Social Are you wasting your talent ?

PG29 red0 Jr said:
No, I don't think I am wasting much talent.

I'm happy doing what I do for a living.

I am a pretty decent race car driver, and have won a national title, won Daytona, and several other major events. I'm not wasting anything there.
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Wow, seriously? That’s awesome!
 
Honestly looking back at getting into photography I feel it has less to do with "talent" and more to do with the desire to test myself. My earlier stuff was I spose decent enough as holiday photography and provided a bit of a foundation to taking it more seriously but really my currently level of ability is mostly down to spending several years practicing very intently spending several hours per day.

If theres "talent" involved in that I think its mostly the inclination to do such a thing(spend a lot time building it) in the first place rather than an innate ability to do that thing.
 
Nah. The internet has been pretty sobering in terms of knowing your ability relative to others. Anything I've ever had any aptitude for, I can Google some teenager somewhere that's already better than I'll ever be.

First noticed this back at the start of online gaming. My win rate irl is over 90% whereas I struggle to hit 60% online even at the games I'm good at.
 
TeTe said:
I don't know. The only thing I really have a talent for my whole life is writing and I do that for a living. Even if it's not the most interesting writing.
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There's another Sherdogger (can't remember his name off the top of my head) who made a surprising amount of money from writing trashy erotica. Just saying. :p
 
Mike said:
Nah. The internet has been pretty sobering in terms of knowing your ability relative to others. Anything I've ever had any aptitude for, I can Google some teenager somewhere that's already better than I'll ever be.

First noticed this back at the start of online gaming. My win rate irl is over 90% whereas I struggle to hit 60% online even at the games I'm good at.
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That doesn't mean you don't have talent(s) though. The internet just allows you to see the whole spectrum up to the extreme end.
 
deviake said:
That doesn't mean you don't have talent(s) though. The internet just allows you to see the whole spectrum up to the extreme end.
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Yeah but from my perspective it's all about min maxing. If I can't be the best or among the best, and I cant lie to myself about it then it feels like it's totally pointless.
 
Mike said:
Yeah but from my perspective it's all about min maxing. If I can't be the best or among the best, and I cant lie to myself about it then it feels like it's totally pointless.
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Ahh okay, I'm coming at it differently. To me, talent is being good at or with the potential to be good at something, not necessarily in the upper echelon. So like, if you're a good handman and can make a living at it or are even just good at home repairs, working on cars, whatever, I'd say you have a talent for it, even if some madman on youtube can make a functioning rocket booster out of a pack of Skittles and a swiss army knife.

I'd say that's where comparing yourself to others can be toxic, in that you can say, "well, Jimmy Joe Fuckleberry is god-tier at painting, so no point in me ever picking up a brush."
 
deviake said:
Ahh okay, I'm coming at it differently. To me, talent is being good at or with the potential to be good at something, not necessarily in the upper echelon. So like, if you're a good handman and can make a living at it or are even just good at home repairs, working on cars, whatever, I'd say you have a talent for it, even if some madman on youtube can make a functioning rocket booster out of a pack of Skittles and a swiss army knife.

I'd say that's where comparing yourself to others can be toxic, in that you can say, "well, Jimmy Joe Fuckleberry is god-tier at painting, so no point in me ever picking up a brush."
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Yeah I'm insanely insecure lol. Not being the best or close means you suck, if you're not first you're last etc.
 
Not at all. I get to use my many talents daily which brings me great happiness and success. Could I live a life in pursuit of huge money and fame instead? Sure, but in comparison, I'd now say that would be the the real waste.

Mike said:
Nah. The internet has been pretty sobering in terms of knowing your ability relative to others. Anything I've ever had any aptitude for, I can Google some teenager somewhere that's already better than I'll ever be.

First noticed this back at the start of online gaming. My win rate irl is over 90% whereas I struggle to hit 60% online even at the games I'm good at.
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Sounds like you might have been doing that stuff for the wrong reasons right out of the gate.
 
Natural Order said:
Not at all. I get to use my many talents daily which brings me great happiness and success. Could I live a life in pursuit of huge money and fame instead? Sure, but in comparison, I'd now say that would be the the real waste.



Sounds like you might have been doing that stuff for the wrong reasons right out of the gate.
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Ok? Anything I'm doing I can't help but compare myself to others and want to be the very best I can be. If I can't perform at a moderately high level of skill it feels like a waste.

I'm not saying that's a healthy mindset, I'm sure it isn't. It's just how I am. Even with things I know I'm very good at, I can win 20 times and lose once and I'll be losing sleep over the loss instead of celebrating the wins.
 
Not using my talent does not equal wasting it in my opinion.
 
Mike said:
Ok? Anything I'm doing I can't help but compare myself to others and want to be the very best I can be. If I can't perform at a moderately high level of skill it feels like a waste.

I'm not saying that's a healthy mindset, I'm sure it isn't. It's just how I am. Even with things I know I'm very good at, I can win 20 times and lose once and I'll be losing sleep over the loss instead of celebrating the wins.
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It's think it's great to push yourself, as long as you're doing it for yourself and not others. I think there's obviously a line that goes from healthy to unhealthy somewhere in there on how much of that mindset controls one's life.
 
Natural Order said:
It's think it's great to push yourself, as long as you're doing it for yourself and not others. I think there's obviously a line that goes from healthy to unhealthy somewhere in there on how much of an OCD type factor is at play.
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I have OCD and am probably undiagnosed on the spectrum so that kinda checks out lol. I have BPD as well so dealing with linear thinking is a constant struggle. I'd honestly say it's only in recent years that I've realized just how differently I perceive things compared to a "normal" person and how much of an impact that's had on my life. And I'm 42.
 
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No one should feel bad. People 'wasting' their talents FAR outnumber the people getting close to the most out of themselves. The amount of physical, mental, and emotional energy needed to consistently perform at your highest level in anything is staggering. And the less you 'need' to do it, the harder it gets.

As for myself, I tend to go in phases. When I go at maximum effort across the board in every phase in my life, I accomplish wonders. But I can only maintain that operational intensity for about 2 months. Then I have to shut down for a bit. And to get going again is extremely difficult. And the older I get, the longer it takes me to get to the place where I can ramp it up again.

Fortunately these periodic bursts allow me to live a pretty comfortable life. My wife tells me I would be better off going at 75% or even 65% and just try and maintain that. But I've never been able to do that with much success.
 
Mike said:
I have OCD and am probably undiagnosed on the spectrum so that kinda checks out lol. I have BPD as well so dealing with linear thinking is a constant struggle. I'd honestly say it's only in recent years that I've realized just how differently I perceive things compared to a "normal" person and how much of an impact that's had on my life. And I'm 42.
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I'm guessing an obsessive personality is probably a big factor in a lot of people excelling at things like sports, the arts, etc, not just that they have an innate talent for something but that there willing to obsessively chase after that thing honing their talent and building their career on it.
 
As someone with way too many hobbies, maybe? I don't have time to really do any of the competitively and really don't care to. I used to play in a lot of bands, but I don't anymore. I used to be pretty good at skateboarding and sponsored, but those levels obviously dropped with age and losing interest. I probably only put a couple hours into it a week now. I still lift most days, but I don't really focus and track progression as I should. Similarly with running and golf, I'm into too much other shit to really get better. Honestly though, at my age (40+), most people are pretty surprised at how many things I can do. A lot of people my age don't do shit besides work and eat.
 
moreorless87 said:
I'm guessing an obsessive personality is probably a big factor in a lot of people excelling at things like sports, the arts, etc, not just that they have an innate talent for something but that there willing to obsessively chase after that thing honing their talent and building their career on it.
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I've spent a LOT of time thinking about this, being wired the way I am. Even being depressed anxious and low energy most of my life, the insane DRIVE that is in there is really astonishing when I find something to focus on. Dumb as this might sound, some of the most meaningful experiences I've had were gaming online when I found bros with the same mindset. Made me think there might be something to the idea that modern life has left a lot of men behind. There's just something about getting together with the boys to discuss strategy, make plans and refine technique, and then just beat the shit out of your enemies together. That's some primal male bonding shit that I think a lot of guys are missing these days.


It's really an outlet in a number of ways having someone around that is driven in the same way that you are, whether that's towards serious life goals or just fun stuff.
 
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