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> You'd think that he beat me at one thing by neglecting another, but nope, the guy was excelling in every category. This is literally impossible. A person ca

> You'd think that he beat me at one thing by neglecting another, but nope, the guy was excelling in every category. This is literally impossible. A person cannot be Einstein and Picasso at the same time. A person cannot be Steve Jobs and Pope Francis at the same time. We all have limited time in life, and it is only possible to excel in one thing by focusing on it and, as a result, not focusing on something else. This is a beautiful thing. I watch the teachers in my kids' schools and they do a great job and I think "that's why they're teachers and I'm a lawyer." I watch a great play and I think "that's why they're actors and I'm a lawyer." I hope I'm as good at my work as they are at theirs. But I can't excel at what they do. I don't have time.

mindwok 2y ago
OP isn't saying the person they were referring to is a world-class figure in everything (or even two things), just that they seemed to be producing better results in the categories OP cared about, which is very achievable.
brrrrrm 2y ago
I’ve definitely met people whose stats are juiced. Probably not as good at scrolling tiktok as me tho
- wruza 2y ago
  Then you see their feed one time and cry cause there’s no way to copy it to your account.
  - eru 2y ago
    I seem to get way more interesting (and weird..) ads from Google than most of the people I know. But maybe that's just because Google gives me things I find interesting? It's stuff like a three story tall Diesel engine for a container ship. I'm not really in the market for that, but I would totally want to be someone who's casually in the market for that.
mablopoule 2y ago
You just need to meet someone like that, they are rare but they exists. It doesn't means that they are good at everything, just that they are better than you in every way. I had a colleague like that. She was super nice, super smart, very good looking, was well-balanced emotionally, and dated a professional athlete. The kind of person who has a very good career, and then train for the marathon on the weekend. Even her name sounded cool. I know it sounds like jealousy, it isn't, I'm honestly happy for her, but it's just a reminder that sometime people can be more advanced than you, and that you shouldn't place your self-worth only by measuring yourself with others, cause people like John Urschel[1] do exists. [1] An up-and-coming american football player who abandoned his career at the NFL to focus on his PhD in Mathematics at MIT.
- massysett 2y ago
  > just that they are better than you in every way. Nope, I have never once met a person like that and am confident I never will. OK, so John Urschel plays football and is great at math. Are you telling me he is also a particle physicist, a statesman, a mountain man, a mob boss, and an astronaut? If not how is he good at “everything”?
  - motoxpro 2y ago
    Wait so you are a particle physicist, a statesman, a mountain man, a mob boss, and an astronaut? Stop thinking global maxima (everyone in the world) and start thinking local maxima (you) and I promise there is someone that beats every local (you) metric you have.
    - massysett 2y ago
      Nope. There is no one that beats me at every metric I have. Does anyone know my family as well as I do? No. Does anyone know my staff as well as I do? No. Does anyone maintain my house as well as I do? No.
      - krisoft 2y ago
yen223 2y ago
Person A spends their 8 hours playing sports, reading books and socialising Person B spends their 8 hours only playing video games I would expect Person A to be better than Person B in every notable category, except for video game skill.
- massysett 2y ago
  Why are you discounting the importance of video game skill? With esports people are making a living on it. Person B is specializing in a skill and mastering it. Person A is a jack of all trades and master of nothing.
  - yen223 2y ago
    How many people do you personally know play way too much video games? And out of them, how many has made a successful living out of playing video games?
  - _carbyau_ 2y ago
    I've played a lot of computer games. But in no way will I ever be an esports star. Playing computer games is simply another "skill" in the toolbox of a jack of all trades. And I'm fine with that.
  - __turbobrew__ 2y ago
    Playing video games for that long destroys your body, I personally know from experience. Exercise also makes you better in every other thing in your life as well (including video games).
    - filleduchaos 2y ago
      I mean, playing sports (nowhere near even a semi-pro level) has destroyed my body a hell of a lot more than playing video games has. People just find one source of body destruction more "worthy" than the other, and that's more a societal value judgment thing than an objective danger level thing. It isn't only video games that get hit with this; for example, in my experience ballerinas get a lot more faux concern about "destroying their feet" than, say, sprinters do, never mind that they have pretty much the same foot injury profiles. (See also: sitting at a desk for eight hours to play video games is obviously bad for you, but sitting at a desk for eight hours to type reports for your employer couldn't possibly cause you any issues that said employer might be on the hook for.)
mianos 2y ago
This is what your parents tell you. I reality some people are good at anything they touch. Unreal at maths, writing, music, drawing, taste, music, spirt and very nice people. Not many. But I have known people who are known for their sporting achievements but I know how good they are academically. It is a downer at first untill you grow up.
rcxdude 2y ago
The point isn't that 'someone can be the best at everything'. It's 'some people can be better in every category than some other person', which is a heck of a lot more reasonable. I've certainly experienced it. Similarly to the poster above, I went from top of the class to middle of the pack in university, and in part that was because I didn't focus on the academics, instead working on student projects that were valuable but didn't improve my grade. But there were people working on those projects that contributed more to those projects than I did, also came top of the class, were substantially more athletic than me (actually competing vs essentially no exercise), more social (also not super hard, but still), and somehow also got more (or at least better) sleep than me. It's a thing that happens.
- Suppafly 2y ago
  >and somehow also got more (or at least better) sleep than me It must be better sleep, because these people also seem to only need 4 hours and yet are able to function at 100% the rest of the time, meanwhile I've been tired for 20 years no matter how much sleep I seem to get.
krisoft 2y ago
It sounds like there is a misunderstanding here. Two kinds. You are taking too literally the “every category” part and your bar for “excelling” is higher than it is commonly used. In your comment you talk about being the best of the best. “Excelling” doesn’t have this connotation. You could say that someone is “excelling” at business if they have a nice, well-run pizza shop. They don’t have to be the literal Steve Jobs. Excelling in classes would be someone who effortlesly gets good grades, not someone who has a Nobel prize. Much lower bar. Also the “every category” is not the same as “literaly everything”. Just everything the commenter cared about at that point in their life. Probably popularity with others, popularity with girls, academics, sports, something creative like music, maybe dressing, humour, etc. I would not, unless otherwise qualified, would assume that the person was literally excelling at neurosurgery, and astrodynamics, and crystalography, and parliamentary rules and customs. But since those topics don’t just naturally come up in real life the commenter had no way of knowing that.
JR1427 2y ago
It's fascinating that this topic has riled so many people!
jodrellblank 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Kim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Kim - "an American U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, former SEAL, Navy flight surgeon, naval aviator, physician, and NASA astronaut. .. Kim received a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in mathematics from the University of San Diego in 2012, and a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School in 2016. Kim was a Pat Tillman Foundation "Tillman Scholar" selectee. In 2017, Kim completed his medical internship in emergency medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.[6] ... was assigned to SEAL Team 3 with the rating Special Warfare Operator. He deployed twice to the Middle East and participated in over 100 combat missions as a combat medic, sniper, navigator, and point man. As of January 2020, Kim was married[7] with three children.[8]"

mindwok 2y ago

OP isn't saying the person they were referring to is a world-class figure in everything (or even two things), just that they seemed to be producing better results in the categories OP cared about, which is very achievable.

brrrrrm 2y ago

I’ve definitely met people whose stats are juiced. Probably not as good at scrolling tiktok as me tho

wruza 2y ago
Then you see their feed one time and cry cause there’s no way to copy it to your account.
- eru 2y ago
  I seem to get way more interesting (and weird..) ads from Google than most of the people I know. But maybe that's just because Google gives me things I find interesting? It's stuff like a three story tall Diesel engine for a container ship. I'm not really in the market for that, but I would totally want to be someone who's casually in the market for that.

mablopoule 2y ago

You just need to meet someone like that, they are rare but they exists. It doesn't means that they are good at everything, just that they are better than you in every way. I had a colleague like that. She was super nice, super smart, very good looking, was well-balanced emotionally, and dated a professional athlete. The kind of person who has a very good career, and then train for the marathon on the weekend. Even her name sounded cool. I know it sounds like jealousy, it isn't, I'm honestly happy for her, but it's just a reminder that sometime people can be more advanced than you, and that you shouldn't place your self-worth only by measuring yourself with others, cause people like John Urschel[1] do exists. [1] An up-and-coming american football player who abandoned his career at the NFL to focus on his PhD in Mathematics at MIT.

massysett 2y ago
> just that they are better than you in every way. Nope, I have never once met a person like that and am confident I never will. OK, so John Urschel plays football and is great at math. Are you telling me he is also a particle physicist, a statesman, a mountain man, a mob boss, and an astronaut? If not how is he good at “everything”?
- motoxpro 2y ago
  Wait so you are a particle physicist, a statesman, a mountain man, a mob boss, and an astronaut? Stop thinking global maxima (everyone in the world) and start thinking local maxima (you) and I promise there is someone that beats every local (you) metric you have.
  - massysett 2y ago
    Nope. There is no one that beats me at every metric I have. Does anyone know my family as well as I do? No. Does anyone know my staff as well as I do? No. Does anyone maintain my house as well as I do? No.
    - krisoft 2y ago

yen223 2y ago

Person A spends their 8 hours playing sports, reading books and socialising Person B spends their 8 hours only playing video games I would expect Person A to be better than Person B in every notable category, except for video game skill.

massysett 2y ago
Why are you discounting the importance of video game skill? With esports people are making a living on it. Person B is specializing in a skill and mastering it. Person A is a jack of all trades and master of nothing.
- yen223 2y ago
  How many people do you personally know play way too much video games? And out of them, how many has made a successful living out of playing video games?
- _carbyau_ 2y ago
  I've played a lot of computer games. But in no way will I ever be an esports star. Playing computer games is simply another "skill" in the toolbox of a jack of all trades. And I'm fine with that.
- __turbobrew__ 2y ago
  Playing video games for that long destroys your body, I personally know from experience. Exercise also makes you better in every other thing in your life as well (including video games).
  - filleduchaos 2y ago
    I mean, playing sports (nowhere near even a semi-pro level) has destroyed my body a hell of a lot more than playing video games has. People just find one source of body destruction more "worthy" than the other, and that's more a societal value judgment thing than an objective danger level thing. It isn't only video games that get hit with this; for example, in my experience ballerinas get a lot more faux concern about "destroying their feet" than, say, sprinters do, never mind that they have pretty much the same foot injury profiles. (See also: sitting at a desk for eight hours to play video games is obviously bad for you, but sitting at a desk for eight hours to type reports for your employer couldn't possibly cause you any issues that said employer might be on the hook for.)

mianos 2y ago

This is what your parents tell you. I reality some people are good at anything they touch. Unreal at maths, writing, music, drawing, taste, music, spirt and very nice people. Not many. But I have known people who are known for their sporting achievements but I know how good they are academically. It is a downer at first untill you grow up.

rcxdude 2y ago

The point isn't that 'someone can be the best at everything'. It's 'some people can be better in every category than some other person', which is a heck of a lot more reasonable. I've certainly experienced it. Similarly to the poster above, I went from top of the class to middle of the pack in university, and in part that was because I didn't focus on the academics, instead working on student projects that were valuable but didn't improve my grade. But there were people working on those projects that contributed more to those projects than I did, also came top of the class, were substantially more athletic than me (actually competing vs essentially no exercise), more social (also not super hard, but still), and somehow also got more (or at least better) sleep than me. It's a thing that happens.

Suppafly 2y ago
>and somehow also got more (or at least better) sleep than me It must be better sleep, because these people also seem to only need 4 hours and yet are able to function at 100% the rest of the time, meanwhile I've been tired for 20 years no matter how much sleep I seem to get.

krisoft 2y ago

It sounds like there is a misunderstanding here. Two kinds. You are taking too literally the “every category” part and your bar for “excelling” is higher than it is commonly used. In your comment you talk about being the best of the best. “Excelling” doesn’t have this connotation. You could say that someone is “excelling” at business if they have a nice, well-run pizza shop. They don’t have to be the literal Steve Jobs. Excelling in classes would be someone who effortlesly gets good grades, not someone who has a Nobel prize. Much lower bar. Also the “every category” is not the same as “literaly everything”. Just everything the commenter cared about at that point in their life. Probably popularity with others, popularity with girls, academics, sports, something creative like music, maybe dressing, humour, etc. I would not, unless otherwise qualified, would assume that the person was literally excelling at neurosurgery, and astrodynamics, and crystalography, and parliamentary rules and customs. But since those topics don’t just naturally come up in real life the commenter had no way of knowing that.

JR1427 2y ago

It's fascinating that this topic has riled so many people!

jodrellblank 2y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Kim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Kim - "an American U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, former SEAL, Navy flight surgeon, naval aviator, physician, and NASA astronaut. .. Kim received a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in mathematics from the University of San Diego in 2012, and a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School in 2016. Kim was a Pat Tillman Foundation "Tillman Scholar" selectee. In 2017, Kim completed his medical internship in emergency medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.[6] ... was assigned to SEAL Team 3 with the rating Special Warfare Operator. He deployed twice to the Middle East and participated in over 100 combat missions as a combat medic, sniper, navigator, and point man. As of January 2020, Kim was married[7] with three children.[8]"