Something you’re just good at with minimal effort and/or you learned much more quickly than average.
For me, it’s paper snowflakes. My brain just seems to effortlessly figure out what cuts to make to the paper wedge to make it turn out exactly how I want it. Largely useless, but good fun and was a much-needed ego boost when I was a kid :]
I’m good at fixing things. It’s great for saving money but it’s not that I don’t like it, I just get tired of having to do it all the time.
I’m pretty good at sensing the emotions of people around me. It’s not magic like some people think, but an obsessive awareness of small facial and body movements.
Oh, and writing dialogue is super easy for me, not sure why some people have a hard time with it.
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My ability to whip a story up at the spot is pretty damn good. I run Dungeons and Dragons in a homebrewed world, and a good part of it is made up on the spot. While doing this, I always make sure to keep consistency.
The only thing I’m lacking is long monologues… That is hard to just make up
That’s a fantastic talent. Creativity is one thing but quick improvisational creativity is a whole other level
For monologues: do you do ok improv-ing dialogues? If so maybe you could trick your brain by thinking about how a monologuing character is kind of having a dialogue with different parts of themself
I can move my eyes independently and it looks freaky as hell lmao
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We love our lizardfolk comrades!
I almost freak my self out lol
I am a maestro at taking out boogers out of my dog’s eyes. All of that juicy goodness gone in a single scoop.
I can look at a small open space (trunk, corner of a room, shelves, etc) a and then look at the item I need to fit in that space and say with a decent amount of confidence “yeah that’ll fit perfectly” or “that’s gonna be slightly too big”
Yea this is me. I’m really good at packing spaces. I’ve had to repack people’s cars to get everything to fit for long trips or moves. It’s like I can see how to make the pieces fit together to maximize space.
I’m a level 15 bureaucrat. I’ve filled out government applications longer than my thesis, with only a pen and the bitter joy of precision.
Sure you think paper snowflakes are useless but wait for an elementary school play to need set design and they will crawl in their hands and knees to rescue them 😉
I just got a new job at a place where my coworkers are really into seasonal decorations, so I’m low key excited for winter
Have fun schooling those plebs with the decor
I’ve got a competent and authoritative voice. People frequently assume I’m the most qualified in a group when I’m really objectively not as soon as i start speaking. Whatever I say or decide rarely gets questioned and people just keep letting me do stuff. When something is my word against another’s, people believe me.When I say something is needed, it’s done. When I make a proposal, that’s usually what’s agreed on and done without me really trying to push it.
This is familiar.
In particular, my accent gives me a distinct advantage, as I speak with what some might describe as a “BBC” English accent. I work using English outside of the UK in a multinational company, and it’s served me very well.
In international contexts people just seem to trust that I know what I’m talking about, because they think that I sound like I should be narrating a nature documentary.
I’m not super sure what it is for me. I’m able to code switch pretty easily, and I don’t speak obvious dialect unless I explicitly mean to (I’m not a native english speaker, but it applies to english as well). It’s generally a great thing to have. I know a few people who struggle with being listened to, and honestly, it looks like it sucks.
The only downside I’ve ever seen is that you have to be super honest to yourself about what you can and can not handle, or it can spin out of control quickly. Sometimes others assume you’re capable of anything they ask you to, and you don’t correct them because you think you might get away with it. But when you can’t pull it off, they will be disappointed and not very understanding. So it kinda becomes your job to point out your shortcomings to others early and frequently, which takes some mental energy, and I struggled with it when i was younger. I was very insecure on the inside, while seeming very confident to others. But I learned that if you do it in a competent voice, it just makes you more trustworthy because being honest about your mistakes and shortcomings when other people already think you’re capable is seen as a mature and responsible thing. So it works out in the end.
Completely agree with your suggestion for handling this issue. This is something I’ve experienced most of my life as well and have only started realizing it at work the past few years. As I started working on more complicated subjects with a lot of room for ambiguity and error, I really have to make sure and qualify what I know for certain and what is more speculation in my work conversations.
Imo it’s really the only way to handle it and not go either full psycho narcissist or insane pressure burnout. But learning that humility took me a few tries, ngl. Also, it’s not a really googleable problem and even genuinely complaining about it sounds like humblebragging to many people. Because in the end, it is a very good thing and a privilege, but boy I’ve had some stressful times with it.
(Well, I must say, you mentioned you’re not a native English speaker, but you could fool anyone because your English is crazy good - what is your native language?)
I agree, it’s a real strength and something you can learn to control and use when you need it. It has definitely led to burnout situations for me in the past. For me, I think that comes from wanting to meet the expectations I feel I’ve set, but I’ve struggled to differentiate between expectations that I’m setting for myself vs. what others actually expect. My entire life I’ve worked harder than needed, most likely. Does this sound familiar to you? It’s definitely led to some success for me that I don’t feel is really deserved, but I’m learning to be a little more grateful for it these days :)
Thank you. That’s what years of reddit and hating dubbed media will do for you :) my native language is German, and we do start learning English here pretty early in life. When I was young, we started at 8, but today it’s sometimes even earlier. But sadly since I’m out of school my speaking skills are a little rusty, since I don’t practice them enough.
Yes, I definitely felt that because of the expectations they had, i had to go the extra mile every time or I’d be worse than someone fulfilling already low expectations. But inevitably, you cannot go the extra mile all the time, so you ket some things slide, and they snowball and then you need to work extra extra hard to keep things from spinning out.
But then, many people’s success is earned through way shadier means than “working harder than needed”.
I am a really quick reader compared to most people. Doesn’t sound that amazing and it’s certainly not unique, but it comes really handy. Always helped me with exams, as I got some precious minutes more to actually work instead of reading. I can go through books and articles really fast. Retention is not amazing, I’d say it’s about the same as when most people read in their normal speed.
I really envy the people that can read quickly and retain everything. But I am also content with being relatively quick.
If you stop trying to vocalise the words in your head you can really break away from the the time limit and just fly through text.
This is what I do when I’m reading academic papers for writing reports to see if the content is what I need.
Takes a few seconds to scan it, take the understanding and made a decision on if it’s worthwhile or not.
There’s also websites where you can drop text and it will train you to read this way.
Not that but I can skim quickly and find the vital takeaways! Mostly useful for studies or reading recepies.
I’m good at puzzles, particularly like jigsaw puzzles, but also games like flow where you match the pipes. I can sometimes do it so quickly I don’t understand how I know what I’m doing, it’s more like instinct.
I have the same superpower and I love all the Flow Free games. And you’re right, I can’t even explain to myself how I know what to do. 🤷🏽♀️
I’m the same way with word puzzles/games, but I can’t even split a check without a calculator lol.
Failure.
I recently discovered I can use an angle grinder with a level of precision and finess most people take some time to develop.
From free hand cutting straight lines into pretty much anything that can be cut, to precise cut of stone, cement or even metal.
I was dead afraid of this particular power tool for all my life and only when forced to use one to do some repairs around the house I discovered I could handle it so easily.
my two special snowflake things:
i can stop my own hiccups at will 100% of the time
i have always lucid dreamed since as far back as i can remember, i genuinely believed that everyone experienced sleep like that until i was in my mid-twenties
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