A jack of all trades, but master of none...
Is often times better than a master of one :)
You are smart! You just probably have ADHD. I used to feel the same way, but I eventually realized that I really don’t think like others. My approximate knowledge is limited, but I can still leverage it to actually have advantages compared to others.
Also aids in bolstering intuition and the comprehension of nuance! Knowing “a little about a lot of things” means a very broad perspective which covers a lot of contingencies. It’s a very good position from which to study the big picture, imo!
Edit: with the risk of getting lost in details, from personal experience.
It’s a shame the concept of an “ideas man” has been ridiculed for so long, because that’s precisely what it lets you be good at.
If you can put together a jack of all trades to spawn vaguely sensible ideas, and someone who hyperfocuses on a field of interest, you can just churn out good ideas that are well on the way to being implementable.
the problem is that for every ideas man, you need at least 20 people to actually do the work. And that work is a lot more tedious than being the one who comes up with the ideas
and of course, most people can’t tell the difference between a “good ideas man” and a “bad ideas man”, and there are a lot more of the latter
The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.
Eh. Most people don’t even have this. It’s great to be a specialist, but a well rounded generalist is valuable as well. Some of the most creative people are are dilatantes as they are able to synthesize new things by combining knowledge of disparate categories. Staying curious and having a sense of purpose will give you an edge 90% of people don’t have in adulthood.
Staying curious and having a sense of purpose will give you an edge 90% of people don’t have in adulthood.
That’s a little ‘thanks I’m cured’ …
I agree and disagree. If they were telling you “just stay curious to get ahead” then I would agree, but in the specific context it came off, to me, more along the lines of “this is a goal you can work towards. Find ways to make yourself curious and find a sense of purpose.”
You’ll still have to find what ways you can use to work on yourself, but that’s where therapy and introspection come in, not internet strangers
The feeling of being autistic and have ADHD, but people just ASSUME you know what you’re talking about because you speak with confidence and are “the smartest person here”.
A lot of damage is done by parents telling their kids that they are special and gifted.
I know they mean to be kind. It’s just that reality always turns up like the Kool-aid man.
Good thing my mom balanced it out by also calling me a worthless piece of shit.
the “smart and gifted” to “burnout” to “neurodivergence diagnosis” pipeline
it frustrates me to no end that society still hasn’t realized we need to identify diagnoses earlier, it fucking SUCKS to figure it out after puberty and having to spend years internalizing that you’re not a failure, you just need to do things differently.
I made the best grades in my year for nearly every year of my schooling from 1st grade up through junior year of high school. My dad would tell me that I was smart and gifted, and he would expect straight A’s on my report card. If I ever brought home less than a perfect score I’d be punished for it.
My mom, though, always told me that gap was an illusion. Sure, I was a smart kid, but I wasn’t doing anything anyone else couldn’t. If I could do it so could they, and vice versa. If I wanted to keep that lead I needed to work for it - but more importantly that taught me not to feel superior to the other kids. I wasn’t that special, I just learned new info easily.
I think that was really important for my developing empathy and maybe more smart kids need to hear that.
“Gifted” often just means “received enough calories, stimulation, and affection growing up that you developed to your full human capacity”.
It can’t be understated how many people are on the spectrum from neglected to abused, in a way that drastically inhibits development. But we rephrase this immiseration as “normal”, then treat the kids of wealthier parents as “special” because they hit basic human milestones, possibly while cultivating an unusual talent or hobby with abundant free time.
The gulf is real, but manufactured. And once you exit primary school, you get rebucketted into Normals and Specials again… and again and again and again.
That’s what drives people insane, more than anything. The constant fear of being outside the next wall. The fear of abuse and neglect that comes with it.
