Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#71

Post by antasvara » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:09 PM UTC

Sakos wrote: post #62

kleiba wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hard time thinking of an activity that I find satisfying but don't enjoy.

Trying to find a bug for 8 hours isn't fun or enjoyable to me. But it is satisfying and I feel great afterwards and it's exactly what I want to be doing.

It feels like you're defining "fun" or "enjoyable" differently than most people would.

Most people don't find their "fun" activities enjoyable all the time. Running can be fun, but it also is tiring and sucks sometimes. Practicing a musical instrument isn't the most enjoyable, but playing in a band and nailing songs is. Lifting isn't "fun," but excelling at a sport is.

Point being that not liking the boring parts of an activity, but still finding the activity as a whole satisfying, is something that most people would consider to be an activity you enjoy.

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#72

Post by lucideer » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:15 PM UTC

kthejoker2 wrote: post #38

Separate comment: this question is framed with a fixed mindset and an unhealthy sense of what self-discovery is.l You "are" "good at" nothing. You are not a block of marble with David inside, something to be chipped away at until it is apparent for all to see. You are a ball of clay, malleable, reshapable and shapeless, fluid and formed, able to absorb new bits and grow into something wildly different, day by day if…

Agree with sibling commenters here critiquing this for being an oversimplification- nature vs nurture is not a binary.

But even aside from the core of the argument, I find your phraseology oddly formulaic. It's ironic you're accusing the OP of having a "fixed mindset" when so much of your contributed "opinion" is clearly copypasted from books. I'd suggest opening your own mindset to forming a worldview of your own rather than following growth gurus so blindly.

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#73

Post by afpx » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:18 PM UTC

jstrebel wrote: post #60

kthejoker2 wrote: post #38

Separate comment: this question is framed with a fixed mindset and an unhealthy sense of what self-discovery is.l You "are" "good at" nothing. You are not a block of marble with David inside, something to be chipped away at until it is apparent for all to see. You are a ball of clay, malleable, reshapable and shapeless, fluid and formed, able to absorb new bits and grow into something wildly different, day by day if…

That is a blatantly false answer. Of course, there is an ongoing debate about nature vs. nurture, which means that the genetic makeup of the individual strongly influences the individual's life. Look at musicality, look at sociopathy, look at general intelligence - all areas where genes exert their influence (as an example). So yes, you can try to grow around your talents, and develop strengths there. But by the same…

How do you know that the genetic component is missing in you? Were both of your parents failed musicians?

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#74

Post by robertlagrant » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:19 PM UTC

lucideer wrote: post #72

kthejoker2 wrote: post #38

Separate comment: this question is framed with a fixed mindset and an unhealthy sense of what self-discovery is.l You "are" "good at" nothing. You are not a block of marble with David inside, something to be chipped away at until it is apparent for all to see. You are a ball of clay, malleable, reshapable and shapeless, fluid and formed, able to absorb new bits and grow into something wildly different, day by day if…

Agree with sibling commenters here critiquing this for being an oversimplification- nature vs nurture is not a binary. But even aside from the core of the argument, I find your phraseology oddly formulaic. It's ironic you're accusing the OP of having a "fixed mindset" when so much of your contributed "opinion" is clearly copypasted from books. I'd suggest opening your own mindset to forming a worldview of your own ra…

Phrasing and mindset aren't the same.

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#75

Post by sun_har » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:23 PM UTC

globular-toast wrote: post #25

andrewstuart wrote: post #2

You don't "find what you are good at" - that is backwards. Instead, you do what you are interested in, and initially you are not good at it, and with enough time, effort, working at learning and practicing, you will become good at it.

You won't necessarily become good at something just because you spend time and effort on it. You can certainly enjoy it, but you won't be as good as others who are naturally good at it. You want to find something that: 1. You enjoy, are interested in, makes you happy etc., 2. You are naturally good at it, ie. you are talented, will be competitive, 3. Is appreciated by others, ie. they will pay you to do it. The lucki…

I agree with this take, but I’d say that #1 matters the most by far, and the importance of #2 is correlated with how competitive the field is.

For example, there is (currently) so much demand for programmers that IMO you really don’t need to be naturally gifted in order to have a very strong career.

However, want to be a professional violinist? That’s a different story.

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#76

Post by Sakos » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:25 PM UTC

antasvara wrote: post #71

Sakos wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to find a bug for 8 hours isn't fun or enjoyable to me. But it is satisfying and I feel great afterwards and it's exactly what I want to be doing.

It feels like you're defining "fun" or "enjoyable" differently than most people would. Most people don't find their "fun" activities enjoyable all the time. Running can be fun, but it also is tiring and sucks sometimes. Practicing a musical instrument isn't the most enjoyable, but playing in a band and nailing songs is. Lifting isn't "fun," but excelling at a sport is. Point being that not liking the boring parts of…

You're not really disagreeing with me, but you're arguing with me. Maybe I'm not being clear enough. What we "enjoy" (however you might define it), or even what we're good at, is extremely malleable. Yet people try to find that one activity that magically clicks and that needs to then be their career. I learned to enjoy running, because it incorporates elements that appeal to me (incremental improvement, for example), but I fucking hated it when I started. That's how it is with a lot of things.

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#77

Post by _8j50 » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:31 PM UTC

I always suck in some way so I am always improving. But a better question is "what do I enjoy?" and that is infosec stuff and they actually pay me to do it lol.

Even if you are never good at something, you should enjoy the things you suck at instead of be miserable trying to be good at things you don't even like.

I was very good at biology, it was effortless and natural. But more school and messing with people's meat was all too gross.

I suppose the sweet spot is when you are tolerably competent at something and you also really enjoy that thing.

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#78

Post by xani_ » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:33 PM UTC

Uh, no. Find what things you like, then find which ones make money then look at one you're good at.

I like music. Music makes bad money. I'm not good at music. I don't look for music jobs.

I like tech stuff. Ops stuff makes decent money. I'm good at ops stuff. I do ops stuff.

I like tinkering with hardware. It can make decent money but hard to find a job in. I do it as hobby

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#79

Post by spit2wind » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:36 PM UTC

raspberry1337 wrote: post #61

mightybyte wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard someone say once that one of the best things that helped them develop a growth mindset was lifting weights. Consistently doing 3x5 heavy squats, deadlifts, and presses just three days per week will make a visible change in most people's body remarkably quickly. And seeing that change in yourself really helps reinforce that you can change your situation. I thought that was an interesting observation but I'd li…

>Consistently doing 3x5 heavy squats, deadlifts, and presses just three days per week As an armchair gymmer, this routine lacks pull exercises for back musculature. Add row pulls or pullups!

What about the deadlifts they mention? (Or maybe that wasn't present in their response at the time you wrote yours)

Re: Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?

#80

Post by xani_ » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 12:36 PM UTC

Sakos wrote: post #62

kleiba wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hard time thinking of an activity that I find satisfying but don't enjoy.

Trying to find a bug for 8 hours isn't fun or enjoyable to me. But it is satisfying and I feel great afterwards and it's exactly what I want to be doing.

Okay but that's like 1% of programming