11 habits that make a person a real genius

When ordinary people hear the word "genius", they imagine an exceptional and far from reality person. However, psychologists say that many geniuses had habits and oddities that are inherent in ordinary people. Perhaps, after reading this material, someone will recognize in themselves or in their loved ones a real genius.

Being an owl isn't always a bad thing. Although doctors unanimously say that you need to sleep from seven to eight hours every night, geniuses rarely adhere to this rule. The famous inventor Nikola Tesla claimed that he slept only two hours a day and sometimes worked for 84 hours in a row. Historians say that Leonardo da Vinci was used to the so — called "superman sleep" (scientists call this phenomenon polyphase sleep) - he slept for 20 minutes every four hours.

It turns out that highly intelligent and creative people throughout history have been cat lovers. For example, furry pets were adored by Salvador Dali, Henri Matisse and Ernest Hemingway. Studies have shown that cat owners tend to have a higher IQ and a better education.

Workshops or offices of brilliant people, as a rule, are more like a landfill. A recent study by psychologists found that a cluttered desk can lead to more creative thinking (and sloppy workers are much more likely to choose new projects and tasks). Mark Twain, for example, was a notorious slob.

If someone tells a person that their handwriting is illegible, then this should be taken as a compliment. Research has shown that gifted people often have terrible handwriting because their brains work faster than their hands.

The stereotype of an athlete who can't connect two words is not always true. For example, Pythagoras was a boxer. And it is no coincidence that Ancient Greece was the birthplace of many philosophers and the Olympic Games: the Greeks believed that an athletic physique is a sign of a good leader. Aristotle also believed that sports or games are closest to "contemplation", since they serve for their own benefit, and not as a means to an end.

There is no doubt that Beethoven was a musical genius, but he had very specific requirements: he himself counted out exactly 60 coffee beans for each cup. Benjamin Franklin often spent his free time in coffee shops, and Balzac described the dependence on coffee in his works.

Geniuses are almost all introverts, and some sincerely believed that meaningful things can only be created alone. The writer Jane Austen specially put the door on very creaking hinges, so that no one could suddenly enter it and interrupt the creative process.

Some of the best ideas came to great thinkers like Søren Kierkegaard and Charles Dickens while walking. Kierkegaard then hurried home to write down his thoughts. Beethoven always carried a pencil and notebook with him on his walks. Tchaikovsky developed a habit of walking for two hours every day and even believed that he would get sick if he missed even one walk.

Leonardo da Vinci, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Virginia Woolf, and many other talented people were known for writing down their thoughts and comments. French artist Eugene Delacroix once said about his diary: 

Leonardo da Vinci played several musical instruments and even invented his own. Galileo played the lute, and the music inspired him to write philosophical works.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Robert Frost had a deep respect for the natural environment. Some of their best work was written alone in the open air.