3 ms·

Yup; it was an article on her work in NYMag that 'diagnosed' me. I think it was 'The Power & Perils of Praise.' I remember reading it and thinking, "holy fuck,

by oz 14y ago

Yup; it was an article on her work in NYMag that 'diagnosed' me. I think it was 'The Power & Perils of Praise.' I remember reading it and thinking, "holy fuck, that's me!" I think that was also when I was exposed to the "Talent Doesn't Matter" meme, with which I disagree. Talent does matter - no one disputes that some people have learning disabilities compared to the average; yet seem hesitant to accept that some have learning advantages compared to the average. It's just that talent isn't enough. As a Jamaican, I can tell you that Usain Bolt dominates because of an almost freakish talent AND working till he vomits on the track at training. His training partner, Yohan "The Beast" Blake, is well known to be a much harder worker than Bolt - It was Bolt who nicknamed him "The Beast" when he saw how hard Yohan trained. But Bolt still wins. I wanna work hard enough to maximize my talent.

lutorm 14y ago
About the "talent doesn't matter" issue: It's one of these things where the truth may actually hurt you. It's pretty clear that talent does matter, but it's better for you if you don't know this, since that knowledge may serve as an excuse for you to give up. I don't generally advocate not telling the truth, but this may be one of these cases where everyone is better served by emphasizing the part about malleability and not that about innate talent.
- Nimi 14y ago
  Or one can plainly tell the truth, like my SAT instructor used to say: you're competing against other people with similar capabilities to yours. If you don't bother to do the coursework, they'll get a higher score and you'll get a lower one, and it won't be because of some inherent reason, it will happen simply because they did take the time to study. (the SAT here is normalized to form a perfect Gauss curve, so essentially the only thing that matters is one's percentile, but I guess this saying is generalizable)
- oz 14y ago
  Upvoted. This is something I've thought about as well. My general motto is "We gain nothing by denying the truth," but I've also learned that the mind can sabotage us in very subtle ways. On LessWrong, the idea is that "our brains are untrusted hardware."

by oz 14y ago

lutorm 14y ago

About the "talent doesn't matter" issue: It's one of these things where the truth may actually hurt you. It's pretty clear that talent does matter, but it's better for you if you don't know this, since that knowledge may serve as an excuse for you to give up. I don't generally advocate not telling the truth, but this may be one of these cases where everyone is better served by emphasizing the part about malleability and not that about innate talent.

Nimi 14y ago
Or one can plainly tell the truth, like my SAT instructor used to say: you're competing against other people with similar capabilities to yours. If you don't bother to do the coursework, they'll get a higher score and you'll get a lower one, and it won't be because of some inherent reason, it will happen simply because they did take the time to study. (the SAT here is normalized to form a perfect Gauss curve, so essentially the only thing that matters is one's percentile, but I guess this saying is generalizable)
oz 14y ago
Upvoted. This is something I've thought about as well. My general motto is "We gain nothing by denying the truth," but I've also learned that the mind can sabotage us in very subtle ways. On LessWrong, the idea is that "our brains are untrusted hardware."