YSK: Just because something is easy for you, does not mean that it is easy.

ETA; Why you should know; everyone has natural talents, everyone has skills they developed with practice or over time. Something that feels easy to you might be difficult for someone else to grasp, or they might have a different background or a different way of doing things. When you show someone else how to do something, or when you ask someone else to do something, you need to set aside your expectations on how they might do that thing, or how quickly, or how well.

Be patient. Understand not everyone comes naturally to every new skill or new talent. Some people have learning disabilities or just a lack of familiarity with skills you consider “basic.” And try not to belittle someone for needing extra time to master something you find “simple” or they may never try again!

Edit2: Kind of like how I can’t figure out how to edit this to save my life. I’ve been belittled in the past for being bad at things so my instinct was to delete this, but seeing all the conversation, I couldn’t bring myself to do it! Consider me a lesson in action!

  • theherk@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Additionally, just because something hard for you looks like it comes easily to another, it probably doesn’t. They’re just working harder.

    • nodiet@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      I don’t agree with this. People have different abilities/talents that mean that certain things are in fact easier for some than for others. By thinking that everything is just hard work, people may work themselves to death trying to achieve proficiency in an area that they just aren’t particularly suited for.

      • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        There are some strange cases where innate abilities matter a lot. For example, some people have the supernatural ability quit smoking cold turkey, and it seems to be nothing more than a decision for them. However, mere mortals tend to struggle with it for years.

        In many other cases though, time, effort and experience matter more than your abilities.

      • half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        I’m not sure I’m convinced there truly are that many skills an average person can’t gain proficiency in with a reasonable amount of time and effort. Sure, some people are more adept at things than others and maybe you’ll never gain a level of proficiency in music to become a professional musician, but given a little dedication most everyone can learn to play an instrument.

        I think because often all we see is the output, it’s easy to discount the time and effort someone put in to get there. I once had a yoga teacher tell me I was so lucky to be “naturally flexible” because I had no idea how much some people struggled with it. Meanwhile, as a dancer, I had been stretching 5x/week for like 10 years to get to that point and was very inflexible before that and only moderately flexible when the comment was made haha.

    • DarkMatterStyx@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I’d say they have been doing it longer or are familiar with the underlying knowledgebase, so it seems to come easily to them.

      Someone who has never used a modern computer before will think that someone who has been learning and adapting since Windows 3.1 would look like a genius. Even if all they know is how to do basic tasks and navigation.

      • theherk@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Agreed. I should have been more clear. They’ve put in more effort. Either by working harder (short time) or working more over a long period. I just see a lot of people think things comes naturally to others, but not really. One may have a proclivity for something, but it still takes time to cultivate a skill.

    • ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I dunno about that. I was a total fuck up in school and got good grades.

      I’ve seen it my whole life in various ways. Some people just have it easier than others with some things. Some people are “luckier” than others.

    • OrnateLuna@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      Eh idk, my sister worked a lot harder in maths than I did (I barely did anything) however she still struggled to get good at it. How much effort you put in doesn’t correlation that well with how good you get.

      Plus idk I don’t like the implication that bc you are not succeeding you are not working hard enough.

      • theherk@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah it cuts both ways though. First I am generalizing. Some indeed have proclivities, but I’m saying you shouldn’t just assume it is easy for them. A lot of improvement is based on effort. Not all, but it is similarly frustrating to have people diminish successes as luck or “talent”.