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> it never gets easier, you just get faster. As someone who arguably has accumulated expertise, I still feel like I'm winging it a lot. Yes, I believe the gp h

> it never gets easier, you just get faster. As someone who arguably has accumulated expertise, I still feel like I'm winging it a lot. Yes, I believe the gp has missed the point of the article. The lesson from "your to-do list isn't difficult, it's impossible" is not nihilism. The point is not that no one is good at anything so why bother; the point is that the feeling of overwhelm, dread, and depression from an impossible- seeming to-do list is rooted in false assumptions. Your to-do list doesn't seem impossibly long, it IS impossibly long! You are born with a to-do list and you will die with a to-do list - but that's OK. We're all in the same boat. Another helpful way to think about this is a math analogy. Your knowledge is a circle or sphere that has your literal area of expertise. The more your learn, the larger it gets - but you also gain more contact with the unknown. That is the lesson. Imposter syndrome demystified. Only a fool feels in complete control. One simply does what one can.

toss1 4y ago
>> One simply does what one can. Exactly. Long ago, I built a task management app for myself and my company. After using it for a while, I looked at the overview and found that I had something like 768 hours of Urgent and High priority tasks due in the next two weeks. There are only 336 hours total in two weeks (nevermind sleeping, eating, traveling, etc...). Moreover, this was not atypical of the list of things on my plate, it was just that now it had been collected as actual data. No amount of working faster, trimming, delegating, etc. was going to get this done. The realization is that things WILL slip, even so much that some never get done. The goal is just to keep the critical things from slipping so much that you are taken out of the game. Also recognize that this is OK, and don't beatup myself or others about it (and that beating on myself or others only distracts and prevents the tasks from getting done). Just get on with what you can get on with.
fallous 4y ago
Over the years I've learned to be suspicious of simple solutions to difficult problems and those who assert such solutions. When trying to convey that healthy skepticism to others I tend to use the phrase "beware those who express the certainty that can only be born out of ignorance or a swindle." The analogy I use to explain how the acquisition of knowledge leads to humility is akin to climbing. You start in a ditch and can only see a single mountain that you must ascend to be knowledgeable. Once you reach the peak of that mountain you are greeted with an entire new range of mountains that would remain hidden from you without the benefit of your newfound perspective. You may also safely assume that beyond each of those mountains lies yet another set of partially or completely obscured mountain ranges. As Socrates said, "if I am wise it is only in that I know what I do not know."

toss1 4y ago

>> One simply does what one can. Exactly. Long ago, I built a task management app for myself and my company. After using it for a while, I looked at the overview and found that I had something like 768 hours of Urgent and High priority tasks due in the next two weeks. There are only 336 hours total in two weeks (nevermind sleeping, eating, traveling, etc...). Moreover, this was not atypical of the list of things on my plate, it was just that now it had been collected as actual data. No amount of working faster, trimming, delegating, etc. was going to get this done. The realization is that things WILL slip, even so much that some never get done. The goal is just to keep the critical things from slipping so much that you are taken out of the game. Also recognize that this is OK, and don't beatup myself or others about it (and that beating on myself or others only distracts and prevents the tasks from getting done). Just get on with what you can get on with.

fallous 4y ago

Over the years I've learned to be suspicious of simple solutions to difficult problems and those who assert such solutions. When trying to convey that healthy skepticism to others I tend to use the phrase "beware those who express the certainty that can only be born out of ignorance or a swindle." The analogy I use to explain how the acquisition of knowledge leads to humility is akin to climbing. You start in a ditch and can only see a single mountain that you must ascend to be knowledgeable. Once you reach the peak of that mountain you are greeted with an entire new range of mountains that would remain hidden from you without the benefit of your newfound perspective. You may also safely assume that beyond each of those mountains lies yet another set of partially or completely obscured mountain ranges. As Socrates said, "if I am wise it is only in that I know what I do not know."