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The Internet did this to me for a lot of things -- when I was an island, I used to think I was really good at a lot of things: Table tennis, Tetris, some other

by nlh 2y ago

The Internet did this to me for a lot of things -- when I was an island, I used to think I was really good at a lot of things: Table tennis, Tetris, some other video games. And relative to my friends and sometimes even the people a few circles away from them, I was! And then, The Internet. And I discovered that I am absolutely NOT good at table tennis. I am not even CLOSE to good at Tetris. And I am TERRIBLE at every video game. Oh well -- so much for competition! Time to enjoy ;)

kaba0 2y ago
That’s a good life philosophy! I think it’s also humbling to look at these opportunities as a learning experience. “If you are a smartest person in the room, you are in a wrong room!”
hiAndrewQuinn 2y ago
Step 1 is to realize you're almost certainly not going to be the best in all of spacetime at a thing. Step 2 is to realize you don't have to be - you can just be the best in a given bubble, centered on the here and now. Step 3 is getting comfortable realizing you get to choose the size of that bubble, any time you want!
- timacles 2y ago
  The real step 1 is not trying to be good at anything and just doing it for the enjoyment Attachment to outcome is very real and hold a lot of people back For example I started getting really good at chess when I stopped caring how many rating points I lost or won today and completely forgot about ratings altogether
otherme123 2y ago
> Oh well -- so much for competition! Time to enjoy ;) Some people reacts like this. And some react by doubling down and doing whatever it takes (even cheating, lying and harming competitors) to win. When I played soccer in a local league I meet a worrying amount of people that thought that dangerously kicking a better oponent, for example tackling to the knee, was perfectly reasonable. Elbowing someone in the face was OK it the referee didn't get you. My coach once warned me that I didn't have a proper rate of yellow cards for my playing position, so I should play harder for the sake of it. I fed up and left the sport at 23-25 y.o. A lot of people is unable of competing with themselves ("I want to do X better than myself from the past year, so I need to practice"), and as long as they don't know about someone who is better they don't care to get better at something.
Jakob 2y ago
Competition has such a beautiful origin of the word "com-" (together) + "petere" (strive): > to strive alongside another for the attainment of something Not necessarily in opposition, how it is often interpreted nowadays, but in a shared endeavour to achieve excellence. Pushing each other to be better.

by nlh 2y ago

kaba0 2y ago

That’s a good life philosophy! I think it’s also humbling to look at these opportunities as a learning experience. “If you are a smartest person in the room, you are in a wrong room!”

hiAndrewQuinn 2y ago

Step 1 is to realize you're almost certainly not going to be the best in all of spacetime at a thing. Step 2 is to realize you don't have to be - you can just be the best in a given bubble, centered on the here and now. Step 3 is getting comfortable realizing you get to choose the size of that bubble, any time you want!

timacles 2y ago
The real step 1 is not trying to be good at anything and just doing it for the enjoyment Attachment to outcome is very real and hold a lot of people back For example I started getting really good at chess when I stopped caring how many rating points I lost or won today and completely forgot about ratings altogether

otherme123 2y ago

> Oh well -- so much for competition! Time to enjoy ;) Some people reacts like this. And some react by doubling down and doing whatever it takes (even cheating, lying and harming competitors) to win. When I played soccer in a local league I meet a worrying amount of people that thought that dangerously kicking a better oponent, for example tackling to the knee, was perfectly reasonable. Elbowing someone in the face was OK it the referee didn't get you. My coach once warned me that I didn't have a proper rate of yellow cards for my playing position, so I should play harder for the sake of it. I fed up and left the sport at 23-25 y.o. A lot of people is unable of competing with themselves ("I want to do X better than myself from the past year, so I need to practice"), and as long as they don't know about someone who is better they don't care to get better at something.

Jakob 2y ago

Competition has such a beautiful origin of the word "com-" (together) + "petere" (strive): > to strive alongside another for the attainment of something Not necessarily in opposition, how it is often interpreted nowadays, but in a shared endeavour to achieve excellence. Pushing each other to be better.