What are the minor things that you can do well, and what are those that trip you up?
My most significant weakness is that I can’t talk and think at the same time. This isn’t usually much of a problem in everday conversation (which usually requires fairly little brainpower to begin with), but in language classes (Thank Og I don’t have to take French anymore!), and in arguments, I have to stop and think before I speak (annoying), else inevitably suffer from a significant oral-pedal interface.
On the other hand, I have very little problem with procrastination. Unlike many people who constantly bemoan their inability to focus, I have no problem sitting down and working on a project until it’s done.
I cannot carry on or focus on a conversation if there is a TV or radio on in the room with me, with somebody talking. I can’t even hear what’s being said to me, to understand what’s being said. I can’t filter.
My weakness has to be spatial relations - how my engineer roommate grinned at me as we were moving our furniture. That and physical awareness. From time to time, I’ll forget where something is only to find I’m holding it, or that I’ve just shoved it in my pocket.
I’m good at mental arithmetic, which is especially good considering how numero-phobic most journalists are. I can figure out percentages and everything. :rolleyes: I do procrastinate, but I can be very efficient when I get around to doing things. That does lead into my good/bad habit… I’ll start working on something, get halfway through and move on to something else, then on to something else. When thing #1 is the most urgent, that can be bad.
I’m creative, have a great sense of ethics and morals, very honorable, and possess great discipline.
Unfortunately, my attention span is shot to hell. Being able to sit down with a book for three hours doesn’t amount to much if you end up rereading the same paragrpah over and over.
That has to be my best mental quality. I see stuff in 3-D space, rotated around to any angle, just see it. I’m fair to above average at mental arithmetic.
What trips me up is memory. Remembering names, movie titles, movie characters, what I had for lunch yesterday, how to spell even simple words.
I seem to be barely cognizant of time passing. I’m sort of ok during the course of a single day but days, weeks and months just evaporate on me. I don’t so much procrastinate as not notice how much time has passed between when I initially think about doing something and when I actually do it.
I don’t visualize things well. I don’t really notice my physical surroundings. I think it’s because I’ve been nearsighted since I was little; the brain decided not to pay much attention to the stuff ‘out there’ since it was fuzzy or walled over by glass.
Strength? I’m fairly good at analysis and at seeing the big picture - not at all detail-oriented. I’m useful if you want to know how to improve your processes or procedures or policies.
Are we related? No spelling problems, but I’m much more of a graphical than a verbal person. Two weeks ago I had a lot of training in two days and it was all PowerPoints, always with the same look and with someone talking - I would have learned a lot more if they’d been allowed to use different colors or something. By the third presentation my brain just kept saying “ugh, same slide again, bleagh.”
One of my worst problems is concentration. Not lack thereof, but when I’m writing or reading I’m focused on that and the rest of the world sort of fades away. If I’ve got a piece of paper in my hand and you want to talk to me, step one is: say my name. If you’re one of those people who say “oh yes we blahblah yaddayadda, ok, Nava?” my next line will be “uh? uhwha? I’m sorry, you were saying?”
Mom says “you concentrate so much, it kind of makes me afraid you’ll start concentrating and concentrating and get smaller and smaller… or maybe turn into a Maggi cube…”
Not sure if it’s a mental weakness exactly, but I have a most annoying habit of saying “Sorry?” or “Pardon?” reflexively, even if I have actually heard what the person talking to me has said. It just seems that the part of my brain that thinks “Eh? Ask them to repeat that!” works faster than the part that absorbs what has actually been said.
And I then get impatient while the person repeats whatever it was that I now understand perfectly anyway.
Oh and while in conversation I often tend to have a large part of my brain thinking about something else entirely, to the extent that I will lose my thread entirely in mid-sentence, or use entirely the wrong word.
Example from the weekend, while discussing with my sister which day I could meet her for lunch this week, while 90% of my brain was actually thinking about the Christmas shopping I was going to do later) –
Her: “So, Monday would be best for me cos I’m going to be working near your office”
Me: “Yep, Monday’s ideal actually, cos Mondays are always really cheap. … Cheap? Um. I meant quiet. Mondays are really quiet in the office.”
It’s irritating, because if I actually put my mind to it I am actually fairly eloquent, but my brain tends to want to keep ticking away at other things rather than concentrating on talking to people…
Weakness: Number dyslexic. If you read me a seven-digit phone number at even a normal speaking rate, I’ll reverse numbers. I need you to say “five … five … five …one … two …” I also can’t do subtraction of more than two-digit numbers in my head, and definitely can’t do long division in my head. Give me a paper and pencil and I’m fine – and I understand perfectly well how to do most math (well, geometry and algebra, anyway) – I scored 87th %ile on math on the GRE – but I can’t freaking do it in my head.
Numbers, math, etc come very easy to me. Letters, not so.
Spelling is a killer for me. In school I could, with much work, learn the weekly list long enough to pass the test. A week later it was mostly gone. I read very quickly, and I think that I rarely “see” all the letters in a word. I was well into my 30s before computerized spell checking became ubiquitous, and it has probably saved my career. Interestingly, I tend to spell much better when typing than when writing longhand…I have muscle memory for the common words that doesn’t work in longhand.
A “word search” puzzle is nearly impossible for me. I can see the words if they are right to left, or top to bottom, but the backward ones, and diagonals, forget it.
When looking up things listed in alphabetical order (like a phone book) I have to constantly recite the alphabet in order to determine if, for example, p comes before r. Sorting 25 words into alphabetical order would be about a two hour project for me…It was a common exercise for the spelling lists I mentioned above.
I’m very good at spacial things, reading blueprints, etc. I can drive a CAD system fine. What I absolutely CAN’T do is sketch anything beyond stick figures. In my mind, I see what I’m trying to draw in 3D, and I can’t translate that to a 2D view…yet I can look at the 2D views on a drawing, and translate that to 3D in my head with no problem.
Note, ran the spell checker on this post and had about 5 hits, which is better than average for me.
On the plus side, I’m a good speller. And I can remember numbers extraordinarily well. So well that I memorize hotel and airline confirm numbers and such like. I’ve never had a phone list or put contacts or whatever in my cell phone, I just remember the numbers.
This ability to remember numbers comes in really handy because I simply cannot remember names, or where I put things, or what I’m supposed to be doing at any given time. Honestly, I’m like Rainman or something. Typical scenario: I’m on a road trip, and I remember while driving that I’ve not made hotel reservations. So I call the hotel’s number from memory (I had written it down weeks before, back when I was supposed to make the reservation), give them my credit card number and expiration data and check digit (from memory, natch) get all squared away with the room, get and memorize the confirm number, keep driving.
Later I encounter traffic and call the hotel, give them the confirm number and tell them I’m going to be late. I also arranged to get some tickets for an event and am told they’ll be held at the concierge desk, and to ask for [concierge person’s name]. Of course,I immediately forget the name. I then hang up and call the restaurant where I have dinner reservations and change the time on the reservation to accommodate my late arrival.
Fast forward to the next morning, when I go down to ask for the person at the concierge desk I need to talk to. Of course, I cannot remember the woman’s name. I rack my brain, but still can’t remember the name. The very helpful person at the desk named off a few names but none sounded familiar. The very helpful person then goes and looks up some stuff and asks around. Figures out who has my tickets and tells me the name of that person.
It’s a pretty common woman’s name. Especially common in my family. In fact, It’s MY bleeping name. But for some reason my brain can whiz through 14-digit numbers like nobody’s business. But “Cathy”? Noooo. Can’t remember that. :smack:
I have the crappiest sense of direction of anyone. I have to drive the same way like 35 times before I can remember how to get there. If I get lost and have to navigate by logic, I will always turn the wrong way first and have to turn around. It’s uncanny. Second guessing myself somehow does not help.
The other side of this is that once I learn the way, I can always figure out the fastest, shortest, least trafficky/stop lighty way to get there.
I kick butt at Trivial Pursuit (my favorite game, no one will play it with me more than once ) but I’m directionally dyslexic. I have often lost track of where I have parked the car, and Ivylad will joke that he can spin me around twice inside a mall and I will never find my way out.
I have hard time translating my thoughts into spoken word. Writing is usually no problem, but when I’m speaking, I often sound like a complete idiot. My words are mispronounced and my sentences are rife with pauses and stammers. “Inarticulate” is my first name.
I have strong spatial skills, but I have poor perception of my body in space. For instance, it takes a long time for me to put on a jacket because I can’t “guess” where the dangling sleeve is. It took me a long time to learn how to braid my hair because I couldn’t see what my hands were doing. If someone asks me to simulate a dance move, I can’t do it unless it’s very very basic. I can’t walk in a straight line, and I will usually crash into you at least once if we’re walking side by side (especially if we’re talking at the same time). I have excellent fine motor skills (I can type fast, play the violin, paint and draw, etc.) but I have poor gross motor skills.
Strengths:
I have strong spatial reasoning, although there are some problems (like navigating) that I’m better at than others (like drawing a map).
I have a super attention span and can be engrossed in an activity with an autistic-like intensity.
I have a great memory, but only for weird things. A song will come on the radio and I’ll be able to tell you what grade I was in when it came out.
This seems to be my problem. I lose track of everything! I forget what day it is from time to time, and I always have problems with where I have parked my car. My friends joke about this because I will be seen walking around the parking lot at campus, looking very lost, and on my phone calling people I saw that morning when I drove to school. Not the best situation.
I also have problems with the passage of time. I know what time it is usually, and know where I’m supposed to be, but I have problems realizing what I’m doing when I’m doing it and how long it will take. Especially when it involves cooking. I try to cook dinner so it is ready when Mrs. Small gets off work at midnight. I will end up with cassarole done at 10:45 and the side dishes done at 11:40, even though I planned them both to be done at midnight.
My positives are that I can do various math (up to basic calc but excluding some geometry) in my head with no problems. I also have a decent vocabulary and am rather good at spelling and other schoolwork. I have a great amount of musical talent, and learning new instruments has never felt like work, it just comes natural (I’m trying piano next). I also have a very strong attention span, which is great!
) but I’m directionally dyslexic. I have often lost track of where I have parked the car, and Ivylad will joke that he can spin me around twice inside a mall and I will never find my way out.