View Full Version : Things you wish you were good at, but you're not and vice versa
This doesn't just pertain to hobbies and creativity, but anything at all. Is there any talent that you tried to explore and grow in, but you realized you just weren't good at it? Did you persist for fun, or did you give up?
Conversely, are you really good at something that you don't like doing? Seems a little counterintuitive, but it could happen. You could be a gifted doctor, but you don't like it, so you become a comedian instead. (Inspired by watching The Ellen Show yesterday, and seeing a celebrity--don't know his name--who is a doctor/actor/comedian)
I have a lot of examples of that in my own life, but here's one: I love playing the piano, but I suck at it, and always have. And as for the "vice-versa"--I'm sitting here thinking about how I feel that working in market research kind of goes against my notions of right livelihood, but darn it, I seem to be so good at it!! Not bragging, and I'm so grateful to be able to make a good living from it, but I so admire the horticulturists and the permaculturists, and the musicians, and the teachers, etc etc and all I do is push drugs for a living.
These are my thoughts as I play around with different ways to create an infographic for a treatment algorithm for chronic kidney disease.
How about you? What do you wish you could do? And how do you feel about the talents you have?
iris lilies
9-26-19, 10:43am
I am not a good cook. I wish I were, t I dont seem to have the patience and curiosity for it to support a long learning curve.
This is a skill but Women who are operating out of both side of the brain ( to use a popular image) Fascinate me. I admire that. We know a young woman who Renovated her house herself and I do mean she did electricity and plumbing as well as the construction part which included beams. She is also an accountant. She also designs theater backdrops..that is multi-skilled.
ApatheticNoMore
9-26-19, 10:56am
I guess I wish I could meditate, but I fall asleep etc.. I've realized it's not for me, after years of thinking I should and feeling bad about it. Right livelihood, well most people aren't going to be able to get a job doing great good anyway at present, I guess if you have things I won't do, and that's about it.
I am good at researching, asking the W5. I am good at examining the results and coming up with options to consider.
I am not great with patience in technology - sewing machine, serger, smart phone, computer... I try following the directions and if it doesn't work, I get really upset, blaming myself for not understanding or doing better. My dear DH used to hear the frustration in my voice and quietly examine the situation and it would resolve so beautifully under his attention. Boy, do I miss that support!
Neat thread!
I am not a good cook. I wish I were, t I dont seem to have the patience and curiosity for it to support a long learning curve.
This is a skill but Women who are operating out of both side of the brain ( to use a popular image) Fascinate me. I admire that. We know a young woman who Renovated her house herself and I do mean she did electricity and plumbing as well as the construction part which included beams. She is also an accountant. She also designs theater backdrops..that is multi-skilled.
I was never a good cook. But, having been vegetarian for a while and having to fend for myself, I now like my cooking, but I still don't trust others to agree with me.
I love your comment about women operating out of both sides of the brain--my VT female neighbor, in one weekend, will do target practice with her cross bow in preparation for bagging deer this fall, co-build a rock wall around her home with her husband, and then sit outside and do beautiful etchings on petrified mushrooms to give to the neighbors while her home-grown spaghetti squash is on the grill. She can't spell for the life of her, but I admire her skill set for sure.
I suck at making friends. I'm friendly and talk to people, but have a difficult time making that leap to "let's get coffee" in person. Most of my friends were former co workers, where we had to talk and a common purpose.
I'm good at gardening and cooking (particularly creating a dish without a recipe) but I wouldn't want to do either of those as a full time occupation.
rosarugosa
9-26-19, 7:38pm
I suck at making friends. I'm friendly and talk to people, but have a difficult time making that leap to "let's get coffee" in person. Most of my friends were former co workers, where we had to talk and a common purpose.
I'm good at gardening and cooking (particularly creating a dish without a recipe) but I wouldn't want to do either of those as a full time occupation.
Same here with the friends thing - too bad we don't live closer! My sister is very good at it though and we share friends, so that works out very well for me. She gets the short end of the stick on that one, but I do pull my weight in other areas.
Wish I were good at home repairs, car repairs.
Wish I weren't good at stereotypically female tasks, as maybe the Peter Principle would have come into play at work.
frugal-one
9-26-19, 8:22pm
I was really good at my job. I kept getting commendations but could have cared less about it. My boss would ask me about the week before and I would have to look it up. I felt I had a duty to do my best but once it was done .... it was out of mind.
I totally suck at directions. DH shudders when he gives me a map. It takes me so long to figure it out. Why, I don't know. Thankfully, I have GPS.
Like Yppej, I would have loved being good at home repairs. I was hugely jealous when a co-worker remarked that his wife was home building a deck. I can't imagine. It's not that home repairs would have been impossible to learn. I'd love to have the perseverance to excel at any discipline; I have serial interests that I reliably abandon for the Next Shiny Thing.
I took an auto repair class once and all I got out of it was a boyfriend or two. I did change my oil, but that turned out to be a disaster with a leaking collection pan and the neighbor's friendly sheepdog who thought lying down next to me in a puddle of oil looked like fun. So much for my career as a grease monkey.
I took a tennis class and a hiking class. I was doing swimmingly well at tennis when I blew my left knee out (again) and had to quit. I was the dead weight of the hiking class. I'm lucky I did't end up like one of David Paulides' mysterious disappearances. Luckily, the 60-year old instructor saw to it I didn't straggle. I had to drive the fifty or so miles home lifting my legs between pedals by hand. My knees have never worked right.
I was always effortlessly good at languages, but that wasn't a burden. More than one person suggested I'd be good at stand-up comedy, but the idea of having all eyes on me is chill-inducing. Maybe comedy writing would have been a good fit, but I think print translation (and a life in Europe) would have been just the ticket.
This exercise has shone a light on how unaccomplished I truly am. Hoping for reincarnation. :doh:
More than one person suggested I'd be good at stand-up comedy
That is so funny because as I was reading your previous 3 paragraphs I was thinking about how funny you are!
iris lilies
9-27-19, 10:06am
Oh, I forget my 70 year old garden club lady. She is a “both sides of the brain” garden club judge because she is equally competent at floral design and horticulture; most of us are strong on one side or the other.
But the impressive thing is her Home Improvement DIY skills. She lays tile, she lays carpet, she fixes plumbing, that sort of thing.
I wish that I could have been a musician in this life. Nothing is more enchanting to me than seeing a group of individuals make music together. I had piano lessons for many years but never got beyond a certain point.
I'm a both sides of the brain girl. I was STEM decades ago--long before it was a thing. I love math and science. I have done demolition, insulation, drywall, tiling. I garden, preserve food, play piano, sing, knit, crochet, quilt, cook.
In general, I'm too stubborn to fail-I work at it till I get it. It's from childhood. I wasn't allowed to quit anything. I had to work at it until I got it. I'll thank my Dad for that. My fail is orchids. I've been gifted 2 over time-not a good thing.
I'm probably a "both sides of the brain" person--I did fine in math and science--if I could just tame my unruly mind. Both sides just sit down and cross their arms and I pick up a book.
iris lilies
9-27-19, 11:48am
I'm a both sides of the brain girl. I was STEM decades ago--long before it was a thing. I love math and science. I have done demolition, insulation, drywall, tiling. I garden, preserve food, play piano, sing, knit, crochet, quilt, cook.
In general, I'm too stubborn to fail-I work at it till I get it. It's from childhood. I wasn't allowed to quit anything. I had to work at it until I got it. I'll thank my Dad for that. My fail is orchids. I've been gifted 2 over time-not a good thing.
That is cool. I am not STEM. But I can be decent at analytical skills. I’ll never forget that when I took the GRE test for graduate school they had three sections: verbal, analytical and mathematical. I had never thought about there being three worlds of measurement, I knew only verbal skills and math/science testing.I had fun with the analytical part and did well on it. And that made me happy because I did not do well at math, no surprise, I knew I wouldn’t.
I still have nightmares about math in school. I am the only person I know outside of my student colleagues who got a graduate degree and did not have to take statistics. I am eternally grateful for that.
I cannot figure out anything that is mechanical. Spatial issues stymie me. I truly think I have below average skills in that area. I have a new car where I have to figure out how stuff works. I do read the manual a bit, and then I try it out, and then sometimes I asked
DH for help. The other day we spent five minutes in that car trying to figure out how the windshield wipers work without consulting the manual. It is impossible and not intuitive. I’m gonna have to read up on the damn manual.
I have always been a dreadful marksman. It was humiliating in my military years: “go nuclear; that’s the only way you’ll hit anything”, “you’re a de facto pacifist”, “remind me again whose side you’re on”, “you know, you don’t get a refund for unused targets, don’t you?”, “maybe the noise will scare them away”, “I want you on my firing squad”. The worst was “I’m not standing next to you at the urinal, that’s for sure “.
I spent countless hours and taxpayer dollars practicing, but I never got past mediocre. I have no idea what the problem was to this day. I have mastered other task with effort, but never that.
Teacher Terry
9-27-19, 4:34pm
IL, I am just like you in all the areas you mentioned. When I took a spatial aptitude test I scored average. I am just a good test taker because I have no spatial skills. When my oldest son was 2 it took my sister and I all night to put together his tricycle and she has a genius level IQ. We laughed about that for years.
This is fun to see everyone's different kinds of intelligence. LDAHL, lol on marksmanship remarks! DH actually did pretty well in the Marines in that area--but when we started dating (two months after he got out) he took me to a carnival, and tried to prove to me what a great sharpshooter he was by shooting out the little star in the paper at the end of the line. He was so disappointed he couldn't win me a big stuffed animal.
And I'm also in the "hopeless at math" crowd--but only algebra. I got straight As in geometry. Proving theorems was so much fun.
rosarugosa
9-27-19, 6:14pm
I also wish I had the home repair skill set, but most especially carpentry and I am learning, slowly but surely! I think I have the motivation to achieve some degree of competence, but I don't think I have a natural talent in that area.
My real area of innate talent is organization. I am good at putting systems in place to keep items from being lost and tasks or events from being forgotten. It is all very boring stuff, but it makes life flow more smoothly, and definitely comes in handy in the context of helping my mother manage life with early Alzheimer's, for one example.
I also sometimes wish I had a more creative and artistic skill set, but then who would help DH keep track of his wallet, keys and phone, and help Mom manage her meds and appointments?
I hated math when I was younger, and loved it in college. I really enjoyed my statistics class!
iris lilies
9-27-19, 6:26pm
Rosa I am good at organizing things too. And I like to do it. Yes, I think it’s innate. But that statistics class! I guess we couldn’t be friends after all.:~)
...
And I'm also in the "hopeless at math" crowd--but only algebra. I got straight As in geometry. Proving theorems was so much fun.
I excelled at algebra (I should have progressed in that), but I hated geometry and looking back. I'm surprised I got a B.
rosarugosa
9-27-19, 8:00pm
I did poorly in geometry because I was majoring in recreational substance abuse at the time (high school). I never did learn to roll a good joint, but that is no longer a goal.
Based on these responses, I decided to take a "what intelligence do I have" quiz, just for fun. I came out with verbal-linguistic. No big surprise.
How about you? It's a short quiz and you don't have to input your email for results.
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-kind-of-intelligence-do-you-have-3867398?quizResult=05eec9ef
Based on these responses, I decided to take a "what intelligence do I have" quiz, just for fun. I came out with verbal-linguistic. No big surprise.
How about you? It's a short quiz and you don't have to input your email for results.
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-kind-of-intelligence-do-you-have-3867398?quizResult=05eec9ef
An interesting quiz. In nearly all questions, I really had 2 strong responses but it doesn't allow more than 1. I don't FAVOR 1 over the other but had to choose. Soooooo...I did it twice. And of course I have 2 profiles which I expected. And both are accurate.
People who have strong musical intelligence (https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161) are good and thinking in patterns, rhythms and sounds. They have a strong appreciation for music and are often good at musical composition and performance.
Your strengths include:
Singing and playing musical instruments
Recognizing musical patterns and tones easily
Remembering songs and melodies
Understanding of musical structure, rhythm and notes
People who are strong in linguistic-verbal intelligence (https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161) are able to use words well, both when writing and speaking. These individuals are typically very good at writing stories, memorizing information and reading. They tend to learn best when they read or hear information and often enjoy debating or giving persuasive speeches.
Your strengths include:
Remembering written and spoken information
Reading and writing
Debating or giving persuasive speeches
Explaining things well
Using humor when telling stories
that was an odd one. I got Naturalistic Intelligence.
Individuals who are strong in intrapersonal intelligence (https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161) are good at being aware of their own emotional states, feelings and motivations. They tend to enjoy self-reflection and analysis, including daydreaming, exploring relationships with others and assessing their personal strengths.
Your strengths include:
Analyzing your own strengths and weaknesses
Analyzing theories and ideas
Excellent self-awareness (https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-awareness-2795023)
Clearly understands the basis for your own motivations and feelings
I did poorly in geometry because I was majoring in recreational substance abuse at the time (high school). I never did learn to roll a good joint, but that is no longer a goal.
There's an app(liance) for that. :)
People who are strong in visual-spatial intelligence are good at visualizing things. These individuals are often good with directions as well as maps, charts, videos and pictures.
Some of your strengths include:
Putting puzzles together
Interpreting pictures, graphs and charts
Drawing, painting and the visual arts
Recognizes patterns easily
That said, I am not good at puzzles but love art and design.
ETA: After thinking things over, I realized that I am good at puzzles just not jigsaws. I love trying to figure out why things are the way they are so question everything.
rosarugosa
9-28-19, 11:24am
I got this, which is so far off base it's pretty funny:
People who are strong in visual-spatial intelligence are good at visualizing things. These individuals are often good with directions as well as maps, charts, videos and pictures.
Some of your strengths include:
Putting puzzles together
Interpreting pictures, graphs and charts
Drawing, painting and the visual arts
Recognizes patterns easily
Naturalistic Intelligence.
I forgot sewing. I've always been fascinated by it, watched Saturday morning shows with Nancy Zieman, collected sewing books, have more than one sewing machine, made a couple of garments...I don't seem to have the patience for it, and commercial patterns are--as the saying goes--an idiot's delight. I may give it another try, but...
catherine
10-3-19, 12:57pm
I forgot sewing. I've always been fascinated by it, watched Saturday morning shows with Nancy Zieman, collected sewing books, have more than one sewing machine, made a couple of garments...I don't seem to have the patience for it, and commercial patterns are--as the saying goes--an idiot's delight. I may give it another try, but...
That's a skill I put on the shelf for a long time, except for Halloween. As a matter of fact, I just asked my DD if I could have the old basic sewing machine I gave her a few Christmases ago (she bought a super-duper one). I love to sew--one of the many aspirations I had was to be a costume designer for the stage. I made all my clothes in high school, and I made really kick-butt Halloween costumes for my kids over the course of 25 years!!! (The last one was Edward Scissorhands for my then-19 year old son)
I've also done curtains, and I'm about to try slipcovers for my consignment shop wing chairs. I'll let you know how it goes!
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