I'm cursed with the gift of being slightly better than most in nearly all things but not at all stellar in any single one. I never learned to study in school because I've always learned things on my own.
This has carried me far but my limits are always there, always visible, at 360 degrees. Meeting and seeing stellar people is a good reminder of that.
The converse point is related to dealing with whatever talent you have. The essence is to learn to keep yourself in the unconfidence and doubt as for your skills even if so many people around you don't seem to "get" what's obvious to you.
If you think too highly of yourself even if the evidence seems to be on your side, the reality will bite back. And that makes you go back and shut a part of yourself down, and you're in a position that worse than where you started.
For example, in programming the only way to handle your skills is to assume the role of a beginner and expect the existing code to be right for a reason that you don't understand yet. If it turns out to be blindly obvious that the original author had no idea what he was doing and a partial rewrite is not only in place but unavoidable, only then accept it as there are no other options left.
The trap is seeing too much of that and starting to hallucinate that thanks to your talents you can "just know" and short-circuit right through the way of doubt. No you can't.
As a talented person you need to remain humble and only exercise your skills and vision when there are no other choices left. That will keep your ego in shape.
This has carried me far but my limits are always there, always visible, at 360 degrees. Meeting and seeing stellar people is a good reminder of that.
The converse point is related to dealing with whatever talent you have. The essence is to learn to keep yourself in the unconfidence and doubt as for your skills even if so many people around you don't seem to "get" what's obvious to you.
If you think too highly of yourself even if the evidence seems to be on your side, the reality will bite back. And that makes you go back and shut a part of yourself down, and you're in a position that worse than where you started.
For example, in programming the only way to handle your skills is to assume the role of a beginner and expect the existing code to be right for a reason that you don't understand yet. If it turns out to be blindly obvious that the original author had no idea what he was doing and a partial rewrite is not only in place but unavoidable, only then accept it as there are no other options left.
The trap is seeing too much of that and starting to hallucinate that thanks to your talents you can "just know" and short-circuit right through the way of doubt. No you can't.
As a talented person you need to remain humble and only exercise your skills and vision when there are no other choices left. That will keep your ego in shape.