> - Concentrate on your weaknesses. Make them stronger. When you get to your 30s you can work from your strengths, but there has to be some time in your life to work on shit you suck at, and for me it was when I had the most motivation, my 20s.
I don't think I could disagree more. If I focused on my weaknesses, I'd still be working on my handwriting. I spent years in school trying to learn how to write legibly, and as soon as I got out I dropped that and used a computer for everything. I'm a published author now, and without a computer I still can't legibly compose a sentence. You know what? nobody cares that my cheques are hard to read.
Sure, you can focus on bringing up the things you are bad at to 'average' and be a mediocre person, or you can min/max it, and be /really good/ at some things, and really suck at others. Sure, we'd all like to be good at everything. But you know what? for most of us, it's not happening. you need to make choices.
As a child, your mom (or, at least my mom was) all about how important doing your laundry, cooking, doing the dishes, etc... is. In the real world? you can pay other people to do that. You don't even have to pay them very much. Your first programming job will pay enough to eat out every day and have someone come by and clean your house once or twice a week. (granted, knowing how to cook is a good skill; it's usually healthier. My point is just that no matter what you are bad at, there is almost always a way to solve any problem using one of your strengths.)
granted... your first programming job won't pay for that /and/ a spiffy new sportscar every five years, but for me, the free time to work on the things I care about is worth more than a sportscar.
Figure out what sorts of things you are good at learning. Become /really good/ at those things, and put yourself in situations where your strengths matter and your weaknesses don't slow you down too much. Cultivate friendships with people who have complementary skillsets.
> If I focused on my weaknesses, I'd still be working on my handwriting.
He wasn't asking you concentrate on all your weaknesses. Prioritize your weakness based on their importance and then eliminate them.
for example: If you don't know how to drive a car- that is a weakness, and driving is a very important skill, so you try to eliminate it.
(This is just an example. You can always argue by saying that you can hire a person to drive the car for you, but think about other high-priority weakness you have)
I understand that was the intent. The problem is that it teaches rote work, which is quite a bit less useful than triage and delegation, I think, when it comes to general 'responsibility'
I /always/ will have more tasks that i want done than I have time. I need to decide what tasks I drop on the floor[1], what tasks i delegate to others, and what tasks I do myself.
[1]dropping tasks gracefully is a /huge/ part of being 'responsible.' part of this needs to be thought out ahead of time. Don't promise things you later are going to drop on the floor. If you must drop something on the floor that someone else is expecting (and you will need to do this, sometimes.) you need to notify them as soon as possible.
I don't think I could disagree more. If I focused on my weaknesses, I'd still be working on my handwriting. I spent years in school trying to learn how to write legibly, and as soon as I got out I dropped that and used a computer for everything. I'm a published author now, and without a computer I still can't legibly compose a sentence. You know what? nobody cares that my cheques are hard to read.
Sure, you can focus on bringing up the things you are bad at to 'average' and be a mediocre person, or you can min/max it, and be /really good/ at some things, and really suck at others. Sure, we'd all like to be good at everything. But you know what? for most of us, it's not happening. you need to make choices.
As a child, your mom (or, at least my mom was) all about how important doing your laundry, cooking, doing the dishes, etc... is. In the real world? you can pay other people to do that. You don't even have to pay them very much. Your first programming job will pay enough to eat out every day and have someone come by and clean your house once or twice a week. (granted, knowing how to cook is a good skill; it's usually healthier. My point is just that no matter what you are bad at, there is almost always a way to solve any problem using one of your strengths.)
granted... your first programming job won't pay for that /and/ a spiffy new sportscar every five years, but for me, the free time to work on the things I care about is worth more than a sportscar.
Figure out what sorts of things you are good at learning. Become /really good/ at those things, and put yourself in situations where your strengths matter and your weaknesses don't slow you down too much. Cultivate friendships with people who have complementary skillsets.