What is the Significance of Being Intelligent?

I’m sure you’ve probably been told at some point in your life that you’re “pretty smart” by someone, whether it was a parent, a teacher, or a colleague. But what does it really mean when someone calls you “smart”?

If we look at the dictionary, “smart” is defined as “having or showing a quick-witted intelligence,” and intelligence is defined as “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.” But who determines our ability to apply knowledge and skills, and how is it measured? Is our perception of being “smart” a matter of personal perspective? Does it involve comparing ourselves to others? Who has the authority to decide who is smart and who is not? Are IQ tests sufficient for this?

I was curious about these questions, so I did what anyone in 2019 would do – I grabbed my smartphone and Googled “what does it mean to be smart?” Fortunately, I found numerous articles on the topic.

As I delved into these articles, I sought to identify common principles and recurring themes regarding what it means to be smart. Unsurprisingly, different articles presented varying perspectives. However, there were some consistent attributes that emerged across multiple sources:

Being smart, much like beauty, is subjective and depends on the eye of the beholder.
Smartness can vary from one domain to another. Just as you can be confident in your professional life but not in your dating life, you can be smart in one area but not in another.
Being smart is a quality that can be nurtured and developed, often by maintaining curiosity and seeking new knowledge. Recognizing what you don’t know is a part of this process.
Smartness involves the ability to connect ideas and generate solutions to problems.
Smart individuals can focus, concentrate, and effectively communicate their ideas.

In essence, being smart is a concept that depends on the context in which it is discussed. Personally, I might consider myself smart in psychology and sports history, but I lack knowledge in paleontology. “Smart” is a broad term influenced by one’s perspective. Some may define it as the ability to recall facts on various subjects, while others may attribute it to understanding business, politics, and the functioning of the world. Your social skills can also play a role – if you’re introverted and shy, you may struggle to convey your intelligence.

According to Ana Ro at Top Trends Guide, one way to demonstrate your intelligence is to ask insightful and thoughtful questions in social situations. Many people perceive great listeners as excellent conversationalists.

For those who want to be smarter or enhance their existing intelligence, I offer this advice: Be curious and maintain a desire for continuous growth. Keep learning, make knowledge your own, and communicate your unique set of knowledge and experiences to others. What truly makes someone smart, in my opinion, is their eagerness to acquire knowledge and their determination to apply it to solve problems in the future.