20 Glaring Signs You’re Not Nearly As Smart As You Think You Are

We could all use a reality check every once in a while. For instance, if you’re a person who never loses an argument, or thinks you’re always right, that’s a pretty good sign you need to do some internal digging. Also, if you lack certain sects of intelligence, you might need to work on a certain part of yourself. Whether it’s never losing an argument, or always losing an argument and not caring, here are 20 signs you aren’t as smart as you think.

1. If during a conversation, you are just waiting for your turn to talk, that’s something you need to work on

“Too many people just look for a way to interject without actually adding anything of value to the conversation.” – u/where_is_jef

2. Never questioning your own opinions is a bad sign

“Unconscious Incompetence. They are too dumb to realize they are dumb.” – u/no_ledge

3. You treat others as though they are lesser than you

“They think they’re so far above the other person’s intelligence that smart insults said in a happy tone are funny and people won’t notice.” – Via Reddit

4. Never learning from your mistakes is a good way to judge someone’s character

“Which then inevitably leads to them making more mistakes later on.” Via Reddit

5. Underestimating others thinking abilities can lead you to a world of illusion

“This is pretty accurate. Dunning-Kruger effect. A large percentage of the time, it causes the undermining of other individuals knowledge and cognitive abilities.” – Via Reddit

6. If you think you’re extremely intelligent and flaunt it, chances are you’re not very smart

“If you think you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re probably not.” – u/ilikecosysocks

7. If you judge people for their bad decisions, but refuse to put yourself in their shoes and wonder how you would act in that situation

“Judging people for making bad decisions is already a dumb thing to do, as you can’t really know what was going on in their lives that lead them to make those decisions in the first place.” – u/LimefyTheHammerBot

8. If you avoid saying I don’t know

“Smart is relative to context. We all have intellectual blind spots, we all have gaps in knowledge and we all lack insight in some subjects or situations. Thinking being smart is something to strive for, or thinking it is some inherent quality some people have is at least not very smart.” – u/lieuwestra

9. Failure to come up with original ideas

“This means you’re probably just regurgitating information from others.” – Via Reddit

10. If you think of yourself constantly as being unlucky

“We all run into bits of bad luck, occasionally even stretches of it. But if you are making sensible risk-management choices in life, it will absolutely eventually even out. No one flips a coin 50 times in a row and gets tails every time. People who think they are always unlucky are not owning up to the fact that they are making poor choices.” – Via Reddit

11. If you constantly tell other people to do their research

“This. Their research is never from a reliable source. It says, I can’t support my point of view beyond the bullet points I’ve already presented. Also, extra helpful to have a white knight or two tell you it isn’t the person’s job to educate you.” – u/Excstativs-39

12. Not enjoying being challenged in your own beliefs

“Being curious and open minded usually shows desire to learn, and is a sign of intelligence to me.” – u/quietjaypee

13.  If you reject any new information that doesn’t confirm your biases, you probably aren’t learning anything new

“Different causes with the same manifestation I suppose. Knowledge is power, power corrupts, and resembles the already corrupted.” – u/obscurereferences

14. If you use the term, that’s the way it’s always been done

“If you haven’t educated yourself on something in years and refuse to learn new things, I’m going to assume that you aren’t as smart as you think. The way it’s always been done, isn’t always the best way.” – u/notevenitalian

15. Having an underdeveloped sense of empathy isn’t a good sign for emotional intelligence

“Intelligence is often categorized into different sub-types. Emotional intelligence is usually one of those categories, and not having any grasp of empathy could arguably mean that a person is not emotionally intelligent. How can you have any objective self awareness if you aren’t aware of the mental state of those around you?” – Via Reddit

16. If someone shares their perspective, you dismiss it outright and refuse to consider its validity

“Everything is so interconnected. I’m starting to feel like some people conflate intelligence with narcissism? Or maybe there is some connection.” – u/corvacayne

17. If you aren’t able to ask good questions

“It involves active listening, quick thinking, a broad mental reference, enough eloquence to frame the question well, and a correctly sized ego to be comfortable admitting you have questions. So many smart people are presented with something new/outside their areas and just go, wow super cool, let me spout the one thing I already knew about the subject.” – Via Reddit

18. You are a human being

“Given the title, it made me think of a book, You Are Not So Smart. It’s an easy introduction to aspects of neurology and psychology, specifically the flaws in how we think. Also related to a blog and podcast, though not sure if they’re updated anymore. The counter to this is that many people are actually way smarter than they think. We often confuse academic achievement or education with being smart, but there are lots of different aspects to intelligence, and more importantly, what you choose to do with your brain has a bigger impact than having raw intelligence.”- u/1MrNobody1

19. You still don’t know what you want from your favorite fast food chain even though you have been there 1000 times

“It’s beef or chicken, and pull forward.” – u/RodneyLaGronell

20. If you can’t accept the possibility that you can be wrong, you’re probably wrong a lot

“I worked with a guy who held a PhD, and he had a great saying about how little we all know, no matter what our education credentials and experience. He used to say, when you get your Bachelor’s Degree, you think you know everything. When you get your Masters, you realize you don’t know anything. When you go for your PhD you realize nobody else does, either.” – Via Reddit