So What Are You Really, Really Good at?

Thanks, @doschicos . D1 is a third year dental student. She is also good at injections—picked up my technique. The patients are thrilled she will join me and take over my practice.

And, yes. Most dentists could master the gentle injections. Unfortunately, it’s rarely taught in dental school.

Math. Helping people understand complex issues (or at least, they think the issues are complex). Finding information on the internet. Jumble (the one in the newspaper). My job (for the next week, anyway, until I leave it). Interpreting rules/regulations and figuring out what needs to be done to be in compliance. P90X3.

I am pretty good at what I do for living. :slight_smile: Occasionally it involves reading some pretty obscure scientific stuff with giant mathematical formulas in it. I just wing it.

I was also excellent at winging my grad school exams. ?

Herding cats (literally and figuratively) is also my specialty. I am very good at trimming cats’ claws.

Spelling. Researching stuff and finding solutions to complex problems. As a result, giving unwanted advice :slight_smile:

Legwork of all sorts. I’m the family admin.

Keeping my head in a crisis.

Getting pills from outside my dogs to inside my dogs.

Reading
Critical thinking
Seeing the big picture
Cooking and baking
Napping
Eating
Finding things

Listening
Planning

I have a phenomenal memory. I can recall almost every detail about a person, place or event. I still can spit back the birthdays and phone numbers of childhood friends. Want to know where we stayed and what we did on that family vacation to California in 1970? Just ask me. I have credit card numbers, insurance numbers, family social security numbers all memorized. No need to write down my mother’s medicines. I have them all stuck in my head. At work they call me the Human Filing Cabinet.

Organizing, decluttering, cleaning, Jumbles. I hope to start organizing for others when I am able to move on from my current job.

Helping my kids find things from over 1,000 miles away when they lose something. (Seriously, they phone me whenever it happens - it is my superpower)

I am also great at analyzing complex problems. I’m good at guiding a team through very difficult analysis task. I can see a path and approach to breaking it down, help them through the different components, and synthesize the results. It’s my other superpower, and is very helpful in my career.

Googling. Seriously, I once wondered if they’d hire me to be a phantom checker of sorts. If it’s there, I can find it. Only problem is I’m tired of it, for now. Tired of the info overload.

Being a mom.

Colors. I love picking the right colors for design. I can hone in on the right palette and avoid paint sample overload. I am very picky and stress over small nuances in a color. I can look at a white and immediately recognize it has a purple undertone. Not a very marketable skill unfortunately

Oh I need to add party planning. I really can plan and throw a fabulous party.

@eyemamom: Tips for party planning, please. I need tips.

Do you plan games to play, or do you just manage to keep everyone talking to everyone else??

I am very good at non-remunerative activities involving words, like writing silly poems, coming up with puns, playing Boggle, etc. I am not an especially funny person otherwise; but if you need a quick limerick or song parody, I’m your girl.

I am also quite good at loading a car, but only if the vehicle and its contents are in front of me; I am not good at spatial things if they’re abstract.

I’m really good at knowing my limitations. That’s it… seriously, don’t ask me to list any more - that’s all I’ve got. See. :smile:

I am very good at figuring out what would most likely to happen, especially at work. The problem is people often don’t believe it until it hits them in the face. I’ve had to learn to wait for others to reach the same conclusion.

I am also calm during crisis. Small stuff can push me over the edge, but when big stuff hits I can be very calm. People at work have called me Houston (as in “Houston, I think we have a problem.”)

Cooking.

Gardening-plants.

Jigsaw puzzles. The latter involves my color sense and shapes- H can’t get them.

I suspect many women have great organizational skills like I do.

Speaking up. Someone has to be the one. Being “outspoken” can help get things done, say what others only think…

Being practical.

Packing boxes for shipping and luggage for traveling. When my mother, mother-in-law, and/or sister-in-law visited they all asked me to help pack to maximize what they could bring home versus mail without excessive postage or paying for overweight baggage.