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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

#121

Post by nine_k »

Jensson wrote: post #105
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.

Doing without understanding usually misses some "obvious" detail, and that makes the whole thing a lot less useful, if not harmful.

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

#122

Post by reuben364 »

diggan wrote: post #98
reuben364 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On medication for ADHD, it helps in the short term, but I still struggle to commit to working on things in the long term. I either get bored or forget or find a new shiny. My job involves static analysis and I have an interest in PLT, so I've found some papers (Abstracting Abstract Machines) that I'll read through and get a rough idea. But to truly understand things I have to implement the ideas, but the scope of wha…

> On medication for ADHD, it helps in the short term, but I still struggle to commit to working on things in the long term. I either get bored or forget or find a new shiny. Could just be that you're a "scanner" rather than you having some condition. Barbara Sher wrote multiple books about the subject of "I want to do everything, what's wrong with me?" and while the book I read ("Refuse to chose") is filled with lots…

At first glance that does seem to match my temperament. I love this quote as I have recently discovered it working for me

  If you want to think clearly, be calm and be smart; schedule a Micro Nervous Breakdown at least once a day.
not sure if that is healthy though.

I guess with regards to mental health DSM type issues vs other issues, it is difficult to untangle for me. It may not be an actual disorder, but it certainly causes me distress. It's like being a science enthusiast that can't move past reading pop-sci articles (but wants to).

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

#123

Post by blueflow »

Avicebron wrote: post #109
blueflow wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

Correct answer would have been "I don't know, whats the resistance of the wire".

1.2 Ohms per meter, 45cm (which was what i had) would burst in a flash of liquid metal when connected to 240V.

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

#125

Post by corobo »

GeoAtreides wrote: post #104
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…

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 th…

> No motivation to start cool new projects is not among them...

Starting projects isn't the issue (personal experience w/ ADHD) - following through and finishing them is, which is listed in various ways under the inattentive section

I've got plenty of new project folders, draft blog posts, plans written down, database schemas, etc - but no shipped results. This is the main issue for me. Starting a project is easy, working on it is the issue!

> 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?

Should we? Absolutely not! There's loads of value in people with different brain wiring. "Think outside the box" is our default setting!

Do we have to if we don't want to starve? Until we live in a post-scarcity world with infinite food and shelter.. unfortunately we're gonna have to.

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

#126

Post by hasbot »

Jensson wrote: post #114
hasbot wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They measure motivation by how hard the person works at achieving that goal, of course if you measure it that way the pills will "increase motivation". ADHD isn't a failure of motivation, it is a failure to put in effort doing stuff you are motivated to do. It doesn't magically make you motivated to do stuff you don't care about. > You might be right, but, at least for me, the number of tasks that meet that criteria…

Doing taxes and bills are not what I consider high reward more like moderate penalty. And, no, I don't pay my bills: everything is auto-pay.

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

#127

Post by jdblair »

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…

Thank you for posting this. I can confirm, and there are new forms of stimulant medication (like lisdexamfetamine) that work better (at least for me) than Adderal (dexamphetamine + amphetamine) and Ritalin (methylphenidate).

The hard part: getting mental health support as an adult requires good executive function! Unless you are lucky, you will encounter suspicion, gatekeeping, and just general bureaucracy. ADHD's symptoms make it hard to actually get treated.

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

#128

Post by Avicebron »

blueflow wrote: post #123
Avicebron wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Correct answer would have been "I don't know, whats the resistance of the wire". 1.2 Ohms per meter, 45cm (which was what i had) would burst in a flash of liquid metal when connected to 240V.

the correct answer is to cut the styrofoam.

https://www.amazon.com/Foam-Electric-Cutting-Machine-Control...

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

#129

Post by jroseattle »

I'm not sure if this was intended to "flip the script" on the talented & smart, as this is sage advice for any entrepreneur. It wouldn't surprise me if the author was trying to give the "T&S" permission to do things without getting in the way of themselves.

I recently completed a project on behalf of a privately-held company in the financial sector. Big, successful, and very corporate. The owner (a single individual) was in town and spoke to a few leaders (biz, tech, marketing) in my group. His message: get in the weeds, learn the business, understand every function, ask questions, get outside your comfort zone, be persistent, act with urgency, and finish things. (Those were literally my notes from that meeting.)

He gave his team room to do the things necessary to let their talent & smartness be most effective.

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

#130

Post by blueflow »

Avicebron wrote: post #128
blueflow wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct answer would have been "I don't know, whats the resistance of the wire". 1.2 Ohms per meter, 45cm (which was what i had) would burst in a flash of liquid metal when connected to 240V.

the correct answer is to cut the styrofoam. https://www.amazon.com/Foam-Electric-Cutting-Machine-Control...

A form of "Use other people's solutions"
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