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Hobbies that people with High-IQ have
You ever wonder how geniuses like Elon Musk spend their time?
I don’t know if you do this…
but me this morning, in the shower, I was thinking:
“I wonder what Elon Musk is doing right now.”
Like... is he solving a complex problem or playing Diablo 4?
What do hyper-smart people do when they’re not working?
So I did a little research…
Table of Contents
Why do smart people love hard hobbies?
Smartest people don’t chill with passive stuff like binge-watching TV.
🟧 Instead, they’re doing things like:
🔸 Learning Japanese
🔸 Playing jazz piano
🔸 Solving logic puzzles on paper for fun
🔸 Building robots and computers in their garage
High-IQ people tend to crave mental stimulation. Their brains are wired to seek out novelty, challenge, and complexity.
Where most people feel drained by complex tasks, smart people often feel energized.
Their reward systems light up when they engage in activities that require:
🔸 Problem-solving
🔸 Deep focus
🔸 Pattern recognition
🔸 Learning something new
This is called need for cognition, basically, enjoying thinking hard. Research shows it’s highly correlated with IQ and predicts preference for more intellectually demanding hobbies.
🟧 They also get bored easily
Routine and repetition are painful. So they gravitate toward hobbies with:
🔹 Endless skill ceilings (chess, piano, languages)
🔹 Continuous feedback (games, sports, crafts)
🔹 Some form of mastery or measurable progress
These hobbies feel good, they create flow, they’re immersive, and they give your brain a workout.
🟧 And it pays off
The more cognitive networks you recruit in your free time, the more resilient your brain becomes over time. Executive function, memory, focus, they all get sharper.
So yeah… smart people like hard stuff, because it keeps their mind alive.
And because, let’s be honest, sudoku is way more fun than small talk…
What hobbies actually boost your IQ?
Not all hobbies are created equal. Some just pass time, others literally rewire your brain.
Here are the top ones, backed by research:
🔸 Playing an instrument
Boosts memory, processing speed, attention-switching, and even verbal IQ.
Just 4 months of piano = measurable brain gains (even in seniors).
🔸 Chess & strategy games
12 IQ points added in one 2-year school study.
Enhances pattern recognition, planning, and fluid intelligence.
🔸 Learning a new language
Improves working memory and cognitive flexibility.
Bonus: delays dementia by over 4 years if learned midlife.
🔸 Reading complex material
Deep reading = stronger focus, lower stress, longer life.
Study of 19,000+ people found it reduces cognitive decline.
🔸 Coding & electronics
Practicing logic, problem-solving, systems thinking.
Elon Musk learned programming at 12. It shows…
🔸 High-skill sports (like martial arts, archery, gymnastics)
Mixes physical discipline with sharp mental control.
Improves focus, inhibition, and real-time decision making.
Why do so many geniuses play games?
Because they’re mental gyms in disguise…
Games like chess, Go, Mahjong, even weird Euro board games, they hit the perfect combo of:
♦️ Pattern recognition
♦️ Strategy under pressure
♦️ Fast feedback = fast learning
They train your brain to think multiple moves ahead, stay calm under stress, and adapt.
🔸 Kids who played chess in school gained 12 IQ points in 2 years.
🔸 In another study: elderly people who played board games regularly had 15% lower dementia risk over 20 years.
Geniuses love games because they’re:
🔹 Challenging
🔹 Endless in depth
🔹 Social, but mentally stimulating
🔹 Never truly “finished” (just like mastery)
Even Einstein, Feynman, Hawking were big into games…
Is knitting secretly a brain upgrade?
Sounds weird, but yeah... it kinda is.
Not just knitting, also journaling, gardening, calligraphy, woodworking. The slower, hands-on, quiet hobbies.
📌 Why they work:
🔸 They activate fine motor skills + attention networks
🔸 They reduce stress and boost dopamine
🔸 They create tangible progress = instant feedback
🔸 They promote flow (aka deep, focused work)
🟧 Studies show:
• Knitting improves focus and concentration in 71% of people
• Gardening increases BDNF (a brain-growth protein) from soil exposure
• Creative journaling boosts memory consolidation and emotional clarity
They help smart people slow down, recharge, and still get cognitive benefits, without burning out.
What hobby should you pick?
Let’s be real, you're probably not joining a chess tournament tomorrow.
So how do you choose something that actually works for your brain?
Here’s the quick-start checklist:
🧠 Want to boost IQ + memory?
→ Try music, chess, language learning, speedcubing
🛠️ Need something hands-on + satisfying?
→ Knitting, gardening, woodworking, journaling
🏃 Want brain + body benefits?
→ Martial arts, archery, rock climbing, dancing
👾 Into strategy and dopamine hits?
→ Go, board games, e-sports, Rubik’s cubes, bridge
🌱 Just want to feel sharper & less foggy?
→ Daily reading + a bit of brain training (try piano or coding)
🟧 Rule of thumb:
Pick something with challenge, feedback, and depth.
If it makes you feel smarter after doing it, you’re on the right track.
What Do Geniuses Actually Do for Fun?
Here’s what real high-IQ legends do when they’re off the clock:
🔸 Steve Jobs - Practiced calligraphy & loved minimalist design
🔸 Albert Einstein - Played violin daily, said “I often think in music”
🔸 Elon Musk - Obsessed with video games & used to code them at 12
🔸 Richard Feynman - Played bongos, cracked safes, and learned to sketch
🔸 Geena Davis - Took up archery at 41 and nearly made the Olympics
🔸 Leonardo da Vinci - Dissected bodies for fun, invented flying machines
Even the fictional geniuses get it:
🔹 Lisa Simpson - Saxophone, chess, political activism (IQ 159, allegedly)
They're not just smart at work, their hobbies feed their minds too.
Every one of them chose stuff that challenges, stimulates, or teaches.
Final Take
So… what kind of hobbies do highly intelligent people have?
The ones that push them.
Smart people don’t just pass time, they build with it, skills, systems, mental models, motor memory.
🟧 Best hobbies share a few traits:
🔸 No clear ceiling
🔸 Feedback loops
🔸 Multiple brain systems activated
🔸 Deep personal meaning
You don’t need a 160 IQ to do any of them. You just need to pick one and go deep.
Start with what pulls you in, music, chess, coding, writing, archery, Go, gardening…
Then stick with it long enough to get obsessed.
Because your hobby isn’t just a hobby. It’s literally how you rewire your brain for the better…
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