Intellectual creativity is a high form of intelligence that often goes unrecognized.

Experimentation and cognitive reflection drive intellectual creativity.

Intellectual talents need recognition and nurturing for someone to reach their full potential.

Many people who are intellectually creative don't see that about themselves. We're conditioned to think of artistic creativity when we think of creativity.

Intellectual creativity is just as valuable. It's a very high level of "smart." You might possess this type of smarts without realizing it. If you don't understand the full power of your tools, you won't use that power to its greatest extent.

Defining Features of Very Smart People

When you first read each point, you might not have an instant "that's me" reaction. Over the next week, pay attention to whether you have the experiences mentioned. You may do these more than you realize.

1. You Notice Creative Thinking in Others

Just like artists are inspired by the artistic creativity around them, creative intellectuals are inspired by novel thinking around them. You notice interesting thinking in others (e.g., ideas, cognitive patterns, and mental models).

You might hear a thought-provoking analogy, and that feels exciting to you. You find yourself pondering ways the analogy fits and ways it doesn't. You key off of other people's deep thinking or inspired problem-solving.

2. It Feels Like Ideas Ping Against Each Other in Your Brain

Intellectually creative people often feel like their minds are busy places.

Smart people toggle between the microscopic and the macroscopic. They're engaged with fine details (e.g., technical specifics) and philosophical frameworks. They're in the weeds (practical, low-level) one minute, and in the clouds (philosophical, high-level) the next.

They often feel a sense of cognitive excitement. There are ideas they'd like to explore, tools they'd like to try, projects they'd like to work on, and people they'd like to talk to.

3. You Express Your Intellectual Creativity Through Open-Minded Experimentation

Creativity doesn't happen only inside someone's head. Creative minds tend to be busy, but that's only part of it.

The creative part of intellectual creativity (versus just marinating) is when you experiment: when you sow a few seeds and see what grows. You don't let expectations, or a need for perfect control or predictability, get in the way too much.

4. You Find Yourself Reflecting on Interesting Things You've Heard, Read, or Seen

When your mind has a chance to wander, it ventures back to interesting ideas you've encountered or observations. Your brain spends a lot of time in "making sense" mode.

For example, you watch an interview and think, "They seem really smart, but I can't put my finger on exactly why," or "I hadn't thought about X that way. It feels interesting to me, but I don't know why it feels interesting."

When you're intellectually creative, your mind drifts back to these cognitive puzzles when you're in the shower, waiting, driving, or at other times your mind has the opportunity to wander.

5. You Fight Ways Your Smartness Could Make You Less Smart

Lately, I've written a lot about metacognition (thinking about thinking).

Smart people often actively manage ways their own smarts (e.g., their past learning or their sense of being smart) could sabotage their future progress.

You think, "I've tried this before, and it didn't work. My expectation is that it won't work now, so I shouldn't bother trying it. But the situations aren't identical, so that past experience doesn't necessarily hold."

Or, conversely, you think, "This worked well before, so I should do it again." But you catch yourself, recognizing that's an assumption.

In working with any coworker (including AI tools), you might find yourself thinking that your way of doing it will be better than theirs. You then assume they should get better at doing it your way. Your higher-level thought might be, "That belief could be wrong. Maybe I should see if their way is better without first deciding it won't be."

You might think, "My instinct is to try to impose X expectation on this situation. How can I override that so it doesn't get in the way if that instinct is wrong?"

6. You Think a Lot About Improvement

Creativity is an iterative process. As mentioned, creative minds do a lot of looking forward and back, not in a negative (ruminative) way but because they're generally busy and buzzy.

A creative person thinks back on work they've done and forward to work they'll do, looking to improve and iterate. This could be as simple as reflecting on a dish you've just cooked and thinking, "I should try adding lime next time." Or, it could be about improving a process like, "I could've gotten Sally more excited about my idea if I'd framed it as..."

You might try to improve your metacognition, such as questioning, "How could I improve my intellectual humility or my beginner's mind to have better ideas or more accurate knowledge of myself and the world?"

Own Your Intellectual Talents

While we don't always think of intellectual creativity first when it comes to defining smartness, it does tend to be a defining feature of very smart people.

This article isn't intended as a fluff piece, just aimed at making smart readers feel good about themselves. When we don't recognize our talents, we do everyone a disservice because we don't utilize them fully.

In addition, some of the signs covered, like having a busy mind, can feel like an intellectual burden. When we understand the value of that burden, it can feel less heavy to carry.

If we don't recognize our talents, we're unlikely to take as much responsibility for nurturing and developing them as we could. If you possess the talent of intellectual creativity, use this article as a roadmap for how to develop your talent, just like an athlete or artist develops theirs.

As a side note, if we don't fully recognize intellectual creativity in ourselves, we won't fully recognize it in others either. We won't encourage others to develop their talents. As you further your understanding of your intellectual talents, help others to register and nurture theirs, too.

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