About 5000 times better

[andrewducker]

Suddenly I feel fine again - had a long, fun conversation with my mum about Aspergers, Casein, Richard Feynman and the likelihood of people being both mathematican and artistic in nature (my take - if 1/30 people are artistic and 1/30 are mathematical then only 1/900 will be both - not as simple as that, but it's a nice simple explanation for why there aren't that many people who are good at both.  Oh, and it also takes years of hard work to be good at either, so being good at both is going to be somewhat unlikely).

Anyway, my cold seems to have largely vanished and I'm slaving away at some database extraction.  Life is pretty good :->

Comments

Abilities

[xquiq.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those people in the middle. I have the potential to be good at a some very diverse things - unfortunately my inability to decide is making me rapidly 'just above average' in many things I care about.

I would love to spend time in artistic pursuits, but at the moment that isn't my career. That said, at the moment my career is not within any of my primary areas of interest...

In some ways I'd love it if someone told me I clearly had more ability in one area than the other: unless I focus, I'm unlikely to be exceptional in either.

Re: Abilities

[andrewducker]

The answer is 'pick one and jump'. Remember - your choice is not irrevocable. If you change your mind in 5 minutes, or months or years you can change your path...

Re: Abilities

[xquiq.livejournal.com]

That's true. I've tended in the past to think of 'jumping' as making a serious commitment to one pursuit: largely because these are the jumps that I've had to make in the past.

I've been thinking about this and there are a few areas in which I could improve without making serious commitment; I've noted this before, but I think I've been somewhat lazy. Looking back there have been times when I've thought, 'I can dedicate myself to this fully, so I'll not bother at all and watch some random television instead'. That's not a particularly useful attitude - I'm wondering if trying to schedule some of my leisure time might help.

Re: Abilities

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

Sounds like me.

I seem to get a decent bit better than average at anything I try that isn't heavily subject to physical limitations (I'm female, slim, reasonably strong but with short legs not especially great co-ordination or spatial awareness). If I dedicate myself to things I get pretty good. I'm good at learning. My one 'natural' talent is singing but I'm not exceptional at that (lack of range, mainly).

As you say, it make is bloody hard to pick something when you aren't obviously better at one (two, three) things than anything else.

[green-amber.livejournal.com]

That's weird my mum just rang too..

[rainstorm.livejournal.com]

I was always much better at science than art, but my heart wasn't in the sciences. Hence why I'm devoting my life to art now..

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

Very probably mostly the 'years of hard work' bit. Don't forget music is very mathematical...