Smart People Are Not as Smart as You Think – It’s Their Mindset
We all admire someone who we think is smart, sharp, talented, etc. Our instincts tell us that these people are who they are because they were simply born that way. However, the truth is that the smartest people you know are really not as smart as you think.
Research suggest that what separates the so-called smart people from everyone else is not that they always know the right answer. Instead, it’s the mindset they use to figure out the right answer.
This mindset that makes someone appear smart is what Patricia Chen, Ph.D., a social psychology professor, identifies as the strategic mindset. The strategic mindset is a mindset in which one focuses on using self-awareness as part of the process to get an outcome.
Moreover, this process of self-awareness nearly always leads to the right answer, even when the first iteration of the process leads to the wrong answer. The reason for this is because those who develop a strategic mindset learn how to master two steps:
- Recognizing the flaws in their thinking and ways to improve their thinking
- Acting on this recognition
In short, smart people don’t have bigger brains than anyone else. Rather, they just work harder than everyone else developing their mindset to learn from and apply the learning from their mistakes.