11 Effective Signs You’re Too Smart for Your Job (Careers)

Smart for Your Job- Being smart is not bad. But when you don’t know or realize that you’re smarter than you think you are, that’s bad. So, in this article, we will try to see whether you are too smart for your job or not.

What would be the benefit knowing that you’re smarter than you think?

First of all, you will be able to start your search for the job for which you’re not smart enough. You would say why would you do that? If you don’t realize that you are too smart in your job, do you think there’s any growth possible further? If not, why stay to be doing the same thing day in and day out? Only for money? If you are driven by only monetary benefits then chances are that you haven’t seen the big picture of your career yet. We’re not here to criticize you; rather we want you to open your eyes and see who you are.

Secondly, if you know you’re smarter than you think you would leave behind your complacent zone of safety and do something that will give you growth, expand your career and suit your skills.

Thirdly, you would stop demeaning yourself for being better and be you without any shame or doubt. You don’t need to feel bad because you’re smarter. Rather find a job that exactly aligns with your skill sets and expands your career in a better direction.

Let’s look at the signs which may help you finally decide to accept who you are and help make you better decisions.

1. You feel bored every day

If you feel that every day you reach your office and when you get to work, you feel bored. There are possibly two basic reasons for which you can feel so. One, you didn’t sleep well the previous night. Second, you find your work too easy. The first reason won’t happen every day. But the second reason can. If the second reason keeps on happening, figure out that you’re too smart for the job or the task. You need something else. You can’t keep on doing the same thing again and again only for money. Being smart has its own issues. Getting bored is one of them.

2. You finish your smart task too early

This is related to the previous one. If every day whatever work gets assigned to you gets finished too quickly, you need to ponder. When your colleagues are taking hours to finish one task, then you are finishing everything within a short stint of time! Isn’t it something you should think about? If this scenario happens most of the time, you are smarter than you think you are. And most certainly you need to think over your job. If you finish up the assigned tasks too quickly, the remaining hours are getting wasted. You can always go to your boss and ask for more work, but if you do it every day, your boss will feel threatened about her own position. Instead of doing that figure out a way to use your intelligence in some other place. Maybe you can use your smartness and get yourself a better job or maybe you can start your own consulting business where you can teach people how to get things done quicker!

3. You figure out things much quickly

If you’re in a job, you would certainly be in a team. And if you see that you understand everything in one time whereas your team members are taking hours to understand one simple thing, then you should think about who you are. If it happens, definitely, you’re smarter in your team. Leadership guru Robin Sharma says that – “If you’re smarter in a group, change the group.” Take his advice and do the same. If it’s possible to change the team, do that. Because you should always be associating with people who are smarter than you. If not, then your growth would stall and whatever career goals and aspirations you have for yourself, you will not be able to fulfil them. Find a new group or find a new job. A whole world of opportunities awaits you.

4. No vision of the founder

What if to your utter surprise you realise that you’re smarter than the founder of the company? The best option is realize that you’re too smart and find yourself a new founder who is smarter than you. If you find that you’re smarter than your founder, don’t think it’s arrogance; maybe you know better than her or you are smarter than who he is. If you find this scenario at your work place, ask whether your founder has any vision for future or not. Most probably she would say something that is vague and ambiguous. Better option is always to leave the job and find something that aligns with your smart skills and intelligence.

5. You don’t see any growth in this job

This is big. The chances of you being smarted than your founder are rare. But exception is always there. No matter what, what’s most common sign that you’re too smart for your job is to realize that you are not growing in your job anymore. Every day you come to office and you do the same job again and again and again. You go to your boss and ask for better work, but no-one listens to you. What would you do in this case? Simply find ways to improve your skills at your current job even when the growth opportunities are bleak. That will give you some time to search for a new job. Once you get a job which fits your skills and will give you opportunity to grow, be smart enough to grab the job. Don’t waste time thinking whether you should let go of the existing job or not. Remember, if you’re not growing in your career, you’re getting decayed. Do you want that for your career?

6. The job doesn’t motivate you to be more than you are

Motivation comes from within in the most cases. Author Daniel Pink gave a presentation where he proved that compensation can’t motivate the workers anymore. You need something else. You need drive, passion, willingness to do the work and opportunities for growth. If you go to job just for the sake of money, you won’t be satisfied doing the job at all. And when that happens, realize that you’re too smart for your job. Often smartness is defined as arrogance. But smartness is not arrogance; it’s an ability to do things as fast as possible without allowing any room for error. So don’t you think professionals like speed, quick response, little or no errors, efficiency, knowledge, skill and an ability to do things at much faster rate than others? If you have all of these, you’re smarter than you think. You shouldn’t waste your smartness on something that doesn’t motivate you be more, to help more and to leave your mark on earth.

7. There’s no mentor around

To be smart, you need someone to guide you. And that someone should be smarter than you. Everyone needs a mentor to be what they want to be. But what if in your organization you find no-one who can guide you to be your best self? What would you do then? If you don’t find anyone who is better than you in your domain, there may be two reasons. One, the organizations don’t hire smart people. And that’s why you’re smarter than everybody. Second, the organization has no plans for expansion or growth. It has become complacent with its present success and all it is doing is a maintenance job, not a ‘growth job.’ How would you grow in an organization which doesn’t think about growth? Leave the organization or go do something else within the same organization. Finding a mentor is important. But when you don’t find any in your organization, then it’s time to think who you are.

8. You see everyone around you has been doing the same job

In many IT and construction firms you would see that people have been doing things for years. Still they come every day to office and keep on repeating the same old stuff again and again and again. If you see your boss and colleagues doing the same thing, be aware. If you’re new to this organization, you would soon fall into the trap of becoming “too comfortable”. Smart people can’t do same things again and again every day, day in and day out. They need variety, they need growth, and they need something that will stir their grey matter. If not, they can’t stay around for long in the organization. Smarter you are, new things you need every day. Realize that about yourself. This is the biggest sign that you’re too smart for your job.

9. No-one talks about solving any issue or a problem

If organization is built, there is a reason. It sustains to solve one or many problems. If it doesn’t solve any problem, there’s no reason for the organization to exist. How would you get to know that organization is not solving any problem anymore? Look at its people. Are they solving any problem? Are they finding solution for any issue? Are they taking charge of changing some processes to improve the bottom line? If not, you better leave the organization and join a new one. Solving problem is one of the best things to look for when you want to know whether your organization is growing or not. If the organization is growing, you will see that people within the organization are solving problems on every day basis and not only that, they also help others solve issues. If you don’t see any of it in your current job, leave the job and search for something else.

10. Profit is more important to the organization

Profit is the only measure of success was believed by traditional management gurus. But things have changed drastically. In today’s world, profit is not the only measure of success. The organization which measures its success only on the foundation of profit, it can’t last for a long time. For example, if you see that any organization is too much focused on profits, the attrition rate would increase, people won’t be happy working there and everything will soon fall apart. In that case, if you think different, you won’t be able to say. In that case, you’re not only smarter; rather you deserve a better place to work. Smartness is not in following what the management says; rather it’s doing things in a manner that astounds even the management of the organization.

11. No one is learning new things

Smart people don’t come out of the womb. They become smart by learning new things, each day. But if you’re part of a team or an organization that doesn’t learn or doesn’t focus on learning as its core focus, it’s better to leave the organization and join one which perceives learning as the most important business of the company. Peter Senge, the author of The Fifth Discipline, says that – Every organization should be a learning organization. If you’re not learning, you’re decaying. And if any organization doesn’t learn, but you are learning every day; there would be a different mismatch. And you can’t stay in an organization for a long time, if there is no alignment of organizational values with your own values.

These are the 11 ways you would understand that it’s time to let go of your existing job and search a new one. Moreover, if you realize that you’re too smart for your job, why stay? Yes, definitely, if there is room for you to find something else within the same organization which will allow you to grow and get associated with people who are smarter than you, you’re at your liberty to do so. But if not, don’t stay just for the sake of money. If you stay just for the money, then after few years you would realize that you’re not growing anymore; sadly you have become one of them who keep on doing same thing again and again, day in and day out.