Brilliant people often have minds that move faster than their hands, which makes them have organizational systems that look like clutter to everyone else.
Book pile
You can always tell the intellectuals by their growing piles of books on nightstands, coffee tables, floors, etc. If you ask them, they probably won’t view them as messy piles of books.
They see quests for knowledge, windows into new ideas and perspectives. For them, books are for reading, not shelving.
Half-finished projects
Brilliant people like to keep their works-in-progress right where they can see them. This includes things like unpainted canvases, half-tinkered robots, or loose sheets of research.
Who knows when that spark of inspiration will come back and allow them to dive right back into a project? If they put it away, they might lose momentum.
Important mail
For busy minds, reading mail often gets bumped by other thoughts. You’ll notice piles of mail sitting on the kitchen counter for weeks, labeled “deal with this later.”
Brilliant people aren’t lazy. Their brain views filing that utility bill as way less important than whatever problem they’re working on. And keeping it in plain sight serves as an easy visual reminder.
Reference papers
Whether it’s printouts, old magazine articles, or pages with notes scrawled on them, messy geniuses keep these papers out because they like having the information in front of them, not stored away in a file drawer.
Being able to look down and scan multiple articles at once allows them to make connections that others might not see.
Tech cables
Spare phone chargers, adapters, and HDMI cords you’ve never used before are welcome to an intellectually restless mind. Because technology is constantly evolving, you never know when you might need that one cord to connect your laptop to your shiny new virtual reality headset.
Putting them in a dedicated box feels like an unnecessary step when they know they’ll be reaching for that exact HDMI cord again by tomorrow morning.
Hobby gear
Paint brushes? Bike helmets? Plant pots? Scattered across the kitchen table are remnants of the dozens of hobbies they’re casually obsessed with. Maybe it’s gardening month, or yoga has really been inspiring them as of late.
When someone really loves something, they want to be able to jump into it without missing a beat.
Notebooks
It’s not uncommon for intellectuals to carry around a separate notebook for every type of thought they have. Ideas for the blog? Shopping list?
You’ll find them keeping a pile of these right beside their computers or beds so they can grab whichever one they need the instant they need it.
Clean laundry
Genius people are often so absorbed in thought that they don’t notice they’re hot or cold until it’s an absolute emergency. You’ll find entire outfits piled around their home: a sweater draped over the back of a chair, a jacket thrown on the couch, shoes by the door, a scarf on the dining room table.
These piles represent the different phases of their day and the various rooms where they did their best thinking.
Sentimental trinkets
Whether it’s a rock they picked up while going for a hike, a flower they spotted while walking their dog, or a souvenir from grandma, it all accumulates. You may look at this pile and see junk.
But if you ask any intelligent person, they’ll tell you each item in that pile has a story behind it. They keep random items out to help keep them grounded when their minds are wandering.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
