Week 2: Greatest Superpower

Welcome back to blog number 2! This week, I’d like to discuss what keeps me motivated and optimistic about any work I do. It’s related to a general philosophy I have about people, but it’s not really something I came up with myself – just something I noticed. For the record, I’d like to make it clear that I know nothing about people – but I will share my inutile philosophy, nonetheless.

It is agreeable that we all have superficial “surface-level” strengths & weaknesses; For instance, I happen to be skilled at analyzing data, but I have a tough time making eye contact. Although, what makes these attributes “surface-level” is that their causes go much deeper than their extrinsic manifestation; they are the byproducts of the fundamental personality traits that make me who I am.

For example, I often find it difficult to watch a movie for the first time. I’ve only seen the first Avengers movie (sorry), and then I read the plot to the subsequent three afterwards. I prefer reading a plot rather than watching a movie, tenfold. I struggle in settings involving conflict, drama, or uncertainty; I instead enjoy being able to predict & anticipate or be certain of what happens next. My favourite movies are simple and light-hearted, such as the Ocean’s trilogy. Unfortunately, most popular well-written movies aren’t so easily predictable and they are full of conflict, drama and uncertainty – thus I don’t really enjoy the experience of watching them. I’d rather read a short synopsis. Though at the surface it may not appear that my ability to analyze data is at all related to my loathing of movies, I believe the source of both attributes is my fundamental need to predict, anticipate, and be certain of things. The value of analyzing data is that it can predict & anticipate, which is great for me. I would be happy to work on Excel sheets for the rest of my life because the thrill of identifying trends & relationships between things is unmatched.

With that being said, my big philosophical thesis is as follows: Consider the fundamental traits that define us. I believe that they work together to give us a unique “Greatest Superpower” (this could also imply the existence of one’s “Worst Superpower” but I think it would be kinda grim to explore that right now). Note that this is more than just a superficial power or strength – It’s the primary feature that inspires us, makes us good at what we do, and is always present. Examples of possible greatest superpowers are:

• The ability to always quickly & accurately identify one’s own incompetence’s
• The ability to always recall minute details from previous events 
• The ability to always identify the motives & intentions of others, and anticipate their behaviour

I don’t think it’s an easy task to identify one’s own greatest superpower – it requires some self-assessment and experience in diverse situations. I’d like to believe I’ve identified my greatest superpower (though I may be very wrong). Here are a few of my fundamental traits: I am analytical, I am afraid of uncertainty, I am creative, I lack confidence. Mixing all of these together, I believe my greatest superpower to be the following: I have the unique ability to find something interesting about any endeavor I partake in. So long as there is something to learn about, I will find a way to make it interesting to me.

My greatest superpower sounds like it’s a fancy way to say that I’m optimistic or that I enjoy learning but I think it’s different and more powerful than that. There are plenty of instances where I’ve been unoptimistic about doing a task, yet still find a way to make it interesting or find something to learn about within it. I hate running, I am unoptimistic about the experience of running or that I’ll ever enjoy it, but I figured out that if I graph my progress on several metrics then it becomes something interesting to me and something worth doing. What is powerful about my superpower is that I’m able to create interest and learning experiences where there may have not been before, whether I was optimistic about it or not.

Identifying your greatest superpower is extremely valuable, because it allows you to exploit it. Whenever I worry about my future and the uncertainty of it, or if I’m worried about a task that I’m not sure I’ll enjoy, I always remember that there was never an endeavor that I couldn’t make interesting in some way, and that helps ease my worry a bit. My greatest superpower assures me that no matter what comes of my career in mining, I will find it interesting, and I will never stop creating ways to learn about things within it. At first, I wasn’t particularly interested in batteries, but every question I had about them turned into 100 more things to learn about. My greatest superpower is also what influenced my love for physics (the study of, well, everything): knowing physics makes everything interesting!

Anyway, I’m not sure if any of this made sense – I’d like to think it does. At the very least, I know that I have a superpower and I’ve been able to use it to make my life a little better. I hope you find yours too!

(July 6^th, 2020)