A few days ago my sons were talking about how they are following different career paths.
My oldest son is taking a trade path. His income starts right after high school, it continues to go up each year that he studies and does his apprenticeship and in 4 years or so he will be making a good wage at a steady job (hopefully).
My younger son is taking the University path. He will be making nothing more than part time, minimum wage for at least the next four years. If his dream comes true and he gets accepted into medical school he will also be living on virtually nothing for another 6 years or so. Ten years of training while making nothing. However, after graduation his wage will be roughly double that of my older son. Maybe more.
They were talking about which path is the Smarter path. Looking at each path as a father they both have strong merits and I'd say either path can lead to a happy life if it is followed wisely. Isn't that the whole point of a job?
Then they got to discussing which of them is smarter and asked my opinion on that. Now, having to say which son is smarter is akin to saying which son is stupid. I don't know any Dad worth the name that wants to do that. After thinking for a moment I gave them the best answer I had...
Sons -- Both of you are intelligent and gifted. Both of you are strong and athletic. However, both of you are unique. To my older son I told him
"Mark: You have an ability to see how things work, how they are put together, and how to build and fix things. You are built a bit like a tank and can carry great weight on your shoulders".
"Stefan: You have an ability to retain information and grasp concepts easily. Bookwork and schoolwork comes easily to you. You can also read people and social situations with ease and chatting with others comes easily for you. You are nimble and lithe with the grace of a gymnast"
But which is better? Depends on the situation. Just as both are following different career paths, both have different strengths and weaknesses. Mark would likely make a poor Doctor as people skills and bookwork aren't his strength. Stefan would make a poor electrician as he dislikes manual labour and doesn't have the instinctive nature of how things work.
Different people, different strengths, different paths.
Choosing "who is smarter" is a fools task. Choosing "who is better" is equally unwise.
Then they asked who is more like me
Then they compared themselves to me. As their father I had to laugh as I have strengths and weaknesses very different than then.
I plainly told them that it would be a terrible comparison and that "when I was their age" I'd be better in some things and far worse in others.
At 20 years old I would be far weaker than my older son and far less agile than my younger one. However, in a run I would be both faster and have considerably more endurance.
At 20 years old I wouldn't be nearly as useful in repairing anything or building anything compared to my older son. I wouldn't have the social skills or music skills of my younger son. However, if it came down to theoretical learning, memorization or grades in school I'd beat them hands down--no contest.
But that's the thing.....it isn't a contest
It is all about finding one's own path that fits them and using those inate skills to help those around you while hopefully enjoying life at the same time.
Today's post prompt isn't about comparisons or who is better though. The prompt is "Is learning that hard" and to tell about something that is easy and something that is hard to learn.
I had to laugh a little when I read that because when it comes to traditional learning I haven't really found anything difficult. School from University to graduation was never difficult. No concept in any class was challenging. Now I'm not some wunderkind who memorized everything immediately and I don't have photographic memory. I *DID have to put in the time to memorize and work out how everything fit together but that was about putting in the effort to learn not it being challenging to learn.
That isn't to say that certain things aren't challenging for me to learn though! My wife and children will be the first to tell you that I am terrible with people and social situations. I can't "read" people. I can't "read the room". I don't understand social innuendo, sideways glances, gossip or stuff like that. I also don't learn well without a guide. My oldest son is good at looking at something and figuring how it goes together. Car repair, building furniture, stuff like that he is great. For me? I'm great at understanding a manual and then using it to get things working. No manual I'm pretty much out of luck.
That's why HIVE has been a challenge for me
That being said, learning HIVE has been very challenging. Guess that's part of the reason I'm in the Hive Learners community (and also the reason I've always avoided the weekly Discord chats).
Hive has branches everywhere and documentation is scarce. I understand that Tribaldex can make NFT's and that you can do NFT mining and all sorts of other wonderful stuff. I understand how useful it could be....but without documentation I've been continually stymied on getting things to work. I know that 3speak and the SPK network can decentralize file storage and be incredibly useful....but without a manual I've had no success in getting it working.
Even within a community there are guidelines and good ways to make followers and influence the community. I know that those things exist...however, I am totally at a loss on how to do it.
I'm just not wired that way
Even today my wife was saying how she would love to do a business and asked me about taxes and accounting. I could dutifully tell her about how to structure things to avoid the taxman and make the business more valuable. She then remarked "You should go into business!!" to which I had to laugh....and then told her something she knew deep down....."Honey, I know how to make the finances and bookwork look good and save money when the government comes calling for their share. The biggest part of business though is connecting with customers.....how good do you think my people skills would be for that?".
She quickly thought and responded...
...... You're right. I'll deal with the customers and you deal with the finances. You'd probably starve as a businessman and I'd probably go insane trying to figure out the books.
We chuckled and realized that everyone is gifted in their own ways. It's nice to find someone with strengths that cover your weaknesses. It's also important to realize that comparisons are a trap...enjoy who you are for who you are and follow your own path.
Best to win your own race in life rather than worry about someone elses :)
Thanks for reading and as always I love getting feedback.