I work with engineers and smart people, but I often see "obvious" solutions that no one else sees. Before my DX, I had two reactions to that situation:
1) Is everyone else that dumb? How can they not think for themselves?
2) Am I really that much smarter than everyone else?
(Okay, one reaction. Two sides of the same coin)
I usually reject 2) because, while I think I'm pretty smart, I can't imagine that I am actually that much smarter than everyone around me. The odds against that are just too high. But that left me frustrated and impatient with the people around me.
So, today, someone came to our group with a problem. And to me, the solution wasn't the several days of new work that they asked for, but a spreadsheet that took 20 minutes to write. I actually wrote in my draft email to my manager, "These people are supposed to be mathematicians and Excel wizards. They should have come up with this themselves."
And then I remembered that my brain is wired differently. I have an atypical perspective and way of thinking, and I come up with atypical solutions that others don't. So, I erase that line and cut out my attitude. I found patience and compassion for the people with the problem, because they didn't come at the problem the same way I did.
I have wondered before how much good a DX does. Today I realized that it has changed my perspective. I am not smarter or dumber. I'm just different. I shouldn't feel inferior when I don't perceive what others do, and I shouldn't feel superior when I see what others don't.
Posting this here because it made me happy. Thanks for listening.
1) Is everyone else that dumb? How can they not think for themselves?
2) Am I really that much smarter than everyone else?
(Okay, one reaction. Two sides of the same coin)
I usually reject 2) because, while I think I'm pretty smart, I can't imagine that I am actually that much smarter than everyone around me. The odds against that are just too high. But that left me frustrated and impatient with the people around me.
So, today, someone came to our group with a problem. And to me, the solution wasn't the several days of new work that they asked for, but a spreadsheet that took 20 minutes to write. I actually wrote in my draft email to my manager, "These people are supposed to be mathematicians and Excel wizards. They should have come up with this themselves."
And then I remembered that my brain is wired differently. I have an atypical perspective and way of thinking, and I come up with atypical solutions that others don't. So, I erase that line and cut out my attitude. I found patience and compassion for the people with the problem, because they didn't come at the problem the same way I did.
I have wondered before how much good a DX does. Today I realized that it has changed my perspective. I am not smarter or dumber. I'm just different. I shouldn't feel inferior when I don't perceive what others do, and I shouldn't feel superior when I see what others don't.
Posting this here because it made me happy. Thanks for listening.
