Seriously, though, I'm above average.
I assume I'm below average
101–110 of 113 posts
Re: I assume I'm below average
#102There's a great David Bowie song about this: 'Don't believe in yourself, Don't deceive with Belief. Knowledge comes with Death's release' I think he was trying to say: Don't assume anything, just be! I really enjoyed reading this submission, thanks!
That's from the hunky dory album, a song called 'quicksand'.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
More confidence? I guess it not so simple since you're interpreting it in a different way than I am.
Confidence does not mean thinking you're better than everyone else. It means realizing it doesn't matter.
That is not always the case. When I have to present programming technical designs to a room of clients and upper management, I know that it matters. I completely know that it matters. But I research to the point I'm convinced I know more than everyone in the room. Therefore, I go into the meeting confident. And it's nothing to do with, "realizing it doesn't matter."
Convincing yourself it doesn't matter and then having confidence, is much more difficult to do than knowing and understanding each scenario and then having confidence. And that accounts for almost all scenarios. A social situation, presenting in front of clients, dating a girl.
Take them as extremes, using a speech as an example. Let's say all you think about is realizing it doesn't matter. Then you stand up to present and you are convinced it doesn't matter, but you start to realize you forgot to think about the speech. So you don't know what to talk about. Your heart starts racing, and your voice starts cracking, and all you can think about is your nerves.
Now let's say all you think about is the content of the speech. You stand up to give your speech, and realize you know everything there is to know about the topic. So your mind becomes engaged in the topic, and you forget any nerves that you may have had.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#104Earlier 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...
You are correct I meant mean (I can't edit anymore)
Re: I assume I'm below average
#105This 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.
I'm not so sure about that.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#106Suppose there are three people, each of whom hold an opinion on some topic which contradicts the other two. So two out of three think they are right, yet at most one out of three actually is.
This is expected, when people disagree about the world. There is no need to bring psychological biases into it.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#107It'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 d…
http://headrush.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/06/... (from kathy sierra blog )
Re: I assume I'm below average
#108How does this have 275 upvotes????
Was it a secret that humans like positive thinking?
Why even compare yourself to a nonexistent fictitious "average" in the first place? Considering yourself greater OR less than average is a complete waste of brain resources all together. Individuals selected at random will, on average, be incredibly different from a theoretical individual of all "average" qualities due to the incalculable number of possible quality-types a person could possess.
The average person is a myth.
Re: I assume I'm below average
#109There's a great David Bowie song about this: 'Don't believe in yourself, Don't deceive with Belief. Knowledge comes with Death's release' I think he was trying to say: Don't assume anything, just be! I really enjoyed reading this submission, thanks!
That's from the hunky dory album, a song called 'quicksand'.
I do know that ...
Re: I assume I'm below average
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Confidence does not mean thinking you're better than everyone else. It means realizing it doesn't matter.
That is not always the case. When I have to present programming technical designs to a room of clients and upper management, I know that it matters. I completely know that it matters. But I research to the point I'm convinced I know more than everyone in the room. Therefore, I go into the meeting confident. And it's nothing to do with, "realizing it doesn't matter." Convincing yourself it doesn't matter and then havi…
I think you're misunderstanding me. If you replace "thinking you're better than everyone" with "being more knowledgable on a subject than everyone else," then I agree with your comments.