I was going to present my awesome PowerPoint skills, but I am not going to do that now.
I can’t stop bleeding with PowerPoint.
Guitar is one of those “things,” as is piano - I’ve played for so long that I have a mental list of hundreds of songs and can trot out rock/blues licks in a straightforward manner - there is a whole cadre of people who wish they had taken the time to learn. Playing an instrument is similar to speaking multiple languages, or really knowing how to cook. A cool thing to have in your arsenal.
I swear, the thing I do that impresses the greatest number of people day in and day out is to read the screen and give the computer what it’s actually asking for instead of what I think it wants.
My nieces are amazed with my ability to solve a Rubik’s cube behind my back. I can’t actually do that. Rather, the solution method I use, about half the time, gets into a particular position at the last step. Because that position comes up so often, I’ve gotten automatic at the sequence of moves to go from that position to solved. So when someone impressible is present and I’m solving the cube, if I happen to get to that position, then I put the cube behind my back and go through that memorized sequence of moves.
Making key lime pie. I just follow the directions on the bottle of key lime juice. Sometimes I add a little more juice to give it some extra zing. I use a store-bought graham cracker crust. It’s the easiest thing to make, ever. Yet somehow I’m the designated “key lime pie maker” among my family and friends, and no other key lime pie can out-do mine.
Maybe they’re just going easy on me since they know my cooking skills aren’t extraordinary. If they keep me making key lime pies, they know I’ll keep bringing something good to the party (as long as I don’t forget the whipped cream).
I used to go to this bar in the afternoon. Every time I walked through the door it was always the same thing. One of the old codgers at the bar would hand me a fist full of dollars and ask me to go play some songs on the jukebox.
What I would do is take their money, stick it in the JB, select a few songs that I wanted to hear and then what ever was left over, I would just hit the “Most Popular*” button about ten times.
My fellow bar patrons would give me all kinds of accolades about how good I am at ‘selecting’ songs.
*The most popular button on the jukebox means it randomly selects the most played songs on that particular jukebox.
One of my aunts makes a frozen chocolate pie for any family get together. I make that same exact pie randomly throughout the year.
This year she didn’t make it to Thanksgiving and probably won’t make it to the next few holidays either so they asked me to make it since 'you figured out her recipe."
“Um, no, it’s on the inside of the German’s Chocolate box…go to the store, grab the box, rip it open for the recipe, grab the rest of the stuff, then make it. Takes like 5 minutes.”
FTR, I did make it, I’ll probably end up being the one who makes it from know on, but it’s not like I decoded some big secret or something. Though I do add a bunch of Hershey’s chocolate to it and we both use an Oreo crust instead of a graham cracker crust. That just makes more sense.
“Shibumi” by Travanian. Also “Mein Kampf” by Adolf Hitler. For some reason, I am impressed, even inspired, by the writings/letters of the following people. It might have something to do with their apparent destiny, or having done jail time:
Mao-tse-tung
Fidel Castro
Nelson Mandela
Idi Amin (some letters he wrote)
Planning, preparation and practice. Seriously. I am an ultra-planner. Thanksgiving dinner planning started 2 weeks in advance, shopping lists were created, all non-refrigerated ingredients were placed in their respective casserole dishes to make sure I had everything I needed. I created a timeline so I knew when to start each individual task so that everything was ready to eat at the same time. I wash dishes as they get dirty, so when guests arrive, I look totally put together and effortless.
Something else I can do that’s just a result of years of practice is being able to find the center of something without measuring and being able to see level without a level.
Then, there’s the ability to follow directions. People ask me how I learned to cook so well, and although now I can throw things together with a high degree of success, it boils down to being able to read and follow directions.
Hey, we share a superpower! Except I don’t use bottled lime juice, I have a key lime tree in my backyard. When those babies are in season (in the late fall and early winter), I bring key lime pie to any and all potlucks. People are really impressed, and it only takes a little over half an hour to make, if you count the time to pick the limes off the tree.
I seem to have an eye for perspective. I can free-hand a drawing on a wall (to be painted later) and it comes out the right size. I can make curtains without measuring. One time I stenciled the alphabet across the top of my son’s closet, planning to just go on with it till I got to the edge. It stopped on Z.
Not too impressive, but I can hang pictures and mirrors perfectly centered on a wall, or exactly level with each other by myself in one try. I cut a piece of blue painter’s masking tape the same width of the picture then cut another for the length. I lightly stick this upside down "L"on the wall and move it around until I like its location. Then I fold the top piece of tape in half to find the center point, tap in a nail and viola. It feels good to only have to hang the picture once without leaving a half dozen nail holes behind.
Oh, like Becky2844 I can write large words on posters, walls or dry-erase boards by working outside-in. Say, if I had to write the alphabet, I’d start with A and Z on the ends, then M and N in the middle and fill in the gaps with the rest of the letters. I never run out of room at the end this way.
Apparently my book-reading skills are impressive, and they take virtually no effort on my part (it’s reading - it’s fun, so it’s effortless). I don’t really have a secret for it - I have read a lot for a long time.
More in the spirit of the OP–things that aren’t talents, just knowing a simple technique: Teachers are not generally a tech-savvy bunch, and just knowing ctrl-x/c/v/p/f makes me look like a crazy hacker. Also, being able to do simple formulas in excel looks like magic.
I’m an artist, and so were both of my parents. To me, nothing is easier than creating art that is more-or-less acceptable. As a result of this I add additional elements to my art, in an attempt to make it as difficult as possible, just in order to keep myself interested.
When I was a kid, and turned in something artistic, all I heard was “Oh, your mother did that for you.” Later, in college, all I heard was “You’ve taken this course before, right?”
So there’s really no secret, and it’s definitely not “no-effort.”
From my 20s and into my 40s I could easily throw tight spirals with a regulation NFL football for 70 yards. I could zip it, with a low trajectory, and not a lob. On target.
