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

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

#141

Post by yboris »

This may be relevant: To find work you love, don’t (always) follow your passion

https://80000hours.org/articles/dont-follow-your-passion/

80,000 Hours is a nonprofit organization providing free resources to people to find best opportunities to have a positive impact on the world. I think that if one's occupation has a clear positive impact on others, it is easier to get excited about doing it (and doing it well).

One of three important aspects to life/work satisfaction (and motivation), according to the well-researched Self Determination Theory is "relatedness" - feeling like you're contributing to welfare of others (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory ).

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

#142

Post by tylermac1 »

herdyderdy wrote: post #129
thenaturalist wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. What you describe in an ADHD context might be called "hyperfocus": It's a period of intense focus which you are able to maintain and enjoy cause it stimulates your brain. But, critically, you are not able to maintain this hyperfocus for longer periods on a single topic as the stimulus of novelty flattens out and you become bored and understimulated and this quickly leads to procastination or switching to somethi…

So you are on stimulants now that seem to help with your long term focus? Is there a concern of tolerance and dependency, like coffee/caffeine, where you'll have to keep upping the dose to get the benefit? Sorry if I'm being nosy but this is rather eye-opening to me and makes me think it might be worth speaking to my doc about this.

I'm recently diagnosed with ADHD-like symptoms and started on a low dose of Focalin about a month ago.

I can say for short-term focus and motivation it's been life-changing.

I would frequently flip-flop between getting sucked into rabbit-holes and having too many things going on at once. I now find that I can focus on tasks much better throughout the work day. My quality of work has improved as I've been able to better focus my time on what matter.

My doc has warned that over time I likely will need dosage increases, but for now it's been a wonderful experience with very few side effects (headaches the first day or two).

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

#143

Post by baxtr »

kixxauth wrote: post #96

My advice is to not focus. At least not yet. I'm in the 40-45 year old range and assuming you are much younger. Apologies if we are closer in age, since this advice will carry less value. I have often been envious of people who were more focused than I am. I feel they have been able to make more progress in a given amount of time. I worked as a mover in Boston into my mid twenties, spent a bunch of time trying to bec…

Oh man. Thanks for sharing. This text could be coming from me. I also struggle with myself for not having a clear focus. I am interested in a wide range of topics.

I also wanna start my company. But I wonder: Will I ever stick? Will I have the grit and the passion to pursue one topic for the next 5-7 years. What's your thinking on this?

Btw, they call us "multipotentialites"...

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

#144

Post by prismatix »

You sound a lot like me. My best moments of clarity always come from a 2+ week trip abroad, spending less time on the internet and more time with the world and myself.

It's taking time to talk to other people and hearing that people are happy and successful doing all sorts of different things.

It's recognizing the core values that make you feel fulfilled.

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

#145

Post by whoooooo123 »

RHSman2 wrote: post #126
thenaturalist wrote: post #93

Hi there, This might be an off beat chance, but have you had a history of or ever looked into the topic of adult ADHD? Changing several jobs, jumping between hobbies or projects is textbook ADHD, especially if you don't feel like you can get out of it and describe it as a "huge live hurdle". That is the same for me. Got diagnosed at 30 two months ago. If you have a suspicion you might have it, I highly recommend doin…

It’s a super power once you get hold of it.

How do you get hold of it?

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

#146

Post by AlwaysRock »

I don't think you are really good at something. Most things you get good at come from doing them a lot. It's pretty unlikely you are going to stumble into a thing that you are incredibly good at without spending a lot of time doing it. You might stumble into something that is similar to things you've done in the past that make you better than most when starting out. You might find things you enjoy enough to keep doing even though you are not very good at them at first.

The two things I'm pretty good at are wrestling and public speaking. I'm good at wrestling because I spent 8 years doing it in high school and college. I'm good at public speaking because I spent 10 years doing it in college and after college. I was pretty bad at both of these things when I started. The only advantage I had was that I was willing to push myself and I enjoyed them enough to keep doing them.

Anything related to those two things I tend to be better than the average person at them. But anyone who has focused on some subset of those things for a significant period of time will likely be better than me.

TLDR: Dont focus on finding something you are good at. Focus on finding something you like, keep doing it, and eventually you will be really good at it.

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

#148

Post by antasvara »

Sakos wrote: post #76
antasvara wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)…

I agree with the majority of what you're saying. Knowing what you'll enjoy relies on enjoying the component parts of that activity. Finding new activities that you'll enjoy requires you to look at the reasons why you enjoy that activity at a granular level.

Where I disagree is the claim that you don't enjoy programming. If you enjoy most of the component parts of an activity, my claim is that you actually do enjoy that activity.

Let's take hiking as an example. I can claim that I don't actually like hiking, I just like being outside, being in the forest, and walking. Hiking is therefore just one of a multitude of activities that could meet those desires. However, because my "likes" comprise the vast majority of the appeal of hiking, it is fair to say that I actually do enjoy hiking.

Ultimately, this is a semantic distinction. My claim is that by the commonly used definition of an "enjoyable activity," I would classify programming as an activity that you at least moderately enjoy.

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

#149

Post by qorrect »

baxtr wrote: post #143
kixxauth wrote: post #96

My advice is to not focus. At least not yet. I'm in the 40-45 year old range and assuming you are much younger. Apologies if we are closer in age, since this advice will carry less value. I have often been envious of people who were more focused than I am. I feel they have been able to make more progress in a given amount of time. I worked as a mover in Boston into my mid twenties, spent a bunch of time trying to bec…

Oh man. Thanks for sharing. This text could be coming from me. I also struggle with myself for not having a clear focus. I am interested in a wide range of topics. I also wanna start my company. But I wonder: Will I ever stick? Will I have the grit and the passion to pursue one topic for the next 5-7 years. What's your thinking on this? Btw, they call us "multipotentialites"...

> Will I have the grit and the passion to pursue one topic for the next 5-7 years.

I will say, I was able to get my company off the ground and white labeled it for a much larger company. I ended up hating the product in the end, 10 years later - because I was sole founder and every single thing I had to do myself.

I think you will be able to stick with it ( especially when there is no other choice ! ) , but you might end up hating it.

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

#150

Post by Bakary »

RHSman2 wrote: post #128
pr07ecH70r wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually never crossed my mind it could be a sickness-related. I just thought it as a sort of "too many possibilities saturation" or too quick loss of interest. So I decided to ask like-minded people like you here, at least from the same more or less background. Will make the online test, though...

ADHD isn’t a sickness. It’s a thing that an awful lot of people have.

Disorder is the better word, but it's still a condition defined in relation to how it affects your capacity to function in the target society
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