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Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

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Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#211

Post by rufius »

rfrey wrote: post #161

Sorry OP, for a bit of a diversion. I notice a lot of folks saying that "quick wit" or fast thinking or whatever, is just advance preparation (perhaps subconscious) or a memorized script, etc. It may be, but for those who think it always is, it definitely isn't. My son is/was quite bright - reading at 3, reading the Economist and understanding 20% of it at 5, teaching himself calculus at 7. He got terrible grades in…

I empathize with this. I’m similar to your son - no amount of practice ever made me faster or “more prepared”.

I’ve learned to accept it and manage expectations with people.

One thing I discovered about myself was for many things I have a “gut feel” that I trust unquestioningly. I might not be able to explain why something is wrong/right, but I know it is. Given a bit of time, I can explain it sufficiently and convincingly.

I’ve never had the gift of quick answers with explanations. I’m okay with that.

Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#212

Post by bloqs »

ryandrake wrote: post #173
rfrey wrote: post #161

Sorry OP, for a bit of a diversion. I notice a lot of folks saying that "quick wit" or fast thinking or whatever, is just advance preparation (perhaps subconscious) or a memorized script, etc. It may be, but for those who think it always is, it definitely isn't. My son is/was quite bright - reading at 3, reading the Economist and understanding 20% of it at 5, teaching himself calculus at 7. He got terrible grades in…

I have no background in pedagogy, but I've never understood the point of timed, high pressure tests, especially for children. You really just want to know the child has mastered the material such that they can solve the problems correctly--why is it necessary for them to do them in under 30 seconds, or whatever the bar is? If one kid gets the test done in 20 minutes and the other one takes 2 hours, but they both get…

Economics, and because of the kids that exploit lax timeframes to try to beat the system or avoid doing anything

Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#213

Post by bigfont »

samtho wrote: post #199
bigfont wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why bother? Given the breadth of diagnostic classes these days, there's a good chance you can find a practitioner[0] willing to make a diagnosis. That said, aside from getting funding for treatment or acceptance of accommodations, receiving a label of disordered often does not help, but does add harmful stigmatization. The OP's son seems normal, functioning, and isn't harming anyone. On the other hand, the diagnosing…

> Why bother? Because knowing about the presence of a condition is better than not. Depending on the severity, untreated ADHD during the years of life where a child begins to establish good study habits, management of the condition, and other tools that work for them, can lead to issue down the road and into adulthood. We have the ability to address conditions like dyscalcula with little interventions to help the stu…

I agree that knowing about something, and accepting it, is better than the alternative. Does that mean we need to diagnose it as a disorder? For instance, I have an introverted personality, and I accept that, even though I didn't receive a diagnosis of introverted. On a more serious note, I have friends who I know and accept as gay, but I don't consider them disordered. The diagnostic and statistics manual used to include gay as a disorder; removing it as a disorder reduced the stigma, and I don't think it reduced the societal or self-acceptance of gay people. Quite the opposite. So like you I love self-knowledge; I only take issue with "diagnosis" as the way to gain it.

You make a good point about the benefits of receiving treatment. I personally have received training in social skills, goal setting, relaxation exercises, and realistic thinking. I learned those skills to overcome specific challenges. I had some anxiety, like every normal person does, so I learned a skill for that. I had trouble dating, so I learned skills for that. I felt overwhelmed, so I learned goal setting for that. I thought I was stupid, so I learned realistic thinking to avoid overgeneralizing and labeling. Throughout that process, I brought my challenges to a psychologist, and the psychologist taught me skills. That approach offers a way to help people without diagnosis, by suggesting treatments for specific challenges.

Can we keep the early treatment and drop the diagnosis?

Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#214

Post by bluGill »

digging wrote: post #176
bluGill wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if there wasn't time, he should have practiced interviews before and so been comfortable even if the exact topic is new. He should always be prepared to talk about his first interest in music. His first time touching a piano. Why he choose piano (which may have been his parents forcing it at first). What other instruments he plays. What is favorite music is. Details about whatever piece is performing now (maybe…

... if he wants to be good at giving interviews. He can also be happy being a pianist who isn't good at giving interviews.

But then he shouldn't have granted an interview in the first place. He should also expect that because he isn't self promoting like that he is soon passed over for piano playing positions (despite how good he may otherwise be) and has to find a non-playing job (teaching is common). His current job requires him to be good at interviews. If he wants to keep this job he needs to get good at it fast - it may already be too late.

Now if he decides giving interviews isn't what he wants to do and thus switching to a different job where he doesn't have to give interviews (and also will not play publicly much) is the right choice I will not fault him for that. It is his choice and his alone.

Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#215

Post by sudosysgen »

ryandrake wrote: post #173
rfrey wrote: post #161

Sorry OP, for a bit of a diversion. I notice a lot of folks saying that "quick wit" or fast thinking or whatever, is just advance preparation (perhaps subconscious) or a memorized script, etc. It may be, but for those who think it always is, it definitely isn't. My son is/was quite bright - reading at 3, reading the Economist and understanding 20% of it at 5, teaching himself calculus at 7. He got terrible grades in…

I have no background in pedagogy, but I've never understood the point of timed, high pressure tests, especially for children. You really just want to know the child has mastered the material such that they can solve the problems correctly--why is it necessary for them to do them in under 30 seconds, or whatever the bar is? If one kid gets the test done in 20 minutes and the other one takes 2 hours, but they both get…

There actually is a reason. It is to make sure that kids have mastery of fundamental skills that they will need in the future. If it takes you a long to subtract, for example, it will take you an impractically long to do long division, and eventually you will take so long with more complex concepts that you won't be able to learn effectively.

Additionally, you also want a fair number of problems in any given test to reduce the variance in the grades, and you want the student to be able to finish a significant number exercises that can truly cover the breadth of the content to learn, hopefully with more than one approach as well. If a student takes 2h to solve a problem there is no way they will be able to complete enough of a problem set.

Of course, there are outliers. But personally, especially given my shorter attention span, the ability to do math correctly and quickly was absolutely crucial, and I wouldn't have been able to pass otherwise.

Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#216

Post by everybodyknows »

What worked for me after being shouted down by a PM's line of bullshit: Gather references, incorporate quotes and links into an email addressed to all participants, with title something like "Clarification of technical issues raised in yesterday's XYZ meeting". Mention no one by name.

Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#217

Post by yungporko »

i'm trying to think of a single situation where quick-wittedness is ever actually important outside of cracking jokes and i'm coming up with nothing. i'm a slow thinker too but the amount it causes any issues for me is zero. if i need more time to think about something, i just say that and it's fine.

Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#218

Post by What2159 »

ryandrake wrote: post #173
rfrey wrote: post #161

Sorry OP, for a bit of a diversion. I notice a lot of folks saying that "quick wit" or fast thinking or whatever, is just advance preparation (perhaps subconscious) or a memorized script, etc. It may be, but for those who think it always is, it definitely isn't. My son is/was quite bright - reading at 3, reading the Economist and understanding 20% of it at 5, teaching himself calculus at 7. He got terrible grades in…

I have no background in pedagogy, but I've never understood the point of timed, high pressure tests, especially for children. You really just want to know the child has mastered the material such that they can solve the problems correctly--why is it necessary for them to do them in under 30 seconds, or whatever the bar is? If one kid gets the test done in 20 minutes and the other one takes 2 hours, but they both get…

Because you can brute force multiplication by doing a LOT of addition. The test is to show that you know multiplication.

Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#219

Post by jonshariat »

dijit wrote: post #38

This is something that's easy to have an opinion on so you're going to get buried. I'll do my best to make a high-signal comment here, but it will be drowned by all the other replies, which also likely touch on these points. First, "slow-thinking" is really just a different way of expressing your thinking and you should begin by leaning into it rather than leaning away. Take time, allow yourself to pause to collect y…

To add to this, in a work setting, you can request that the deck being presenting is sent in advance to give time for people who think like this time to think and make the real time meeting much more productive.

Re: Ask HN: Slow thinkers, how do you compensate for your lack of quick-wittedness?

#220

Post by jonshariat »

This post is going to get a ton of comments... tomorrow :)

I'm also a slow thinker and here somethings that have helped me:

1. lean into your strengths. Like you said in your post where you asked for more time for him during tests. Real life is much more negotiable. Ask for time, Ask to think on this and get back, etc.

2. Like some of said, prep is helpful. Utilize your super power by taking a look at the material before. This can be intense like when I'm interviewing I really go crazy with prep but it can also be 5mins before the meeting, gathering your thoughts.

3. To get better at real time thinking, for me, is taking some lose notes during the meeting.

4. Sometimes you have to tune out the presenter. If all they are doing is reading out the slides, I've found ignoring the presenter, and digesting the content on my own is better. Then I come up with question to clarify my understanding, highlight a decision that needs made and my opinion, think about how this may effect other areas, etc.

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