[Closed] What are you good at?

Writing crappy remarks

Not a lot. Jack of some trades. Seen me alright so far, but always prepared to be found out.

i'd say cynicism, but you lot would only take it the wrong way….

I feel the same as the OP, never been actually good at anything just OK at everything really. Be that academics, music talent, sports etc

I'm remarkably average.

I'm told I am very good at engineering out defects in machines, but due to my self critical nature I still find fault with my work.
I'm not very good at switching off though :/

I can play computer games for a really really long time without getting bored. And I'm good at speaking different languages and sounding pretty native. And spend hours on trying to solve mundane and work related problems. Crap at most other things.

I am absolutely fantastic at being myself

Understanding how things work. And contributing to their working...........

Nothing like blowing yer own trumpet!

Nothing like blowing yer own trumpet!

Well you wouldn't want to blow someone else's trumpet - you don't know where its been

I'm ****ing amazing at being modest.

Sarcasm

great thread by the way..

This thread has the perfect real answer :sarcastic comment ratio

Prevaricati. Oh bugger it I will finish it later.

I'm pretty good at staying alive, despite a few medical/injury hiccups along the way that have been touch n' go i've managed to last 41 yrs so far on this earth.

Seeing the problem and solving it, seeing beyond the detail and to the reasons, root cause analysis and some good BS

I can also be quite good at saying it like it is

Everyone is good at something.

If you genuinely don't believe it, then you're very good at being modest, whilst you're simultaneously terrible at singing your own praises.

I'd say there's a number of things I'm above average at, a handful of things I'm actually quite good at, and perhaps one or two I'm actually very skilled at. Sadly, the one or two things aren't likely to make me rich or famous any time soon unless a huge amount of luck is also involved.

I also make up for being good, or above average in something's by being woefully terrible at many others! Sometimes I would gladly give things up just to be a bit better at getting up in the morning (exceptionally bad at this!), be a little bit more organised, or less of a scatterbrain for instance... And that's just for a start!

fixing things without the proper parts. im not as good at it as my dad though

edit; i would like to say im good at stonework but having spent a week recently, replacing arches with my old mentor, i know i still have a long way to go 🙂

I'm good at finding simple solutions to problems, quickly.

I am very good at seeming busy.

Boiling rice.

Cooking steak.

Making Omelettes.

I'm also a pretty good shot wit a gun but not done that in ages so maybe lost that.

Good at staying calm, been told i'm nearly horizontal i'm so laid back...together with a dark sense of humour it makes my job as a paramedic about as much fun as that kind of thing can be, it's helped in the odd crisis outside of work too.

I excel at dealing with large amounts of conflicting information and reading between the lines to establish the most likely scenarios and determining the most appropriate course of action.

Or that's what my last two or three appraisals said anyway. In all seriousness I seem to have an eye for (work related) detail. Can't be arsed in real life though.

Falling off bicycles.

Pro...

...crastin...

...ation

I'm great in bed

Me too. I could sleep all day.

knitting and dressmaking

I'm very good at cooking scrambled eggs I've been working on it for 25 odd years now.
I'm also very good at cold calling but I think thats because I really enjoy meeting new people.

People who think they are really good/great at something often just haven't met enough people who are better (although not through lack of those people, just limited exposure to them!).

There are plenty of people who will surround and compare themselves to family/friends/colleagues who don't do something as well as them, then they feel "good" at it.

For example, I used to think I was good at snowboarding, even during a season I was in the top quarter or riders. Then I started riding with people who are a different level (two GB riders and a load of people who pay the mortgage riding), and I realised just how average I was.

I have so many passions, hobbies and interests, but I would reckon I'm average (at best!) at most of them.

there's days at work when I wonder how i ended up doing what i'm doing and that it's only a matter of time before i'm responsible for a £££££ cockup. but then there's days when i'm utterly brilliant. Does that mean I am good or bad at my job? 🙂

It's all relative innit.

Everything my mrs can't be arsed to do..
'But it's better when you do it'
'yes dear'.. 😐

Always seeing the bright side of life.

Modesty. I have a lot to be modest about 😉

I'm very good at feeling inadequate

Wife informs me that my ability to eat more salty snacks than would seem feasible is awesomezz. I'm amazing apparently and I have to say I do enjoy doing it.

Other than that, nothing else.

Data. I just seem to know how to work large sets of data and turn that into information.

I'm also very good at getting annoyed when other people just cannot see how to do this.

Being optimistic

[i]Nothing like blowing yer own trumpet! [/i]

Nah, I'm terrible at that. I can't even reach!

Self-loathing is my skill.
No I'm not, I'm rubbish at it, just like everything else.

Drinking
&
Sex

In that order.

Cooking... Lets cook 😀

I'm average at most things. I blame it on being a right handed person trapped in a left handed person's body (you know, I kick with the right, use bats with the right, but write with the left and my right-eye is dominant. Messy)
Good at badminton, but never play it.
I'm average at football, but when they have those things at fates where you have to kick the ball through some holes - I'm good at that.
My scraperboard artworks are good, but never do those either.

I consider myself to be competent at most tasks and even quite good at some. I suppose on a practical level that's a good thing but I sometimes ponder whether I'd trade in competence at work, sport, cooking, fettling etc for an exceptional talent in something a bit different. Is it better to be awesome at something but completely dysfunctional in other ways?

I think modern life require men in particular to have a broader but shallower skill set compared to say Victorian man working 60-odd hours a week who retires and can't boil an egg? Hence why we are still crap at multi-tasking (allegedly).

Being happy most of the time.

I used to take it for granted .

Oh ,and axe juggling 🙂

Nothing.

Nothing in particular. I've learnt that you can compensate for a lack of talent by sheer bloody mindedness trying/working harder than everyone else.

Wallpapering.

Give me a paintbrush and I'll slap it on and think 'that'll do'.

Wallpapering - I am careful, take my time and won't settle for anything but perfect.

I think I actually 'like' doing it.

[i]crap at multi-tasking (allegedly). [/i]

Everyone is crap at multi-tasking.

You can do lots of things badly at once, or one thing really well. The true skill is being able to do that one thing really well without anything else affecting you. That's craftsmanship.

Multi-tasking is massively overrated.

Samuri, have you actually been eavesdropping on conversation me and the missus have? That is pretty much word for word my response to the standard refrain of the female masses...

Mrs D often tells me I'm great at disparaging

Absolutely nothing going by the amount of ear ache I get from the wife.....

Oh I suppose there is something I'm good at.....

......winding the wife up!!

In seriousness, fixing things and problem solving....which is what I do for a job, so that's nice...

Riding my bike, not bad at that....I'm ****ing great at having some big pile ups...I have medical records and scars to prove it!!

Being a Dad....my kids don't know how lucky they are.... 😉

arson

e-mail in profile

Learning new stuff and being able to explain it to others. I have to do it in my job a lot as we work with new and emerging technology that can be used in lots of different business areas. I have to explain the technology to the business people, and the business areas to the technical people.

Apart from that, I'm very good at being competent at most things.

Shooting. I'm good at putting little bits of copper jacketed lead on targets* at short and long distances.

I can cook as well, but I would not really put myself into the "good" category.

Most things are relative aren't they? Sounds like Peterfile was well above average at snowboarding, just not international level. Surely that still qualifies as good though?

I have climbed E5, but as a lot of people I know climb much better than that I didn't consider myself good. I guess by UKC standards I was above average though.

There has never been anything that I gave been the best at out of everybody I know.

[i]Samuri, have you actually been eavesdropping on conversation me and the missus have? That is pretty much word for word my response to the standard refrain of the female masses... [/i]

I think as men, we're brought up hearing 'men can't multitask' constantly. We hear it and it's embedded that multi-tasking is a good thing so we never question the sense behind it. Of course we can multi-task just like everyone can but inherently men don't *like* multi-tasking. They're generally single-objective orientated which does naturally produce better craftsmen who are now-focussed.

I've been banned from saying any of this near my mum who got really, really angry when I suggested that multi-tasking isn't a particularly good thing. 😉

Spotting late-exploding bombs.

I excel at underachievement.

Taking pictures of things to make them look nice and having people pay me for doing that.
Polishing shoes
Reading maps
Finding good restaurants

I know I'm actually good a few things....

- Dog Training

- Simplifying complex problems

- Dealing with difficult people and situations in a calm manner

- Getting people to do what I want

I'm also very good at:

- Technical writing

- Presentations

However, I'm also aware of my weaknesses. I've learnt to play to my strengths, enhancing these where I can, and doing a bit of damage limitation on what I'm bad at - rather than trying hard to get better at something I don't like doing.

Jack sh1t, but I'm good at not worrying about it.

Eating chocolate, biscuits, cake...

- Simplifying complex problems

That's rather subjective. What if some people already find your "complex" problem "simple"?

🙂

mtb is about the only thing I've ever been remotely good at and that's only good for a complete amateur enthusiast, just riding around type of rider, (ie anyone who specialises in one of the disciplines will kick my arse)

I guess I'm quite good at devoting a ridiculous amount of time to computer games too - not technically very good at most games but I have the willpower to run around powering up for a mind numbing amount of time until I can kick Mr Big's arse.

<edit> rereading that I should maybe add "good at having confidence issues" 🙂

Unicycling. On the basis I'm better than 99.9% of the population and almost certainly the best at that on this thread. Of course I've met plenty of people better than me (including some aged <12), but in a general population sense they're a complete rarity.

That's rather subjective. What if some people already find your "complex" problem "simple"?

Aren't you making rickon's simple statement more complex than it needs to be?

Merely pointing out that it assumes that the problems need simplifying 😉

That's rather subjective. What if some people already find your "complex" problem "simple"?

Some people do - they're subject matter experts. However, being able to communicate this complex subject matter to people who do not know the area well is a real skill.

How many times have you been to a technical / university / research meeting, where the speaker is incredibly intelligent, but you just can't follow what they're talking about?

Either you're not listening, or they haven't keyed their presentation to the audience properly, and just dive into the detail.

The key is to know the area well, but also understand how simple the complexity can be. I find simple analogies, examples, and then building up to more complex examples being a good way to describe things.

I really don't feel like I do much at work, but make things [i]better[/i] for people, and easier for them to do stuff.

Dress making, made my daughters prom dress so she wouldn't get twinned, and yes i'm a geezer with gnarly hands and a serious attitude problem.

I know I'm actually good a few things....

- Dog Training

- Simplifying complex problems

- Dealing with difficult people and situations in a calm manner

- Getting people to do what I want

I'm also very good at:

- Technical writing

- Presentations

However, I'm also aware of my weaknesses. I've learnt to play to my strengths, enhancing these where I can, and doing a bit of damage limitation on what I'm bad at - rather than trying hard to get better at something I don't like doing.

Did you just copy and paste that out of your cv personal statement? 😛

I have climbed E5, but as a lot of people I know climb much better than that I didn't consider myself good. I guess by UKC standards I was above average though.

By ukc standards that is almost superhuman 😀

For example, I used to think I was good at snowboarding, even during a season I was in the top quarter or riders. Then I started riding with people who are a different level (two GB riders and a load of people who pay the mortgage riding), and I realised just how average I was.

I think the where you are in the pack thing is interesting and agree that its easy to get the wrong idea of you ability. My great humbling moment as thinking that I was getting good and finding that the queues for the routes had got longer!

In my 20s I'd have said i wasn't much of climber. I saw the top of the tree. My mates were better than me. Their mates were as good as anyone. That didn't bother my I was just out for fun. Now looking back I'd say I was good. That leaves brilliant, excellent and many other adjectives ahead of me. i think your snow boarding was the same, you wee good

I'm good enough at teaching and teaching physics that its not illogical that I do it for a living. But again that's not the same as being the best

Randomly Im good at wrapping presents . I have on idea why as i dont have any patience whatsoever .I just seem to be able to make a box look smart with some paper, selotape and abit of silver tape.
Ok at malt based alcoholic beverage production too , but thats down to being QBE

"Most things are relative aren't they? Sounds like Peterfile was well above average at snowboarding, just not international level. Surely that still qualifies as good though?"

It depends on how high the standard was elsewhere. If the standard was poor in the UK and internationals are doing badly against any number of random Continentals, Americans etc, than being in the top 25% is no big deal surely. You cant really just look at a national level, the Saudi Arabian snowboard champion is likely to be pretty crap in absolute terms. The guy qualifying 90th for a world cup DH might usually be the best rider in the bike park but, he is crap when compared to the top 10. etc, etc.

So, I reckon to be good you need to be in the group above +2 Standard deviations from the global mean for whatever it is you do. Therefore, most people will never find anything they are really good at, above average maybe but that's all.

Excavating complex archaeological sites. I had to knock it on the head when my boss(es) were increasingly unable to understand the sites I was working on and the deposits I was able to decipher.

APF

Speeling.

A few years ago I was climbing v9.... So that was considered alright. However, some of the chaps I used to climb with climbed v12\13. So I was pretty rubbish by those standards 😉

Patience - I've waited 48 years so far to find what I'm good at and if it takes another 48 so be it.

V9 respect

Bullshitting bullshitters to earn their respect as an accomplice bullshitter.

I talked myself in and i'll talk my way out.

Getting injured on a bike...