At what point in the game did rational arguments stop making sense?
Pretty much my whole life, I've been a generalist. I study as many subjects as possible, I'm a little good at a lot of things, but not really great at any one thing. This used to bother me, but then I realized it was a gift, and I began to love the diversity of my experience.
The thing about being a generalist, is that it can be difficult to find a job or get people to take you seriously. So, you've got to become an expert in something. Which is what I did in graduate school.
Now, it is certainly arguable that I am not the smartest or best person in my field. I still do a fairly generalized version of what I was trained to do, and use a broad definition to do it. In fact, most aspects of my life basically demand this of me.
However, it is no doubt true that even my minimal expertise - in the grand scheme of things - is still more expertise than other people who have never done it before.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, people come to me and ask my advice - as the expert - and then do the opposite of what I suggested. I'm not saying I'm always going to be right. I'm just saying that if we both know that I know this particular thing better than you, and you felt compelled to ask me what to do, maybe you should stop just doing whatever you want and actually listen to me.
Because in the end, you won't be getting the blame for it not going well. I will. No, you won't say it; it'll get blamed on some other confluence of events. But I'll know it might have gone better if only there'd been a little bit of faith in my intelligence.
In the mean time, I'm just sitting around here getting thought of as "the girl who doesn't think we can make it happen," looked at like I just have an attitude problem instead of some semblance of foresight and practical inclinations.
I don't know what's worse: being told to stop expressing that I know how to do things because I'm encroaching on someone else's territory or others not having enough trust in me that I know how to do what I'm supposed to be doing.
Darned if you know and darned if you don't.
If I wasn't an optimist, life would be pretty difficult.
Hope you're having a good day. Love always, ~Heather
P.S. I think the quote of the day is rigged to my mood:
Pretty much my whole life, I've been a generalist. I study as many subjects as possible, I'm a little good at a lot of things, but not really great at any one thing. This used to bother me, but then I realized it was a gift, and I began to love the diversity of my experience.
The thing about being a generalist, is that it can be difficult to find a job or get people to take you seriously. So, you've got to become an expert in something. Which is what I did in graduate school.
Now, it is certainly arguable that I am not the smartest or best person in my field. I still do a fairly generalized version of what I was trained to do, and use a broad definition to do it. In fact, most aspects of my life basically demand this of me.
However, it is no doubt true that even my minimal expertise - in the grand scheme of things - is still more expertise than other people who have never done it before.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, people come to me and ask my advice - as the expert - and then do the opposite of what I suggested. I'm not saying I'm always going to be right. I'm just saying that if we both know that I know this particular thing better than you, and you felt compelled to ask me what to do, maybe you should stop just doing whatever you want and actually listen to me.
Because in the end, you won't be getting the blame for it not going well. I will. No, you won't say it; it'll get blamed on some other confluence of events. But I'll know it might have gone better if only there'd been a little bit of faith in my intelligence.
In the mean time, I'm just sitting around here getting thought of as "the girl who doesn't think we can make it happen," looked at like I just have an attitude problem instead of some semblance of foresight and practical inclinations.
I don't know what's worse: being told to stop expressing that I know how to do things because I'm encroaching on someone else's territory or others not having enough trust in me that I know how to do what I'm supposed to be doing.
Darned if you know and darned if you don't.
If I wasn't an optimist, life would be pretty difficult.
Hope you're having a good day. Love always, ~Heather
P.S. I think the quote of the day is rigged to my mood:
"Tough times never last, but tough people do." ~Robert H. Schuller
Comments