’t waste 5 hours every day on reality TV shows and know what no one knows. You have to have routines that make your mind better every day. You can listen to educative audio programs every morning. You can read for 30 minutes every day. You can subscribe to some educative online programs. If you do this, one day, someone will call you a genius.
Thank you.