This is a great mindset to have. For his next achievement, Mr. Sivers should try to combine sentences in paragraphs.
Hey daddy-o, get with the times. Sentence is the new paragraph. :-)
I assume I'm below average
51–60 of 113 posts
Re: I assume I'm below average
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you were being sarcastic, alluding to teachers doling out gold stars for effort. Sarcasm doesn't really play well on mediums without body language or intonation. If this was your intention, then I agree with you. Talent and intelligence tends to cluster in individuals. People who are above average in certain skills tend to be above average in related skills; the converse is also true. Yes, certain classes of…
It's ok, I'm interpreting all of these downvotes as sarcasm.
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Re: I assume I'm below average
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
You get a gold star for that comment!
I think you were being sarcastic, alluding to teachers doling out gold stars for effort. Sarcasm doesn't really play well on mediums without body language or intonation. If this was your intention, then I agree with you. Talent and intelligence tends to cluster in individuals. People who are above average in certain skills tend to be above average in related skills; the converse is also true. Yes, certain classes of…
Sarcastic quips don't play well on forums which value high signal-to-noise ratio, even when people can recognize the tone, unless they are exceptionally amusing or relevant.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#54could we go one day on this site without a blog that contains the epiphany that being less egotistical results in better social skills? not to mention the condescending, lecturing tone in the post makes me want to vomit
I'm going to submit a blog piece about how the less vomiting you do, the better social skills you'll have.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#55It's a nice attitude to have in a perfect world but what about this one? In many contexts, especially where there is high noise to signal, people will tend to believe/bet on/buy/hire/have sex with the guy who seems so (possibly over-) confident and makes lots of (possibly empty) promises over the guy who is humble and annoyingly realistic. I can't remember which firm but the leader of a cosmetics firm once said "we don't sell lipstick. we sell hope." I think that's true for lots of social interactions. So this attitude is better to have as a hat one can take on or off, depending on the situation. If you're alone or dealing with knowledgable people, yes, wear your humble hat. If you're selling something or yourself, wear the other one. Just to be clear, I don't like it how it is. But at the moment, being intentionally misleading sometimes, even to the point of eating your own BS, is a valid strategy for worldly success if that is what you seek.
EDIT: Just to be clear, what I mean by "intentionally misleading" is more like hyperbole than like lying. Steve Jobs claiming the "best phone in the world" is hyperbole. Bernie Madoff claiming the "smoothest returns in the world" is lying.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#56I 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 mot…
I think he meant the mindset in general, not exactly the strict meaning or interpretation of the words "below average".
I think he meant tackling each problem by assuming that you're below the average and therefore examining and solving it more thoughtfully and carefully than you would if you just knew you're so damn good you don't really have to pay much attention to it.
So, how I saw it, it's about emphasizing that you're not quite sure how to solve a problem and, in this, thinking everyone else does makes it easier to remember the meticulousness that you desire.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#57Especially for driving, I think most people are above average. This is because the distribution of driving ability is negatively skewed, meaning the tail on the left is longer than the tail on the right. If you were to put a number on driving ability, most people would get something like a seven (out of a maximum of 10). In my opinion, there would be a very small amount of two's and fives. There would also be a small…
I think you're right which is funny because many people (way more than half as this article noted) would say they are above average and say that only half of drivers can be above average Only 50% of students can be above average (median) but 80% may have above average grades (mode) People tend to confuse the two concepts
I think you meant mean not mode...
Re: I assume I'm below average
#58I 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 mot…
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Re: I assume I'm below average
#59I 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 mot…
I think he meant the mindset in general, not exactly the strict meaning or interpretation of the words "below average". I think he meant tackling each problem by assuming that you're below the average and therefore examining and solving it more thoughtfully and carefully than you would if you just knew you're so damn good you don't really have to pay much attention to it. So, how I saw it, it's about emphasizing that…
Yes! I love the way you put it. I wish I could have said it like that. :-)
Re: I assume I'm below average
#60The problem is how he defines 'smart'.
If you assume smart means you know more than an average person, it means you know a superset of the data/facts they know, and thus you gain nothing by asking them something.
However, if you assume smart means something different, like the ability to learn quickly for example, then it follows that an average person can know something useful that you don't already know, and thus you have something to gain by asking them something.