Why would you assume that you're "below average", "average", or "above average" without any evidence?
There's no sense in judging yourself with a shot in the dark especially if you're hoping to improve.
I assume I'm below average
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Re: I assume I'm below average
#62If current trends continue soon everyone will be above average.
Go education system!
Re: I assume I'm below average
#63Like Derek Sivers, I can only be sure of being more humble than average.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#64My 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…
You might be right about that. For curiosity's sake, what do you base your reflex speed on?
Re: I assume I'm below average
#65I think the real lesson from this is not assuming you are really below average, but be aware of the people around you, of their ideas and ways of thinking, and not dismiss them just because you think you're better than them, even if at first those ideas seems stupid.
It is a really common problem with programming in my opinion. Nearly all the brilliant programmers i've met have a self esteem problem. They think they're really smarter than everybody else and that this makes it ok to dismiss most of other people's ideas, completely missing the fact that they would become a lot smarter if they paid closer attention. Now i guess this isn't a generality, and very relative to my own experience, but, i guess the very fact of doing somethings that almost nobody understands will make that bias grow over time, if you don't pay attention.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
I think he meant mode, no? Mean, mode, median: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/meanmode.htm
Re: I assume I'm below average
#67Is it even possible to assume that, or is it ultimately a subconscious thing?
Re: I assume I'm below average
#68It pays to be able to flexibly switch my mindset in a way that is beneficial to myself. On the one hand, I want to always feel there is room for improvement. On the other, I don't want always be feeling inadequate compared to other members of my comparison group. It's easy to keep measuring yourself against an ever tighter, ever more elite group of people. The pressure is not always worth it.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#69It's quite possible for more than 50% of people to be above average drivers. If there are 100 people, and 80 of them cause no accidents, and the other 20 cause 10 accidents each, then there are 2 accidents per driver. 80% have less than average accident rate. By the same logic it's possible for most people to have a below average salary. Once extremes are possible, then averages start being less applicable.
However for things that have no extrmeme (e.g. height, IQs), the above average and below average rates are similar.,
Re: I assume I'm below average
#70This 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.
That's the Dunning-Kruger effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect