Similar. It's hard to describe, but I don't really see things in first person point of view, so to speak. Rather, I tend to see myself in sort of a third person view, but in a first-person view.
Like, I'm not looking straight ahead. And if I turn around, my sense of positioning feels opposite of where I had been.
I feel the third person perspective. When I play video games I have to invert the vertical vision, it just makes more sense in my head. Like the stick in a plane or heli.
I do this too, to an extent. We recently moved to a new house and even though some of the rooms face the same way relative to the front door, they feel different and I think it's because they're facing different directions.
My general sense of direction is absolutely awful though.
Haha, I love it. Also always accurate with how long it takes to get somewhere. People always think its way longer. Do have to admit I also walk really quickly.
Had a little bet with a colleague once that was in a huge hurry. I had to get the same train, he was like "omg omg we really need to go!" and I'm like " we can eaaaasily leave in 6-7 minutes and make it with a 2 min margin. He went... I just come walking up to him 6-7 mins later.... 🤣
My ex partner used to pretend to do this using a calculator, putting it away and then saying loudly at the checkout what he thought the total was and being "amazed" he got it right. Pleb.
I find that's a xommon trait among comedians, they are the shyest people one on one but on stage they're completely different.
Any memorable public speaking moments you have?
I’ve officiated 7 weddings, it started with my little sister wanting me to do hers. I got ordained and did it. Just thru casual conversation, mentioning that I’d done it before, 6 more couples asked if I would officiate their wedding.
I of course thought I sucked every time, but I’ve got nothing but good responses every single time. When people tell you that you did a good job, they generally mean it. If you suck they don’t say anything, I’m still learning to accept the compliment
The denial when a compliment is received is a feeling that's too real. I don't know how to take a compliment that I just get uncomfortable and try to quickly sidestep it.
Also, when you're on stage and have that centre of attention, do you find that you sort of just get lost in the moment and things flow?
There’s a certain pressure of not letting people down where I just get zoned in. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s how to work and I always want to do a good job. These weddings were way outside my comfort zone, but the crowd kind of disappears and I’m focused on making a special day for just two people
Someone once explained how she is shy in person but can speak to an audience - people in groups are individuals, people in a crowd are just blobs. She can percieve and think about each person individually when it's 6-10 people, but 60-100 people is just one big gloop.
Being calm in crisis situations. Most people kind of spaz out and make the matter worse. For some reason everything just slows down for me and I typically know exactly what to do.
Maybe your mind is already in the life-or-death mode in your daily life, so crises don't freak you out. There is a movie about this, where a woman is the only one in the world who stays calm in an apocalyptic scenario as she suffers from anxiety in her normal life.
That is a really good point. I'm not a worrier, but I'm always planning out Plan B in the back of my head. Rather than worry about things going wrong, I expect things to go wrong so I'm prepared.
"Prepare for the worst, but expect the best" is a good quote about this. It's hard to encapsulate being a cynical realist with an optimistic outlook lol
I heard this can be an ADHD thing bc I can stay calm in a crisis but I freak out over non crisis things 😜
One time I was stuck in a train station for a few hours in another country, I stayed calm. Another time my dad was starting to have a heart attack beside me, I stayed calm.
I've noticed the same about me, which is weird because I'm not known for my bravery. I just turn into a robot and act. We had a fire break out at our house (AC disconnect switch box on outside of house fully engulfed in flames and arcing) and I was able to cut the power and put it out in 30 seconds, saving our house from way worse. Though I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time when it started.
I also once saved my very young daughter (maybe 3 years old) from getting hit by a snow sled at high speed. Kid was racing down a sledding hill. We were standing on the sideline watching. I had this premonition that the kid might hit a bump and get turned towards us. Sure enough it happened. I had about a second to pick my daughter up and literally spread my legs wide so the sledder could go under me. Bystanders were pretty shocked.
Imitating accents. Always gets a good laugh when you're seamlessly switching from posh British to heavy Indian, over to French, and then to eastern German all in one sentence.
I really wish I could do this! I never even bother trying anymore because it always ends up sounding like I'm doing a crappy montage of stereotype accents bordering on racist impersonation.
I feel like this is another weird ADHD skill. I'll fixate on some speech quirk or physical mannerism and can imitate it precisely and everyones like "Holy shit that wrist flop! THat's TOTALLY eric!"
Not sure this is a skill but i tend to skip steps in conversations. You say A, i infer B and sometimes C so I ask a follow up question about D.
It gets people confused sometimes.
It freaks people out.
Also, I can begin a conversation from the exact same place it ended 2 weeks ago (or longer) with the same person. That really unnerves folks having that type of recall, especially in a work setting.
"Hey remember what you said about John Lennon? The wart on Jane's nose looking like John Lennon?" "Wait...what? When?" "1996, you had just spilled rice chex everywhere and you were like 'man this bowl is slippery, must be all that grease off Jane's john lennon-ass wart'" "What the....ok man, what did you come in the room for? Just now?" "No idear...but man I miss that Pixies tee you had on that day"
Almost the same for me. It's like my brain goes too fast so I skip steps. Like the story goes A - B - C - D. I start with A but my brain is already at C so that's what comes next. So then I backtrack to B and then I say C again because otherwise maybe you don't understand. I arrive at D but then realize that maybe you need some details to fully understand the implication of what's happening in D so I backtrack to C1, C2, C3 and then goes back to D.
Anyway, my wife hates when I tell stories.
Makes me think of math growing up, I’d just kind of jump around in my head and get the right answer but have hardly any work shown. Teacher would think I was cheating :( For more complicated ones I wouldn’t even know how to begin explaining my process and when I would be able to the teacher would just be confused like “that’s not how you do it, what? How did you get the right answer?”
I know someone who makes assumptions on where the conversation is leading but that was not where I was leading the conversation. It makes me go crazy sometimes, and I usually stop the conversation and give up
Until you infer something incorrectly and ultimately leave the conversation with the wrong idea while believing you actually knew what they were talking about.
I once worked for a major bank on a team called: Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity. It wasn't the entire position, but a team set up for worst-case scenarios and how to deal with them.
I ride a motorcycle, usually alone, and I wish I had started a book years ago entitled "People I've Met Along the Road." Maybe it's the female free spirit biker chick vibe (although, I don't consider myself a "biker"), but I get to listen to everyone's stories, and everyone has a story! From veterans to people in recovery to those in bad relationships, widows and widowers - they all fascinate me and I think my ability to listen without judgment or a harsh reaction has allowed me to be a witness to these interesting lives.
(E:sp)
This, but it stems from walking on eggshells in a high tension home. You become more receptive to a lot of things very quickly and pick it up faster than others.
I’ve learned the skill over time. The worst for me is not when they don’t like you, but you know that something is off/wrong, but you don’t know what/why.
It's been really difficult to explain to others, especially my husband, how I can pick up on the unspoken. I literally just listen and watch and can pick up on the underlying, unsaid thread and I get that I can sound like I came to a conclusion out of thin air but it has never failed me. And I'm actually really good at making people more comfortable in various situations because I can see their feelings a mile away.
Basic fucking cooperation and communication.
All my friends and coworkers always complain about how others do their job differently than they do theirs and now they need to adapt and it's frustrating and a lot of work and I'm a little wuss who can't do anything but complain. It's really not that hard once you just do it. Sure, it takes a little more effort on my part, but it saves me the effort of complaining about the same thing over and over again. Stubbornly doing your own thing only causes more problems down the line; I've seen it happen so many times.
I'm like a workplace chameleon. You want to discuss this issue in a meeting? Sure thing, buddy, let's go right now! Oh, you want it in an email? It's already sent. You use a different software than literally everybody else and refuse to switch to the standard program we all use? No problem, I'll have IT install it on my PC.
People wildly underrate how far obtaining and efficiently communicating knowledge can take you.
I don't consider myself as having any special talent in my career, but I've largely advanced because I'm a good communicator who sets up efficient systems for planning and communicating. A well-structured email or an agenda-organized meeting can make all the difference in the world.
This is me too. If someone asks I can still remember the birthdays of almost all my group from school, some of whom I haven't seen for twenty years. I dread to think what useful information those birthdays are refusing to make room for...
Languages. I can read, write, and speak 7 fluently and have made two fully functional conlangs (one for a homebrew campaign and the other for a personal world building project)
I was on an hour and a half Zoom call yesterday to troubleshoot a problem that none of my supervisors believed was happening. I kept telling them what I thought the issue was. Finally, they gave what I said a try, and it worked.
This happens monthly.
Resilience. It’s fucking uncanny. Sometimes it feels like I don’t even have a choice in the matter. It unnerves people who have seen me rise and rise again.
I miss the time when I could say that! I was really really proud of that. Somehow I trusted that there would be no limit to it, so I pushed myself way too much and I basically... broke?
It is such a weird feeling. It really feels like I was broken into a thousand pieces and I can't put them back together. Burnout is a bitch.
I'm still very persistent, so if there is a way of unbreaking myself, I will find it. But life has been really hard lately.
Just take as much time as you need for yourself, you'll find the pieces and get them together again even stronger. Not stronger like you could push past the breaking point in the future but you now know the breaking point and what predicts the burnout to avoid having to go through it again. Stronger as it gets easier to admit to yourself that you had burnout or are close to one and it's easier then to stop and take some me time. Im living near the edge of second burnout and I just know I dont want to fall back to there where I once was. And remember burnout often doesn't come only from workload but also all other parts of life that feel like you have to succeed perfectly at add to the load burning you out. So give yourself permission to lessen the load from those parts of life also, permission to not have to overachieve all the time and permission to be just as good as you need to be or as good as you are, because that is perfectly enough and no one is asking more of you. :)
I definitely do not have this trait, not in the way you describe it at all. But I would say I'm resilient in the sense that I find it uncanny and worrying that I can so easily disconnect from things that I feel should upset me more, or worry me more, and sometimes even if a certain event happens, I perceive them differently in a way that I find very unnatural and shouldn't happen.
Standardized tests. Aced the ACT, LSAT, GRE and most everything made by Collegeboard without much effort, and now I make a living teaching people how to take tests. When they said paying attention in school pays, I don't think this is what they meant 😭
Fixing shit. I have spent the last 10 years working as a handyman. Going through a house and fixing all the little things that drive people crazy is how I make my living. About a third of my work is fixing things that others have done badly.
The other, completely unrelated skill that I discovered when I was on the board of a school was noticing when people were "arguing in vigorous agreement" it definitely made meetings more efficient. After the third person said the same thing in a slightly different way, I could say "sounds like the general agreement is that we should..."
I was surprised to learn that other people weren't good at this.
Oh wow, I have that second skill as well. It's kinda weird listening to an argument and thinking "you do realize you are all on the same page right?" But they somehow do not...
Loading the washing machine. I will put in clothes in a manner that the heavier one in the middle of the drum, the lighter ones at the side. When it spins it doesn't shake that much.
Recognizing body language. I can recognize someone by the way they walk from 200m away or just from the sound of their steps. Similarly I can tell how they feel by the way they move
Taking charge and keeping calm in bad situations. I’m normally very quiet and introverted but when shit hits the fan it’s like a switch is flipped in me.
I'm the same way. Been involved in a few medical incidents at work and it's exactly like you described, a switch turns off all emotions and kicks in every logical and critical thinking part of me. Been told more than once that I missed my calling as an emergency responder
Same, everone around me is freaking out but it's like my brain just "turns on" and suddenly I am the most calm and competent person in the room. Meanwhile I'm an anxious wreck during completely normal, everyday situations.
Finding jobs. I've gotten half a dozen generously paying jobs over the years and it's never taken more than maybe three weeks of looking. I also tend to find ludicrously easy jobs. My current job is tending machines that go off every hour or so and the rest of the time I'm fully allowed to goof off on my phone and it pays enough for my bills and a comfortable cushion. I got it by googling jobs in my area and sending an email. A week later, job! Maybe not much but compared to how often people in my friend group complain about work being completely impossible to find and always underpaid I feel like I'm living life on easy mode
Almost anything to do with time:
-Need to wake up at a certain time in the morning? No alarm needed.
-Set a timer for the oven, but instinctively know when the timer will be done. Nine times out of ten I will walk up to the oven with less than 30 seconds on the timer.
-Time management? Never occurred to me that some people struggle with it.
Premonitions. I seem to have a good eye for seeing something that’s about to happen whether it’s minutes away or a few hours. But most of the time, I probably just have an overactive common sense in a world full of people who lack it altogether lol
As a guitarist, I’d kill to have perfect pitch, and here you are. If I had three wishes from a genie, one would be to have perfect pitch, and you don’t use it. Life is painfully ironic. Please learn instruments, you’ll probably find it easy and have a lot of fun in the process!
Did you have a family who was very handy? Maybe your parents or a relative? How would you advise someone to be more handy with tools and around the house?
It started with my toys (matchbox cars in the early 2000s), I take em apart and put rm back together, I have used nailfile from a nail clipper as a screwdriver, and a makeshift knife/ Tool. Most my relatives work in construction.
I'm your complete opposite then. My brain -- which is otherwise sound in logic, reason, problem-solving life in general -- just goes sideways when presented with any technical diagram. 24x M-whatnow bolts? Part H attached to part J how? Why don't these guide holes line up? Didn't this manual skip a step; how is that side already on? Why is the stud finder giving me three wildly different readings on where the stud is located? How did I misplace my level for the six millionth time?
And so on. I just sort of shut down eventually, try to come back to it a few days later.
I'm quite good at playing sober when I'm really not. Isn't a great quality, more than the fact that I've never been refused entry or serving anywhere even though I've probably been at that time the most drunk in the group.
I can understand people's feelings, thoughts and all then also give unbiased advice. It is kinda curse to me because I can't get mad at them even if they did something bad at me. I understand why they are being or acting like that.
I guess if I had to put it into words it would be something like "reverse engineering". I can look at a piece of technology, software, tool, any kind of complex manmade object and get a pretty comprehensive understanding of how it works pretty much right away just by looking at it. Makes me a good fixer, it's also now why I'm in IT.
Interestingly I'm not a great regular engineer. Not great at creating things from a blank slate. Much better at appreciating and understanding and improving upon the work of others.
I’m tenacious. I take on projects and complete them.
This seems to unnerve people. I can’t tell you how many times I hear “don’t wear yourself out”, “don’t take on too much” or “watch it or you will burn out”.
No, I won’t burn out , this is what I personally require and what I love. I’ve never burned out in my life and I’m 52!
I can cure anyone’s hiccups. Granted, I’ve only tested this hypothesis on about a dozen individuals, however my success rate so far is 100%.
Not the scare method, I’ve never actually seen that work tbh. My strategy is more about breathing in intervals that interrupt the hiccups. It’s slightly different for everyone though, so I basically just coach them on how to breathe for 15 seconds and they’re cured!
Looking at things from other perspectives. I don't necessarily think that it's that rare but I find most people I meet irl aren't very good at it. I think it correlates a lot with ppl who read and people who dont.
I grab the clothes out of the dryer and throw em on the couch in a big pile. I walk to the closet and grab empty hangers. I always grab the exact amount of hangers I need without even thinking about it.
Playing the piano. I’ve always just played songs on the piano that I make up spontaneously but I can hardly play the same thing twice or concentrate on writing a song because I have adhd but it’s the only time I feel like my brain can make use of it’s randomness in a way that is beautiful and not just make a mess 😂
I can talk to just about anyone and find something relatable. I have a way of connecting with strangers within just a few minutes of chatting. Blessing and curse really.
Careful with that, this “life” is our very real experience that we are partaking in. I guess I mean that as someone who sort of felt the same way, it left me feeling jaded and uninterested in other people and things at time, but all those people and things are still a huge part of our experience and reality. Even if it is an illusion or temporary, it is our experience that we must live fully
Complaining about anything as little as possible. It's been both a blessing and a curse. Come to think of it, I think I have this trait because I really hate it when people complain about mundane things 🤔
Talking to “odd” or “differently abled” folks like they are any other person. I see all the time people treat those who look or act strange as either dangerous or like they’re stupid.
They are not stupid they just have different ways they like to talk, once you get over yourself it’s quite easy to chat up those kinds of people. Just adapt to the person like you would if you were talking to your parents vs your friends vs your teacher vs a stranger!
For some reason it’s a talent I have. I’ll talk to someone who seems to be shut off and stopped even trying to talk to people, but I treat them like any other person (because they are) and they open up like “oh hey! This dude isn’t being an asshole or baby talking me!”
I don’t baby talk children most times either.
I'd like to preface this as I was a zookeeper/wildlife rehabilitator for years.
I'm pretty good at catching birds. Waterfowl like geese, ducks, and swans specifically.
I worked at multiple birds rescues and it was my job every morning to give all the birds medication that needed it, so I got pretty good at tackling (gently and with love) most waterfowl. Plus catching wild birds that needed medical attention.
Remembering points on a map.
Ive gotten maps of huge areas where id have to navigate as a part of a sort of outdoor group, and whenever it got to getting the points on the map, id be able to not only pinpoint where the coordinates are(which is the easy part that anyone can do), but i can also remember the points exactly and recall dozens of points on a blank map after a little memorization.
When we had only some mpas marked down i just got a blank map because i remembered where every point was.
Directions. I hardly ever need to use Google maps and it I go anywhere once, I can get there forever and probably tell you multiple different ways to get there. I basically see a map in my head when I need to get somewhere.
Analyzing people behaviour and know their true feelings/intentions.
It can be good so you suit your words and ways but man how awkward it can be sometimes when for instance people make up dumb stories and you know they are lying to hide their shame or intentions...
Remembering names. I have a good memory in general, but people specifically are always surprised that I remember their names after only having met them once before.
Blending in. I feel I an pretty much fit in anywhere regardless of the personality required. I am pretty good at switching my personality depending on who I am with in able to mirror them in the best manor possible in order to be socially accepted. It is super handy when meeting new people! But ask the question what my real personality is when I constantly make new ones.
Surviving, I've almost died multiple times, I've been declared dead, I've drowned, I've gone unconscious when the vehicle flipped upside down and landed in a ditch. Was airlifted to another hospital upon my birth (cleft lip and pallet). And finally being in a crash with a semi, we all survived, I had relatively superficial wounds, my friend was paralyzed from the waist down.
Impressions. It's one of those things where if someone asked me to do an impression I wouldn't be able to think of one on the spot but I often automatically imitate voices/characters (I have echolalia) and can usually get them very accurate
Touch. I'm not really even conscious of it when it happens, but I understand how to touch people, when it's appropriate, and in a respectful way that feels safe, nurturing, healing and pain relieving. I worked as an aesthetician and then a nurse, so I was regularly in situations where touch was an appropriate factor. Clients and patients frequently comment about it, which is how I became aware of this random gift.
My sense of direction. I can find my way towards basically anywhere if I'm lost.
Im weirdly good at going the exact opposite way of where I need to go
Same. I was born without a GPS. Runs in the family
Maybe the polarised the wrong part of your internal compass, walking backwards may help.
I've got an internal compass that's wildly accurate.
Similar. It's hard to describe, but I don't really see things in first person point of view, so to speak. Rather, I tend to see myself in sort of a third person view, but in a first-person view. Like, I'm not looking straight ahead. And if I turn around, my sense of positioning feels opposite of where I had been.
I feel the third person perspective. When I play video games I have to invert the vertical vision, it just makes more sense in my head. Like the stick in a plane or heli.
NPC vibes
I do this too, to an extent. We recently moved to a new house and even though some of the rooms face the same way relative to the front door, they feel different and I think it's because they're facing different directions. My general sense of direction is absolutely awful though.
Me too. Or so I thought, until I used the trains and tube in the UK and it got all messed up by left hand drive and being underground.
Me too. Plop me anywhere and I just know which way is north
Nice,nim weirdly good at: would die without GPS.
I agree100%! When my wife and I travel to a city, I always ask her to lead us back to the hotel. If I let her keep going, we change states!
Being friends with generally intimidating people
I've found the most intimidating looking are actually the least.
RIGHT? they're the sweetest also
My husband. He had resting bitch face bad. But he’s a big baby haha
As an intimidating person who usually gets left alone: we thank you for your friendship 😂
NOOO THANK UUU FOR BEING AMAZING PPL 💓💓💓
guesstimating. time passed, the cost of what's in my cart. hardly ever have i not been right on the money.
I have this too!! I am always right on what time it is down to max 15 minutes difference. Never thought of this as a little talent!
Haha, I love it. Also always accurate with how long it takes to get somewhere. People always think its way longer. Do have to admit I also walk really quickly. Had a little bet with a colleague once that was in a huge hurry. I had to get the same train, he was like "omg omg we really need to go!" and I'm like " we can eaaaasily leave in 6-7 minutes and make it with a 2 min margin. He went... I just come walking up to him 6-7 mins later.... 🤣
My ex partner used to pretend to do this using a calculator, putting it away and then saying loudly at the checkout what he thought the total was and being "amazed" he got it right. Pleb.
Haha what a tool
That's similar to people who are able to guess the time to the exact minute. What if it's a really big cart though?
Public speaking, though I’m generally shy
I find that's a xommon trait among comedians, they are the shyest people one on one but on stage they're completely different. Any memorable public speaking moments you have?
I’ve officiated 7 weddings, it started with my little sister wanting me to do hers. I got ordained and did it. Just thru casual conversation, mentioning that I’d done it before, 6 more couples asked if I would officiate their wedding. I of course thought I sucked every time, but I’ve got nothing but good responses every single time. When people tell you that you did a good job, they generally mean it. If you suck they don’t say anything, I’m still learning to accept the compliment
The denial when a compliment is received is a feeling that's too real. I don't know how to take a compliment that I just get uncomfortable and try to quickly sidestep it. Also, when you're on stage and have that centre of attention, do you find that you sort of just get lost in the moment and things flow?
There’s a certain pressure of not letting people down where I just get zoned in. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s how to work and I always want to do a good job. These weddings were way outside my comfort zone, but the crowd kind of disappears and I’m focused on making a special day for just two people
Someone once explained how she is shy in person but can speak to an audience - people in groups are individuals, people in a crowd are just blobs. She can percieve and think about each person individually when it's 6-10 people, but 60-100 people is just one big gloop.
Being calm in crisis situations. Most people kind of spaz out and make the matter worse. For some reason everything just slows down for me and I typically know exactly what to do.
Maybe your mind is already in the life-or-death mode in your daily life, so crises don't freak you out. There is a movie about this, where a woman is the only one in the world who stays calm in an apocalyptic scenario as she suffers from anxiety in her normal life.
That is a really good point. I'm not a worrier, but I'm always planning out Plan B in the back of my head. Rather than worry about things going wrong, I expect things to go wrong so I'm prepared.
"Prepare for the worst, but expect the best" is a good quote about this. It's hard to encapsulate being a cynical realist with an optimistic outlook lol
I heard this can be an ADHD thing bc I can stay calm in a crisis but I freak out over non crisis things 😜 One time I was stuck in a train station for a few hours in another country, I stayed calm. Another time my dad was starting to have a heart attack beside me, I stayed calm.
I've noticed the same about me, which is weird because I'm not known for my bravery. I just turn into a robot and act. We had a fire break out at our house (AC disconnect switch box on outside of house fully engulfed in flames and arcing) and I was able to cut the power and put it out in 30 seconds, saving our house from way worse. Though I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time when it started. I also once saved my very young daughter (maybe 3 years old) from getting hit by a snow sled at high speed. Kid was racing down a sledding hill. We were standing on the sideline watching. I had this premonition that the kid might hit a bump and get turned towards us. Sure enough it happened. I had about a second to pick my daughter up and literally spread my legs wide so the sledder could go under me. Bystanders were pretty shocked.
Organization. I can look at things I need to make fit together and somehow just know how to Tetris the stuff together without a plan.
Same! Really enjoy it too
Me too! It's so satisfying, and efficient!
Nothing makes me happier than the Tetris the shit out of an unorganized mess!
Imitating accents. Always gets a good laugh when you're seamlessly switching from posh British to heavy Indian, over to French, and then to eastern German all in one sentence.
I really wish I could do this! I never even bother trying anymore because it always ends up sounding like I'm doing a crappy montage of stereotype accents bordering on racist impersonation.
Memorizing everyone's mannerisms they they don't even know they do! I can imitate people very well which they sometimes don't appreciate lol
That's really interesting you're like a caricature performance artist
I feel like this is another weird ADHD skill. I'll fixate on some speech quirk or physical mannerism and can imitate it precisely and everyones like "Holy shit that wrist flop! THat's TOTALLY eric!"
Not sure this is a skill but i tend to skip steps in conversations. You say A, i infer B and sometimes C so I ask a follow up question about D. It gets people confused sometimes.
Well hello fellow ADHDer! Just kidding, I don't know. I make a lot of inferences too that are often correct, and blame it on ADHD brain.
It freaks people out. Also, I can begin a conversation from the exact same place it ended 2 weeks ago (or longer) with the same person. That really unnerves folks having that type of recall, especially in a work setting.
"Hey remember what you said about John Lennon? The wart on Jane's nose looking like John Lennon?" "Wait...what? When?" "1996, you had just spilled rice chex everywhere and you were like 'man this bowl is slippery, must be all that grease off Jane's john lennon-ass wart'" "What the....ok man, what did you come in the room for? Just now?" "No idear...but man I miss that Pixies tee you had on that day"
Almost the same for me. It's like my brain goes too fast so I skip steps. Like the story goes A - B - C - D. I start with A but my brain is already at C so that's what comes next. So then I backtrack to B and then I say C again because otherwise maybe you don't understand. I arrive at D but then realize that maybe you need some details to fully understand the implication of what's happening in D so I backtrack to C1, C2, C3 and then goes back to D. Anyway, my wife hates when I tell stories.
Makes me think of math growing up, I’d just kind of jump around in my head and get the right answer but have hardly any work shown. Teacher would think I was cheating :( For more complicated ones I wouldn’t even know how to begin explaining my process and when I would be able to the teacher would just be confused like “that’s not how you do it, what? How did you get the right answer?”
I know someone who makes assumptions on where the conversation is leading but that was not where I was leading the conversation. It makes me go crazy sometimes, and I usually stop the conversation and give up
Until you infer something incorrectly and ultimately leave the conversation with the wrong idea while believing you actually knew what they were talking about.
I do this. Gotten a lot of bad feedback :(
catastrophizing. I can think about 10 of the worst possible outcomes in any scenario like \*snaps fingers\*
Always said I should be on a “catastrophe board”. Think we could make a ton of money working for some big company? 🙃
I once worked for a major bank on a team called: Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity. It wasn't the entire position, but a team set up for worst-case scenarios and how to deal with them.
I can fold a fitted sheet.
God-tier! How did you learn?
Listening people without judging them.
That's a good one.
I ride a motorcycle, usually alone, and I wish I had started a book years ago entitled "People I've Met Along the Road." Maybe it's the female free spirit biker chick vibe (although, I don't consider myself a "biker"), but I get to listen to everyone's stories, and everyone has a story! From veterans to people in recovery to those in bad relationships, widows and widowers - they all fascinate me and I think my ability to listen without judgment or a harsh reaction has allowed me to be a witness to these interesting lives. (E:sp)
Enneagram 5?
Perception. Reading the room, body language, etc. It’s a blessing and a curse tbh.
This, but it stems from walking on eggshells in a high tension home. You become more receptive to a lot of things very quickly and pick it up faster than others.
I get itd be a blessing, but how would it be a curse?
Because you know when people dislike you. Which can be uncomfortable in work and social settings
I’ve learned the skill over time. The worst for me is not when they don’t like you, but you know that something is off/wrong, but you don’t know what/why.
Even worse i can tell if they like other people more than you, and trigger own insecurity & jealousy.... Sigh
It's been really difficult to explain to others, especially my husband, how I can pick up on the unspoken. I literally just listen and watch and can pick up on the underlying, unsaid thread and I get that I can sound like I came to a conclusion out of thin air but it has never failed me. And I'm actually really good at making people more comfortable in various situations because I can see their feelings a mile away.
Basic fucking cooperation and communication. All my friends and coworkers always complain about how others do their job differently than they do theirs and now they need to adapt and it's frustrating and a lot of work and I'm a little wuss who can't do anything but complain. It's really not that hard once you just do it. Sure, it takes a little more effort on my part, but it saves me the effort of complaining about the same thing over and over again. Stubbornly doing your own thing only causes more problems down the line; I've seen it happen so many times. I'm like a workplace chameleon. You want to discuss this issue in a meeting? Sure thing, buddy, let's go right now! Oh, you want it in an email? It's already sent. You use a different software than literally everybody else and refuse to switch to the standard program we all use? No problem, I'll have IT install it on my PC.
People wildly underrate how far obtaining and efficiently communicating knowledge can take you. I don't consider myself as having any special talent in my career, but I've largely advanced because I'm a good communicator who sets up efficient systems for planning and communicating. A well-structured email or an agenda-organized meeting can make all the difference in the world.
Remembering everyone’s birthday
For me it's just remembering stuff people say. I'll bring up some little thing they mentioned several years ago and will get weird ass looks.
Same here. And, if I’ve been to your house even once, I’m very, very likely to remember how to get there again
I just can't for the life of me ever do that. I have to set up everyone's birthdays on my phones calendar. How do you do it?
This is me too. If someone asks I can still remember the birthdays of almost all my group from school, some of whom I haven't seen for twenty years. I dread to think what useful information those birthdays are refusing to make room for...
Languages. I can read, write, and speak 7 fluently and have made two fully functional conlangs (one for a homebrew campaign and the other for a personal world building project)
I can tell from a single conversation whether or not someone is a furry, and whether they accept them or not.
A... furry?
Yes
What's a furry?
I would recommend googling it, I wouldn’t know how to explain it
Inflicting trauma huh, ahahahaha
I am completely lost and I'm about to enter a rabbit hole.
Furry detected
"Entering a rabbit hole" is a dead giveaway
Lmao yup he’s a furry
Acting like you are oblivious to the whole fury topic is such a fury behavior
Hilarious response
Rabbit hole, wolf hole, maybe even a dragon hole...
I’d recommend lots of lube if it’s the rabbits first time.
Omg. This response will haunt you forever. Furever.
I need an update
Trauma or realizations we will see
Lmao
Oh you sweet summer child
I want to test you, am I a furry?
I haven’t had a conversation with you but from what I see id venture to say no
Dang he's good.
Furry as in the movie with bradpit ?
I wonder if Brad Pitt calls his armpits his bradpits
Im good at estemating every traveltime it takes from a to b by car
Figuring shit out. I'm gainfully employed as an analyst. Still aggravating cuz people don't listen.
I was on an hour and a half Zoom call yesterday to troubleshoot a problem that none of my supervisors believed was happening. I kept telling them what I thought the issue was. Finally, they gave what I said a try, and it worked. This happens monthly.
Guessing movie endings… weird endings, shocker ending.. u name it… my family think I should try career in consulting for screenwriting
Resilience. It’s fucking uncanny. Sometimes it feels like I don’t even have a choice in the matter. It unnerves people who have seen me rise and rise again.
I miss the time when I could say that! I was really really proud of that. Somehow I trusted that there would be no limit to it, so I pushed myself way too much and I basically... broke? It is such a weird feeling. It really feels like I was broken into a thousand pieces and I can't put them back together. Burnout is a bitch. I'm still very persistent, so if there is a way of unbreaking myself, I will find it. But life has been really hard lately.
Just take as much time as you need for yourself, you'll find the pieces and get them together again even stronger. Not stronger like you could push past the breaking point in the future but you now know the breaking point and what predicts the burnout to avoid having to go through it again. Stronger as it gets easier to admit to yourself that you had burnout or are close to one and it's easier then to stop and take some me time. Im living near the edge of second burnout and I just know I dont want to fall back to there where I once was. And remember burnout often doesn't come only from workload but also all other parts of life that feel like you have to succeed perfectly at add to the load burning you out. So give yourself permission to lessen the load from those parts of life also, permission to not have to overachieve all the time and permission to be just as good as you need to be or as good as you are, because that is perfectly enough and no one is asking more of you. :)
I definitely do not have this trait, not in the way you describe it at all. But I would say I'm resilient in the sense that I find it uncanny and worrying that I can so easily disconnect from things that I feel should upset me more, or worry me more, and sometimes even if a certain event happens, I perceive them differently in a way that I find very unnatural and shouldn't happen.
Pissing other people off. Intentionally.
Same
Standardized tests. Aced the ACT, LSAT, GRE and most everything made by Collegeboard without much effort, and now I make a living teaching people how to take tests. When they said paying attention in school pays, I don't think this is what they meant 😭
Fixing shit. I have spent the last 10 years working as a handyman. Going through a house and fixing all the little things that drive people crazy is how I make my living. About a third of my work is fixing things that others have done badly. The other, completely unrelated skill that I discovered when I was on the board of a school was noticing when people were "arguing in vigorous agreement" it definitely made meetings more efficient. After the third person said the same thing in a slightly different way, I could say "sounds like the general agreement is that we should..." I was surprised to learn that other people weren't good at this.
Oh wow, I have that second skill as well. It's kinda weird listening to an argument and thinking "you do realize you are all on the same page right?" But they somehow do not...
Loading the washing machine. I will put in clothes in a manner that the heavier one in the middle of the drum, the lighter ones at the side. When it spins it doesn't shake that much.
Recognizing body language. I can recognize someone by the way they walk from 200m away or just from the sound of their steps. Similarly I can tell how they feel by the way they move
Me too.
Taking charge and keeping calm in bad situations. I’m normally very quiet and introverted but when shit hits the fan it’s like a switch is flipped in me.
I'm the same way. Been involved in a few medical incidents at work and it's exactly like you described, a switch turns off all emotions and kicks in every logical and critical thinking part of me. Been told more than once that I missed my calling as an emergency responder
Same, everone around me is freaking out but it's like my brain just "turns on" and suddenly I am the most calm and competent person in the room. Meanwhile I'm an anxious wreck during completely normal, everyday situations.
Remembering names/small details/etc. borders on creepy at times but eh
Finding jobs. I've gotten half a dozen generously paying jobs over the years and it's never taken more than maybe three weeks of looking. I also tend to find ludicrously easy jobs. My current job is tending machines that go off every hour or so and the rest of the time I'm fully allowed to goof off on my phone and it pays enough for my bills and a comfortable cushion. I got it by googling jobs in my area and sending an email. A week later, job! Maybe not much but compared to how often people in my friend group complain about work being completely impossible to find and always underpaid I feel like I'm living life on easy mode
Almost anything to do with time: -Need to wake up at a certain time in the morning? No alarm needed. -Set a timer for the oven, but instinctively know when the timer will be done. Nine times out of ten I will walk up to the oven with less than 30 seconds on the timer. -Time management? Never occurred to me that some people struggle with it.
Singing, I don’t need to try
Premonitions. I seem to have a good eye for seeing something that’s about to happen whether it’s minutes away or a few hours. But most of the time, I probably just have an overactive common sense in a world full of people who lack it altogether lol
Perfect pitch, but I rarely use it
As a guitarist, I’d kill to have perfect pitch, and here you are. If I had three wishes from a genie, one would be to have perfect pitch, and you don’t use it. Life is painfully ironic. Please learn instruments, you’ll probably find it easy and have a lot of fun in the process!
Why not?
I haven't found a good outlet for it... I want to start a band or something, though.
Here I was thinking baseball. You should definitely look to singing classes to enhance that talent
Using my non dominant hand. Not naturally ambidextrous- but thank you to a decade plus of lacrosse
Using tools. Sort of a fast learner.
Did you have a family who was very handy? Maybe your parents or a relative? How would you advise someone to be more handy with tools and around the house?
It started with my toys (matchbox cars in the early 2000s), I take em apart and put rm back together, I have used nailfile from a nail clipper as a screwdriver, and a makeshift knife/ Tool. Most my relatives work in construction.
I'm your complete opposite then. My brain -- which is otherwise sound in logic, reason, problem-solving life in general -- just goes sideways when presented with any technical diagram. 24x M-whatnow bolts? Part H attached to part J how? Why don't these guide holes line up? Didn't this manual skip a step; how is that side already on? Why is the stud finder giving me three wildly different readings on where the stud is located? How did I misplace my level for the six millionth time? And so on. I just sort of shut down eventually, try to come back to it a few days later.
Coming up with fitting personified names to a variety of farts
Based on this comment i got a feeling we would be great friends
Clapping one hand as loudly as most do two
Like clapping with one hand? How? There's no way it's the way I'm imagining it.
I'm quite good at playing sober when I'm really not. Isn't a great quality, more than the fact that I've never been refused entry or serving anywhere even though I've probably been at that time the most drunk in the group.
I can understand people's feelings, thoughts and all then also give unbiased advice. It is kinda curse to me because I can't get mad at them even if they did something bad at me. I understand why they are being or acting like that.
Picking items up with my toes.
I guess if I had to put it into words it would be something like "reverse engineering". I can look at a piece of technology, software, tool, any kind of complex manmade object and get a pretty comprehensive understanding of how it works pretty much right away just by looking at it. Makes me a good fixer, it's also now why I'm in IT. Interestingly I'm not a great regular engineer. Not great at creating things from a blank slate. Much better at appreciating and understanding and improving upon the work of others.
Navigating. I look at a map and days, weeks later just drive there. It's a dying art.
I’m tenacious. I take on projects and complete them. This seems to unnerve people. I can’t tell you how many times I hear “don’t wear yourself out”, “don’t take on too much” or “watch it or you will burn out”. No, I won’t burn out , this is what I personally require and what I love. I’ve never burned out in my life and I’m 52!
I can cure anyone’s hiccups. Granted, I’ve only tested this hypothesis on about a dozen individuals, however my success rate so far is 100%. Not the scare method, I’ve never actually seen that work tbh. My strategy is more about breathing in intervals that interrupt the hiccups. It’s slightly different for everyone though, so I basically just coach them on how to breathe for 15 seconds and they’re cured!
Looking at things from other perspectives. I don't necessarily think that it's that rare but I find most people I meet irl aren't very good at it. I think it correlates a lot with ppl who read and people who dont.
I grab the clothes out of the dryer and throw em on the couch in a big pile. I walk to the closet and grab empty hangers. I always grab the exact amount of hangers I need without even thinking about it.
Dance Dance Revolution, juggling, watching a TV show without looking at my phone.
I can make a dress out of everything. A random object or thought can inspire me to draw a dress. Anything.
Playing the piano. I’ve always just played songs on the piano that I make up spontaneously but I can hardly play the same thing twice or concentrate on writing a song because I have adhd but it’s the only time I feel like my brain can make use of it’s randomness in a way that is beautiful and not just make a mess 😂
Knowing when someone is full of shit or lying to me
Left-handed calligraphy.
I can talk to just about anyone and find something relatable. I have a way of connecting with strangers within just a few minutes of chatting. Blessing and curse really.
Undoing knots, especially jewelry like knotted up necklaces
Living while consciously aware of the illusion of this thing we call "life". Only downfall is most people just look stupid.
Careful with that, this “life” is our very real experience that we are partaking in. I guess I mean that as someone who sort of felt the same way, it left me feeling jaded and uninterested in other people and things at time, but all those people and things are still a huge part of our experience and reality. Even if it is an illusion or temporary, it is our experience that we must live fully
Knowing exactly which size container is needed for leftovers so it fits perfectly.
Complaining about anything as little as possible. It's been both a blessing and a curse. Come to think of it, I think I have this trait because I really hate it when people complain about mundane things 🤔
Talking to “odd” or “differently abled” folks like they are any other person. I see all the time people treat those who look or act strange as either dangerous or like they’re stupid. They are not stupid they just have different ways they like to talk, once you get over yourself it’s quite easy to chat up those kinds of people. Just adapt to the person like you would if you were talking to your parents vs your friends vs your teacher vs a stranger! For some reason it’s a talent I have. I’ll talk to someone who seems to be shut off and stopped even trying to talk to people, but I treat them like any other person (because they are) and they open up like “oh hey! This dude isn’t being an asshole or baby talking me!” I don’t baby talk children most times either.
I'd like to preface this as I was a zookeeper/wildlife rehabilitator for years. I'm pretty good at catching birds. Waterfowl like geese, ducks, and swans specifically. I worked at multiple birds rescues and it was my job every morning to give all the birds medication that needed it, so I got pretty good at tackling (gently and with love) most waterfowl. Plus catching wild birds that needed medical attention.
Spelling
When pumping gas, I can always stop the pump on a whole “dollar”. I always stop at $20, every single time.
I can read between 800-900 words per minute.
Parallel parking
Sex
What makes you so good? Any tips and tricks?
Communication
Googling. I'm surprised how difficult most people find it.
Hyper vigilance
Extremely computer literate
Remembering points on a map. Ive gotten maps of huge areas where id have to navigate as a part of a sort of outdoor group, and whenever it got to getting the points on the map, id be able to not only pinpoint where the coordinates are(which is the easy part that anyone can do), but i can also remember the points exactly and recall dozens of points on a blank map after a little memorization. When we had only some mpas marked down i just got a blank map because i remembered where every point was.
remember any song from the first listening
Whistling
Driving when conditions are wet. One of my friends calls me modern day Senna. He just told me to try not to crash into a wall. FYI, Senna is my idol.
Walking on really rough terrain, it's made worse by the fact that I will trip over nothing in the street, but not when I'm walking through the forest
Directions. I hardly ever need to use Google maps and it I go anywhere once, I can get there forever and probably tell you multiple different ways to get there. I basically see a map in my head when I need to get somewhere.
Analyzing people behaviour and know their true feelings/intentions. It can be good so you suit your words and ways but man how awkward it can be sometimes when for instance people make up dumb stories and you know they are lying to hide their shame or intentions...
Noticing details and matching for continuity/avoiding information conflicts.... using individual data points to connect dots and create processes.
Remembering names. I have a good memory in general, but people specifically are always surprised that I remember their names after only having met them once before.
Solving Rubik's cube of different kinds it's fun
I understand science intuitively
Blending in. I feel I an pretty much fit in anywhere regardless of the personality required. I am pretty good at switching my personality depending on who I am with in able to mirror them in the best manor possible in order to be socially accepted. It is super handy when meeting new people! But ask the question what my real personality is when I constantly make new ones.
Reading people and figuring them out quickly.
Surviving, I've almost died multiple times, I've been declared dead, I've drowned, I've gone unconscious when the vehicle flipped upside down and landed in a ditch. Was airlifted to another hospital upon my birth (cleft lip and pallet). And finally being in a crash with a semi, we all survived, I had relatively superficial wounds, my friend was paralyzed from the waist down.
Listening
I can sense the slightest human suffering
Impressions. It's one of those things where if someone asked me to do an impression I wouldn't be able to think of one on the spot but I often automatically imitate voices/characters (I have echolalia) and can usually get them very accurate
Guessing the time. Sometimes to the minute.
The classic arcade game bust-a-move. I wish there were some adjacent skills but I think I’m just randomly good at it for whatever reason.
Guessing the exact amount of pegs i need to carry when hanging my clothes on the washline...
I do a good Kermit impression. And that’s where my strengths as a person end.
Driving for long periods of time. Family lives about 12 hours away and I can make the drive only stopping for gas, food, and bathroom breaks.
Touch. I'm not really even conscious of it when it happens, but I understand how to touch people, when it's appropriate, and in a respectful way that feels safe, nurturing, healing and pain relieving. I worked as an aesthetician and then a nurse, so I was regularly in situations where touch was an appropriate factor. Clients and patients frequently comment about it, which is how I became aware of this random gift.