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> Most things people do aren’t that hard and people have the ability to learn to do them Have you considered that maybe you're just unusually talented? I know

> Most things people do aren’t that hard and people have the ability to learn to do them Have you considered that maybe you're just unusually talented? I know most things people do are very hard for me, and the few things I do are very easy. Learning history is an uphill slog even though I love it, but math doesn't warrant effort. For a while I just figured people that failed math were lazy and people that passed history were geniuses, but it turns out people have different amounts of natural talent. It's not the start, it's the slope

paulcole 4y ago
As narcissistic as I am, I don’t think I’m “talented.” I’m just like everybody else — can get pretty decent at a lot of things. But also just like everybody else I like to pretend I’m talented at the things I put work into. And I like to pretend that people who are good at things I haven’t put work into are talented in a way that I’m not.
- orangecat 4y ago
  As narcissistic as I am, I don’t think I’m “talented.” Huh. To me it seems more narcissistic for someone to say that they have no special talent and that their success is entirely due to their superior work ethic and years of study and sacrifice. I’m just like everybody else — can get pretty decent at a lot of things. That's a very different claim than "innate talent doesn't exist".
  - paulcole 4y ago
    > That's a very different claim than "innate talent doesn't exist". Yes! This is why I never said innate talent doesn’t exist.
- ravi-delia 4y ago
  I mean, by hours at this point I've definitely put more time in to math than any other subject, but it was easy from the start! Maybe I'm enough of a fuckup that it intensifies differences in ability which would otherwise be too small to notice - like math took close to 0 effort to do and want to do, so anything else is unbearable. Doesn't square with just how much effort I put into history though.

paulcole 4y ago

As narcissistic as I am, I don’t think I’m “talented.” I’m just like everybody else — can get pretty decent at a lot of things. But also just like everybody else I like to pretend I’m talented at the things I put work into. And I like to pretend that people who are good at things I haven’t put work into are talented in a way that I’m not.

orangecat 4y ago
As narcissistic as I am, I don’t think I’m “talented.” Huh. To me it seems more narcissistic for someone to say that they have no special talent and that their success is entirely due to their superior work ethic and years of study and sacrifice. I’m just like everybody else — can get pretty decent at a lot of things. That's a very different claim than "innate talent doesn't exist".
- paulcole 4y ago
  > That's a very different claim than "innate talent doesn't exist". Yes! This is why I never said innate talent doesn’t exist.
ravi-delia 4y ago
I mean, by hours at this point I've definitely put more time in to math than any other subject, but it was easy from the start! Maybe I'm enough of a fuckup that it intensifies differences in ability which would otherwise be too small to notice - like math took close to 0 effort to do and want to do, so anything else is unbearable. Doesn't square with just how much effort I put into history though.