Perhaps a subclass of “fear of pain”, I sometimes find my curiosity is stopped when I think about how much work it would be to get good at something. For example, let’s say it’s some new programming language or database I might work with, but I start looking and realize I’m going to have to spend what feels like a long time before I’m going to be able to do much with it, and even longer before I’ll be as expect at it as the things I’m already expert at.
Much more tempting to learn something more about the things I’m already good at so I can get even better at them than to learn something totally new so I can still not be very good at it, but at least now slightly less bad.
Hum, I would say it depends on why you want to learn it. If it’s professional, then you might be right in not following through if it is not that useful. If it’s for your own pleasure, then I must admit I rarely feel that specific curiosity-stopper. I tend to be pretty sure that I can do things; my issues are much more about following on that.
Oh, I definitely experience this even with things that are not professional. For example, I’m not very musically talented, and haven’t done much other than sing badly in the shower and at karaoke since I left high school. I have little things around I could play with to get better, like a harmonica, but I just don’t have fun engaging in the play of exploring the instrument, and I think part of this is because I’m not already good enough to feel like I’m having fun. There’s this kind of subtle way curiosity and play get stopped for me when it feels too hard or like my play will only pay off far down the road.
Maybe this is the right choice ultimately, but it’s hard to know since curiosity and the related notion of play seem to valuable in their own right much of the time.
Perhaps a subclass of “fear of pain”, I sometimes find my curiosity is stopped when I think about how much work it would be to get good at something. For example, let’s say it’s some new programming language or database I might work with, but I start looking and realize I’m going to have to spend what feels like a long time before I’m going to be able to do much with it, and even longer before I’ll be as expect at it as the things I’m already expert at.
Much more tempting to learn something more about the things I’m already good at so I can get even better at them than to learn something totally new so I can still not be very good at it, but at least now slightly less bad.
Hum, I would say it depends on why you want to learn it. If it’s professional, then you might be right in not following through if it is not that useful. If it’s for your own pleasure, then I must admit I rarely feel that specific curiosity-stopper. I tend to be pretty sure that I can do things; my issues are much more about following on that.
Oh, I definitely experience this even with things that are not professional. For example, I’m not very musically talented, and haven’t done much other than sing badly in the shower and at karaoke since I left high school. I have little things around I could play with to get better, like a harmonica, but I just don’t have fun engaging in the play of exploring the instrument, and I think part of this is because I’m not already good enough to feel like I’m having fun. There’s this kind of subtle way curiosity and play get stopped for me when it feels too hard or like my play will only pay off far down the road.
Maybe this is the right choice ultimately, but it’s hard to know since curiosity and the related notion of play seem to valuable in their own right much of the time.