This week I want to talk about a really important distinction to make in life. It's just the idea that there are some people who are

intelligent, but they don't have a lick of smarts in them. And their ability to succeed in the world might surprise you on the downside.

And then there are other people who are not very intelligent, but they gush smarts

and their potential will surprise you on the upside. but they gush smarts.

And their potential will surprise you on the upside.

On rare occasions you meet people who are both intelligent and smart,

and they run laps around everybody.

It's just this idea that there is a difference between intelligence and smart.

And I would define it like this.

Intelligent people understand technical details, but smart people understand emotional details.

Maybe another way to define it is this.

People who are intelligent usually have a good memory, they're good

with logic, they're good with mass skills, their test-taking ability, they're good at

following rules, that sort of thing.

Smart people on the other hand, it's a very different set of skills.

They tend to have a high degree of empathy,

bullshit detection, organization, communication skills, persuasion, social awareness,

understanding the consequences of their actions, that's what smart people tend to have. It's very different than

intelligence as we typically measure it. Both intelligence and smarts are really

important, of course. But there's a critical difference in how each of them are

valued by the world. Schools are very good at teaching and measuring intelligence. So that's what people tend to value and aspire to.

But in almost any field that you look at, Smarts is what gets rewarded long term.

...