I assume I'm below average
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I assume I'm below average
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Re: I assume I'm below average
#2This article reminded me of this old gem from PG's "Great Hackers":
"I've found that people who are great at something are not so much convinced of their own greatness as mystified at why everyone else seems so incompetent."
Re: I assume I'm below average
#3The smarter you are the higher up you go in perspective the more you realize how much more information and work you need. But I wager this is not always a good or healthy frame.
Some days I feel unhappy because I beat myself up for failing my own standards. Some people live in the moment and they're happy, some people aren't. In the end it's finding a balance in life.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#4On the other hand, lack of optimism considered a sign of poor mental health, seemingly regardless of the truth.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#5My take on this is slightly different. I think people have different opinions on what above average means.
Take the driving example. I may say I'm an above average driver, since I have good reflexes and can drive at high speeds. However, someone else might say they're a good driver because they follow the speed limit.
I think the reason everyone thinks they're above average is because they are- they're just above average in different ways.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#6I doubt Derek really believes this. At least for me it would be paralyzing to think that I was below average at everything.
I assume what he really means is, "below average in x, but I make up for that with y."
I think it'd be hard to have done as well as Derek if you honestly managed to convince yourself that you were below average intelligence, below average skill in your profession, below average ability to motivate yourself and so on. It sounds like he's setting the y to "in being humble and willing to learn from others".
Otherwise why would you try anything hard if you believed it to just be a lottery with bad odds? Wouldn't it be better to leave it as an open question so that you're self critical and are able to suss out your own weaknesses?
Re: I assume I'm below average
#7My take on this is slightly different. I think people have different opinions on what above average means. Take the driving example. I may say I'm an above average driver, since I have good reflexes and can drive at high speeds. However, someone else might say they're a good driver because they follow the speed limit. I think the reason everyone thinks they're above average is because they are- they're just above ave…
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Re: I assume I'm below average
#8This article reminded me of this old gem from PG's "Great Hackers": "I've found that people who are great at something are not so much convinced of their own greatness as mystified at why everyone else seems so incompetent."
Tangentially related is one of my favorite Bertrand Russell quotes: The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#9It is matter of opinion. Someone who always drives the speed limit may believe they are better than all the people driving over the speed limit. And someone who drives over the limit my scoff at the parking ability of the slow driver.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#10Reminds me about my experiences in martial arts; notably Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. You will go in every day to train and spar and get your ass kicked by someone smaller, bigger, weaker, stronger, newer, more experienced, etc. It gets pretty rough on the ego, and if you're not smart enough to figure out that all the ass kicking's don't really matter, then you'll be one of the guys who drops out. But if you keep coming every day, commit to training despite losing constantly, you'll be absorbing more and more information and progressing faster than people who train strictly to "win" or stroke their egos.
This happens with everyone, nobody ever gets to the top by being the best from the beginning. Thats why the best fighters in the world are very humble; they've paid their dues and got their asses kicked every day to get to the top.
There's something to learn from everyone, and learning never stops. The day you think you're better than everyone else, or are "good enough", is the day your results start declining.