Remembering phone number. Even phone numbers I do not want to remember stay in those memory banks. I actually think it is related in some way to my ability to spell well. In both “skills” I am getting a visual image in my head of what the word or phone number would look like written down.
Although I have a few skills discussed above, one that seems to be entirely my own is my ability to be invisible. I am without distinction. I’m not even bland enough to be exceptional. I mean, nobody would ever refer to me and say, “That guy is exceptionally dull.”
I am the person in the meeting who never gets assigned any work. I am the guy at the security check points who never gets stopped. I am the driver who never gets pulled over. Was I at your birthday party? Hmmmm… Hard to know. Are there photos? Does he still work here? I haven’t heard his name in months…
Not that I mind, you understand. This is not a complaint. I could certainly make an effort to change if it were a bother. I have always felt “apart from” most people. I just didn’t know it was a useful skill for a long time.
I’m quite good at arithmetic in my head. I can multiply any two digit numbers in my head in about 10 seconds.
I’m one of the best typists in my office – I type at close to 100 words per minute.
Hopefully I’m a good writer, since I’ve written a few novels and hope to someday support my family from writing. I’m very good with grammar, spelling, and “wordsmithing”.
I can “go” (i.e. be active, lucid, and coherent) a few seconds after waking up in the morning. My wife finds this skill amazing. I learned it in the Navy.
My job. I work in a public library.
Face recognition.
Riding my Vespa.
My modesty is outstanding, easily the finest I’ve ever seen in. When I walk into a room, I can palpably feel just how impressed others are by my self-effacement. Sometimes I honestly have to scale it back a bit, for fear of making others feel inadequate.
Problem solving. I especially excell at ‘burning platform’ problem solving. It’s like a super power - except that it’s anoying, because people bring me lots of crisis issues, which means I’m always soloving things for other people, and not myself. OK, I get it - I put out people’s fires, and save their bacon, and whatnot - But for me, that’s just a big pain in the backside.
Information Tech - both from the systems end, and from the user end. I’m frankly a kick-ass electronic publisher, and a go-to guy for troublesome cases (see above). It’s… Just a thing I do. I know plenty of other kick-ass publishers and IT types, so it doesn’t seem all that unusual to me.
Dogs. I get dogs. I suspect I’m a bit aspie (aspergers doesn’t run in my family - it stampedes), and people often perplex me, but dogs and I just seem to work. Mind you, I don’t consider myself a great trainer, or any of that shit - Just experienced. But even hardcase dogs get along with me.
Shot. I can put a bullet where I want it, consistently and reliably. Not a sniper, but at one time, I was a designated counter-sniper. (different skills sets)
Reading. I can destroy some text. I burn through a typical Harry Poter-sized novel in about four hours.
Edit:
These too. Also, parse 1-MC announcements in my sleep, responding only where needed.
I’m pretty quick on a motorcycle, I bet that less than 0.1% of the general population would be able to make it around a track faster than me, given equal machinery. Yes, I am including old ladies and babies in the “general population.”
I’m a pretty good shot. I was captain of the Rifle Team in college, qualified as a ‘expert’ with both the M16 and 9mm when I was in the Seabees, and have never required more than one shot to drop a whitetail deer in around 30 years of deer hunting. I can sit in my backyard and shoot at targets that are 100, 300, and 500 yards away. Even though I would never shoot a deer at those latter ranges, it’s fun to know that I could.
I’m also really good at writing resumes. I like to think that many friends and family members are in their current roles because my resume got them a foot in the door.
That’s a whole claim to skills-fame right there.
I’ve worked alongside Seabees. Remarkably capable folks, in a variety of disciplines.
“Really good” is relative. I love writing fiction. Compared to most wannabe writers, I am really good at writing fiction. Compared to most published writers, I am middling to good. Writing is absolutely a skill that must be practiced daily. I dunno if it’s a talent so much as an obsession. If you do something a million times, you are bound to get it right eventually.
I am much more confident in my grant writing abilities. I write superb grants. I’ve been a grant writer for only four years, and I frequently hear from people with decades of experience that I am among the best they’ve seen.
Writing is a hard thing to brag about here because most members on this board are much better than average at stringing words together. But that has always been my skill,the one thing in which I have confidence.
I belong to a few writer groups and by far the best writing I see is right here in the SDMB. I know what you mean about it being a passion, I am not good at it but for some reason I can’t stop. My current novel that I have been struggling with was 1st inspired by me trying to write a proposal similar to a grant. It occurred to me that a story would be the best way to explain it.
I think the best writers get that way because they have no choice but to write. It has never occurred to me to ask if I should write… I just have to.
As for the OP’s question, being really good at something is a nice occasional ego boost, but in the grand scheme it doesn’t compensate for other shortcomings.
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Writing fiction. I may not be a major name, but I’m more successful that 90% (or more) of the people who attempt it.
Public speaking. If you told me I had to address a group in two minutes, my reply would be “On what subject?” This has happened to me IRL – told I was about to do an interview a minute before it was to start.
Troubleshooting computer software issues.