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How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

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Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#101

Post by toolz »

BOOSTERHIDROGEN wrote: post #86
sph wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PSA for people that believe they are somewhat smart, have cool ideas yet seemingly no power whatsoever to actually work on them. If you believe you are chronically lazy and feel it is causing issues in your life. If you feel you are living at 10% your true potential: Get tested for ADHD. If that is your problem, know that the chemical fix for it is extremely effective. It's taken me 30+ years of self-hate, a suggesti…

What would be the safest drugs to consume ?

Considering there's no biological measurement being used to diagnose or correct ADHD, it's more of an "art" than a science. I presume you're looking for the safest drug that's also effective, because the safest would be not taking any drugs and optimizing for general health and lifestyle.

I've heard of people achieving modest success with modafinil. Also with l-thyeanine/caffeine combos. Both of which have very well understood safety profiles. In the states you'll be unlikely to get a modafinil prescription as psychiatrists here have some perverse relationship with more potent and more harmful (dextro)amphetamines.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#102

Post by corobo »

Jensson wrote: post #90
sph wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PSA for people that believe they are somewhat smart, have cool ideas yet seemingly no power whatsoever to actually work on them. If you believe you are chronically lazy and feel it is causing issues in your life. If you feel you are living at 10% your true potential: Get tested for ADHD. If that is your problem, know that the chemical fix for it is extremely effective. It's taken me 30+ years of self-hate, a suggesti…

Note that those pills fixes focus, not motivation. Even with pills you will fail if your motivation falters, just like regular people. I think the main tell of ADHD is if you feel you lack motivation to complete simple but tedious tasks that has high rewards that you really care about. In that case you don't lack motivation, you really care about the reward, you don't lack confidence since the task is simple, you jus…

I wish I had the "draw the rest of the owl" part but the thing that clicked for me was this comic (apologies for the rehost, couldn't find the original)

https://img.imgy.org/rwdQ.jpg

Motivation is too fleeting to rely on it to get you through the entire project. Use any rare moments of motivation to practice discipline rather than go into a project raw

Again sorry I don't have the how-to, (un)fortunately just seeing this comic clicked things together for me. If I can ever figure out how to put it into words I will do.

Personally I picture the lil motivation guy in my mind powering up the big discipline guy and it's often enough to get me off my arse and into gear.. at least, it's worked so far. I'll probably have to find another method when the novelty wears off. ADHD gonna ADHD haha.

Of course I am aware that this doesn't fix ADHD. If it did I'd be a millionaire already. If it helps like 1 time out of 100 it's worth thinking about, right?

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#103

Post by doubled112 »

blueflow wrote: post #91
j7ake wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give a concrete example of tech work that a "low IQ person" would not be able to tackle?

"Which Voltage do i need to cut Styrofoam with a resistive wire"

Do I need to give you a number?

Can I just build something that allows me to control voltage and turn it up until it cuts, then measure?

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#104

Post by GeoAtreides »

sph wrote: post #83
paxys wrote: post #14

From my experience in the tech industry I can say with utmost confidence that "not smart"/"talentless" people who are determined and hard-working lead to significantly better real world results than geniuses who are lazy, unmotivated or overall not action oriented. The vast majority of problems at any company are easy and don't need any big technological breakthroughs to solve. They are instead held back by (1) lack…

PSA for people that believe they are somewhat smart, have cool ideas yet seemingly no power whatsoever to actually work on them. If you believe you are chronically lazy and feel it is causing issues in your life. If you feel you are living at 10% your true potential: Get tested for ADHD. If that is your problem, know that the chemical fix for it is extremely effective. It's taken me 30+ years of self-hate, a suggesti…

PSA: take a look at CDC's symptoms for ADHD: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/diagnosis.html

No motivation to start cool new projects is not among them... Actually, reading all those symptoms really puts into the light the 'disorder' part in the ADHD.

And here's a philosophical question to ponder: should we change[1] to fit society's expectations or should society adjust itself to our needs? Should we take drugs so that we can be 100%, not even one percent less, productive 9-5 because that's what we're supposed to do?

[1] literally microdosing amphetamine

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#105

Post by Jensson »

MontgomeryPi2 wrote: post #92

The article made me think of General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord's officer classification: "I distinguish four types. There are clever, hardworking, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and hardworking; their place is the General Staff. The next ones are stupid and lazy; they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever an…

That jives very well with the first point:

"Be audacious. Most people who are talented or smart are scared of doing things."

In general smart people want to understand what they are doing before they do it. This means you can often beat them at a task by simply doing without understanding, which is why General Kurt told us to be wary about such people.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#106

Post by hasbot »

Jensson wrote: post #90
sph wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PSA for people that believe they are somewhat smart, have cool ideas yet seemingly no power whatsoever to actually work on them. If you believe you are chronically lazy and feel it is causing issues in your life. If you feel you are living at 10% your true potential: Get tested for ADHD. If that is your problem, know that the chemical fix for it is extremely effective. It's taken me 30+ years of self-hate, a suggesti…

Note that those pills fixes focus, not motivation. Even with pills you will fail if your motivation falters, just like regular people. I think the main tell of ADHD is if you feel you lack motivation to complete simple but tedious tasks that has high rewards that you really care about. In that case you don't lack motivation, you really care about the reward, you don't lack confidence since the task is simple, you jus…

This recent study finds that amphetamines do help with motivation: https://www.jneurosci.org/content/43/41/6898

> I think the main tell of ADHD is if you feel you lack motivation to complete simple but tedious tasks that has high rewards that you really care about.

You might be right, but, at least for me, the number of tasks that meet that criteria is too low to a useful metric.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#107

Post by doubled112 »

gruez wrote: post #100
blueflow wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Which Voltage do i need to cut Styrofoam with a resistive wire"

The low iq solution would be to steadily ramp up the voltage until it cuts.

Hah, apparently I am low IQ but still getting it done.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#108

Post by sph »

BOOSTERHIDROGEN wrote: post #86
sph wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PSA for people that believe they are somewhat smart, have cool ideas yet seemingly no power whatsoever to actually work on them. If you believe you are chronically lazy and feel it is causing issues in your life. If you feel you are living at 10% your true potential: Get tested for ADHD. If that is your problem, know that the chemical fix for it is extremely effective. It's taken me 30+ years of self-hate, a suggesti…

What would be the safest drugs to consume ?

Safety is a spectrum. I take dexamfetamine, which is the most researched and effective (if you can tolerate it).

It has addictive potential, but in my experience, treating it with the respect it deserved, I would say it's nothing compared to caffeine. I can easily skip meds from an entire week (which I will spend scrolling HN), yet every single day there is a voice in the back of my head telling me that a cup of coffee would be a fine thing to have right now.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#109

Post by Avicebron »

blueflow wrote: post #91
j7ake wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give a concrete example of tech work that a "low IQ person" would not be able to tackle?

"Which Voltage do i need to cut Styrofoam with a resistive wire"

240V, that's an unfair example. As a low IQ person, I sidestepped trying to actually calculate the heat generated by different resistive wires (has to be above the melting point of styrofoam) and thought linearly about what I wanted to do, which was cut styrofoam, so google styrofoam cutter hot wire, got me to amazon.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#110

Post by willcipriano »

sph wrote: post #83
paxys wrote: post #14

From my experience in the tech industry I can say with utmost confidence that "not smart"/"talentless" people who are determined and hard-working lead to significantly better real world results than geniuses who are lazy, unmotivated or overall not action oriented. The vast majority of problems at any company are easy and don't need any big technological breakthroughs to solve. They are instead held back by (1) lack…

PSA for people that believe they are somewhat smart, have cool ideas yet seemingly no power whatsoever to actually work on them. If you believe you are chronically lazy and feel it is causing issues in your life. If you feel you are living at 10% your true potential: Get tested for ADHD. If that is your problem, know that the chemical fix for it is extremely effective. It's taken me 30+ years of self-hate, a suggesti…

Also consider that the thing you are trying to do is boring and you are probably made to do something else.
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