There is a significant difference as well as distinction between clever and smart.

Clever individuals who think they are the smartest in the room are, most of the time, the most individualistic. Clever individuals who think they’re the smartest are often the least observant of others who they think are not “good enough”. Their most important metric for determining how well to treat a person is power. This metric leads them to be clever in any way that serves their bottom line — themselves.

In contrast, there are smart individuals who know there is much that they don’t know. They safely assume they are not the smartest in the room. They have a healthy amount of skepticism toward their own conclusions and/or judgments in life. They are usually aggressively observant, reliable (not perfect), and the most empathetic to those not in power. These qualities generally lead them to smartly assess the whole as well as its pieces. In turn, they’re able to maniacally focus on the bottom line — managing oneself in all scenarios outside of circumstance.

Do you consider yourself to be clever or smart? How does your answer match up with the tangible results of your life in your current reality?