Ever Wonder Why Genius Minds Act Like They’re From Another Planet? Here Are 11 Weird Habits That’ll Blow Your Mind!
Added on February 8, 2026 inASTROLOGY CARDS
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Ever notice that one friend who’s a bit, well, “offbeat” with habits that make you squint and wonder, “Wait, are they actually genius-level weird… or just weird?” Believe it or not, those quirky little routines—whether it’s chatting with themselves or reverently hoarding souvenir spoons—might be your first clue that you’re dealing with someone sitting pretty on the IQ leaderboard. And hey, if Mercury’s dancing through Scorpio today, stirring the pot of mental mysteries, maybe it’s time to embrace those oddballs who don’t just march to their own beat—they compose entire symphonies of peculiar! Forget the stigma around messiness, night owl tendencies, or last-minute heroics; turns out, these are the secret stamps of a mind running at warp speed. So next time someone zones out mid-convo, don’t write them off—they might just be floating in the cosmos of intellect, fueled by a playlist of purely instrumental jams. Ready to demystify the oddball code of the brainy? LEARN MORE.
You probably know someone, or maybe even yourself, with a list of quirks that runs about a mile long. What you may not know is that there are several odd habits that usually indicate a person has a high IQ. From the time they typically go to sleep to the way they process information, high IQ people almost always have a few odd habits that make them stand out.
For one, they probably don’t listen to standard pop music or clean compulsively all day. They may even be seen as lazy and are not likely to be as on top of their assignments at school as most people might assume They may also be seen as day dreamers, ungrounded from reality. While the list of odd habits that make high IQ people stand out is long, it is probably one that brings comfort to those who relate to it. After all, you’re not broken and you’re not bad, you’re probably just very, very intelligent!
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One odd habit that usually indicates a person has a high IQ is learning lots of different skills. They often feel a need to be constantly challenging themselves to keep their big brains stimulated.
Samuel Kohlenberg, LPC, writing for the Davidson Institute for profoundly gifted youth, notes that while it’s often assumed that people with a high IQ have it easy, this isn’t actually the case. They often struggle with boredom due to their keen ability to pick up on things easily.
This is why many high-IQ individuals are constantly learning lots of different and unusual sets of skills, such as music, new languages, or other challenging tasks that are typically right up their alley. These interests may seem weird or even frenetic to people on the outside, but for some high IQ people, it’s crucial to their emotional well-being.
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Talking to yourself has long been associated with mental instability, though that’s not exactly clinically accurate. This stigmatization has carried on throughout the years, leaving many people feeling hesitant to admit that they talk to themselves from time to time.
Yet highly intelligent people often can’t help but talk to themselves sometimes. It’s in their nature.
A study conducted by psychologists Gary Lupyan and Daniel Swigley found that speaking to yourself out loud stimulates memory, helps you stay focused, and helps you clarify your thoughts. While this study was focused on visual tasks, it’s clear that talking yourself through problems can help in all sorts of ways. So don’t be too shocked when someone with a high IQ begins talking to themselves out loud. They’re using their brain to process information and retain knowledge, which is something everyone could benefit from doing.
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Another odd habit that usually indicates a person has a high IQ is being messy. Not just a little messy, even. Often, high IQ people tend to have spaces that seem like a complete disaster zone to others.
Why? Well, high IQ people often have a lot going on inside their heads. Due to this, they don’t always have time to clean up their desk or organize their room. They may also find their messes comforting or even helpful to their process. Sometimes, they are so busy doing their high IQ stuff, they don’t even see the mess.
Research has found that being messy might not be such a bad thing for some. A study conducted by a team at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management found that people who are disorderly tend to be more creative. So, if a high IQ person is in a creative phase, whether that means being academically or artistically creative, their messiness may actually be a benefit to them.
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People who have an odd habit of zoning out don’t do it because they’re flighty, necessarily. Zoning out usually indicates a person has a high IQ.
According to Eric Schumacher, a Georgia Tech associate psychology professor who co-authored research on the topic, “People with efficient brains may have too much brain capacity to stop their minds from wandering.”
Yet, that’s not all zoning out is good for. Professor of psychology Anna-Lisa Cohen, Ph.D. notes that daydreaming is a great way to “become a more flexible, open, and creative thinker.” So to the people who daydream or zone out often: don’t feel too bad. Remember that it can even be beneficial!
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The odd habit of staying up late often indicates a person has a high IQ. After all, people with high IQs have a lot to process as well as lots of big ideas and problems to solve. Often, these come up late at night when they finally have some quiet time.
Research recently published in BMJ Public Health found that people who are night owls typically have higher cognitive skills than people who are early birds.
The study’s lead author Dr. Raha West said: “Our study found that adults who are naturally more active in the evening (what we called ‘eveningness’) tended to perform better on cognitive tests than those who are ‘morning people’.”
So don’t worry if you or the high IQ person you love is staying up too late. While it’s ideal to aim for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, a person who consistently stays up late is likely to be doing themselves any harm at all as long as they are making sure they get enough rest.
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An odd habit that usually indicates a person has a high IQ is getting swept away with creative projects. This may not seem odd, but the projects might seem odd. For example, they may have a collection of souvenir spoons they endlessly organize or files of cross-stitch ideas.
High IQ people have a tough time staying still and like to engage in things that stimulate their minds. This is why intelligent individuals may love to paint or lean into their creative side.
That said, studies show that while people who are of higher intelligence rate more highly for creative potential, they do not necessarily rate more highly for creative intelligence. But take heart, a high IQ person doesn’t have to be a creative genius to benefit from their creative projects.
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People who can’t stop swearing might just have a higher than average IQ. Though an odd (albeit terrible) habit, people with a high IQ often that swearing allows them to express themselves more fully of creativity.
Swear words can be used in many different contexts, and the same swear words can be used to express different things based on the tone or sentence. For a highly intelligent person who likes to give their mind a work out, this can be a fun activity to engage in from time to time.
Speaking to the results of a 2015 study conducted by Kristin L. Jay and Timothy B. Jay, Dr. Grace Tworek says, “They noticed a trend. The more curse words that you can generate, the more regular words you’re generating as well. So it’s likely that you have a larger vocabulary on both ends.”
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While average people may find it odd, a high IQ person isn’t trying to be annoying by asking too many questions. But as it turns out, asking tons of questions is just another part of being highly intelligent.
A person who has a high IQ has a deeply engrained desire to know everything. They’re highly curious individuals and there’s not a lot that challenge them. So when they find something that does challenge them they want to know everything about it until they’re satisfied and well-informed.
Can this odd habit of asking a lot of questions sometimes intrusive? Sure. However, the art of asking questions is great for those who want to not just retain knowledge, but understand it as well.
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A person who has a high IQ likely picked up on the odd habit of doodling. Not just a little, but a lot. And not just standard lines or hearts. High IQ people often have ornate, detailed doodles, too. Whether they’re in a boring meeting or a classroom, a person they can’t resist drawing scribbles in their notebook.
Though it may seem insignificant, distracting, or straight-up disrespectful, intelligent people find that scribbling is great tool for processing and retaining information. It’s important to understand that doodling helps ground a highly intelligent person’s mind.
Yet, the impact of scribbling doesn’t only benefit the highly intelligent. One study of 40 people who were asked to listen to a dull message for two and a half minutes found that people who doodled recalled 29% more information than those who didn’t.
So in the case of doodling, taking a leaf out of their playbook might not be such a bad thing.
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While some people may dismiss the connection, thinking of risk-taking as a silly or foolish behavior, taking risks and having a high IQ go together like peanut butter and jelly.
A 2015 study conducted in Finland found that high-risk-takers had more white matter in their brains. White matter, they explain, is “the neural network… that transmits signals in the form of nerve impulses and is crucial to the regulation of internal communication between the different areas of the brain. This network is designed to analyse and transmit information in a consistent and efficient way.”
This can explain why a person who has a high IQ likes to take risks: their combined love of learning and the thrill of the unknown. They likely also know that you cannot truly grow or succeed without trying new things and taking some risks.
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The worst part about being a high IQ person is the kind of procrastination that so often comes along with intelligence. It isn’t because they don’t think their work is important, it’s more that there are so many things of interest going on around them.
The good news? High IQ procrastinators aren’t alone. The American Psychological Association says up to 20% of people consider themselves to be procrastinators. In addition, a report from Tulane University says procratination often causes people to be more efficient in completing tasks.
Yes, procrastination is stressful, but it may serve a purpose. High IQ people often find success by learning how and when procrastination works for them, and when to break that habit.
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Perhaps the strangest odd habit that indicates a person has a high IQ is their love for instrumental music. But this isn’t just about their love for the music itself, it’s about how often they have it playing.
Intelligent people have a love for instrumental jams because of the diversity found within the music. Specifically, the results of a study published in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences found that highly intelligent people enjoy analyzing and admiring instrumental music. Their theory was tested on 467 Croatian high school students, out of whom those with higher IQ scores also had a greater love for instrumental music like jazz.
High IQ people may also be drawn to instrumental music because of how it helps them focus. Researchers have found that slower-paced instrumental music helps people study, whereas loud, chaotic music can become a distraction. So while their peers may not understand the appeal, there is a reason so many high IQ people play these songs, especially when trying to focus.
Marielisa Reyes is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in psychology who covers self-help, relationships, career, family, and astrology topics.
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