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Some people just aren't as talented as others lol. It's like when you put in hard work to achieve something but someone who's a natural also achieves it without much work. There was an interesting book on this topic when it comes to athletics called "The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance"
I highly recommend reading if you ever have the time:
https://www.amazon.com/Sports-Gene-Extraordinary-Athletic-Performance/dp/161723012X
People living at higher altitudes gain increased resilience over generations, and not without drawbacks. Examples of early adaptations are increased red blood cell count (increasing heart attack, stroke, and blood clot chance) and changes in organ size. Only after hundreds of years do these tend to normalize into adaptations without increased health risks.
So yes, as the carbon content increases you might see some changes in human biology over several hundred years. However, no individual person will change significantly, only their descendants. And the corollary to that is that, for selective change to occur, people with advantageous traits will need to survive more often than those without.
In other words, if people will adapt, as you claim, it will be because it killed those who didn't, at least a little more often. Why the hell would that reassure me in any way?
The studies linked showed inconsistent effects on relatively small increases in CO2 content; it also states (if you'd read it) that large changes (over 5% concentration) like those found in submarines or low-ventilation spaces have known negative cognitive effects.
So your example of submariners is basically bunk.
Care to try for a third time? Maybe not spouting unsourced, ludicrous claims about humans just magically becoming fine with fundamental changes to our living conditions?
Source for the high-altitude claims: The Sports Gene, a rather good book.
There has been some quality scientific literature on this. The Sport's Gene is where I first saw this issue raised. Epstein does a great job of synthesizing the scientific findings with anecdotal sports references. Apparently it's a huge advantage. It's not just hormonal differences. There's differences in bone density, differences in height, bone structure, hip function, fat to muscle ratio just to name a few, which translate to huge advantages in endurance and strength across a variety of sports. I cannot recall any sport where it was advantageous to be a women over a man, but it's been a few years since I read the book and the trans/man/woman comparison wasn't a major portion of the book.
E: Found a list online of the characteristics Epstein discussed if anyone is curious.
Among the key physical differences between the sexes. Men are / possess
heavier and taller
longer arms and legs relative to their height
biggest hearts and lungs, thus able to absorb and process more oxygen
twice as likely to be left-handed (high physical combat societies have more numbers of lefties – this arose due to natural selection as lefties have an advantage in combat)
less fat
denser bones, and a heavier skeleton that can support more muscle
more oxygen-carrying red blood cells
narrower hips which makes running more efficient and decreases the chances of ACL tears (epidemic in female athletes) while running and jumping
80% more muscle mass in upper body and 50% more in lower body
Deliberate practice.
Set yourself small, achievable goals to extend your current ability incrementally and do that regularly.
I saw this book recommended on here and it's a pretty easy read which has done wonders for my mental state during a round.
A good generalist is really just a specialist in many, varied areas. For example, John von Neumann considered himself a generalist, and he's probably the greatest generalist of all time. He made important discoveries and contributions in statistics, logic, geometry, game theory, quantum physics, fluid dynamics, computing, programming, economics and so on.
Someone who's just dabbled at a bunch of different things but isn't good at any of them is what's called a jack of all trades (what was once a derogatory term). They aren't a generalist because they aren't good at anything.
Ideally, early in your career, you specialize in something. As you become more experienced, you pick up more expertise and specializations and morph into a generalist. But a lot of people don't have the mental plasticity and focus to become a generalist, so they stick to the few things they know well and remain specialists.
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World is a good book on the topic.
At times like this the poker mentality of accepting huge variance in a long marathon streaks of games comes in handy. I recommend everyone to read this book https://www.amazon.com/Mental-Game-Poker-Strategies-Confidence/dp/0615436137 and other works by Jared Tendler
Also shows the importance of the in and out position in trading is all that matters, on your preferred time frame. Then it's zero again, just like any basket player who never mentally missed a shot before he makes the next one, but in his mind will always hit the next one
Rather than claiming to know the answers to your personal problems, I'll point you to two resources that have helped me greatly:
- The Rock Warriors Way: This book deems it self as "Mental training for climbers", but it is so much more than that. As you mention, "climbing forces these sorts of lessons upon us all" and this book acknowledges that, walking you through the borderline spiritual journey of the author and providing great lessons for the reader
- 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes: This is a training book that avoids quantitive goals (like, 3 sets of X followed by a 4 minute break) and talks instead of a number of the physical/technique/psychological problems we all commonly face in improving as climbers. It opened my mind to new approaches to escaping self-carved ruts in my training.
Hope these help.
Please do yourself a favor and read this book. I guarantee it will change your perspective about being a generalist.
As sports have evolved heights have gotten a lot more specialized. The average basketball player height has increased and the average gymnast height has dropped.
There's a book called The Sports Gene by David Epstein that goes into great depth about all of this, stuff like why Jamaica has great sprinters and why Kenya has great runners. It also disputes the "10000 hours rule" and talks about how people adapt to training differently. It's an amazing book and it really changed the way I look at sports. I highly recommend it, one of my all time favs.
https://www.amazon.com/Sports-Gene-Extraordinary-Athletic-Performance/dp/161723012X
Here's a short TED talk where he gives an overview of the book.
The Inner Game of Tennis is a book that was recommended to my roughly 20 years ago by a lifer of a pool player, even has his own nickname. His recommendation was based on similar problems that I was having back then. I have passed on his recommendation dozens of times and I still own a copy. It's a quick and easy read and applies to your situation. It doesn't really "fix" anything but there are many similarities between tennis and billiard games (and boxing too!) and it addresses some of the difficulties of the mental performance side.
I would recommend that you look at the book Peak: Secrets From The New Science Of Expertise. I’m reading it now and it is so interesting. It basically explains how people become experts using specific principles defined by the author as “deliberate practice.” Even though it is a researched-based book, it is written in an easy to read style; I checked it out of my local library. If you are looking to develop a skill or talent later in life, the steps outlined in this book can get you where you want to be much quicker than if you were just trying to figure it out on your own. Many people realize their dream during middle age and beyond!
The classic book for mental game is the Rock Warrior's Way. Admittedly cheesy title, but some really good stuff in there.
https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Warriors-Way-Training-Climbers/dp/0974011215
The days of being a narrow specialist are past. The future is in being a generalist -- competence or even specialization in a wide range of areas. David Epstein's Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World is worth the read. For instance, consider why companies are how preferring a team of full stack engineers over separate back end and front end specialists. It's all about flexibility and adaptability in a fast changing landscape. A key feature of being a generalist is effectively using experience and concepts from learning past competencies to quickly learn new competencies.
The phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" is more typically used as a derogatory term, referring to someone who's dabbled in a bunch of things but never gained competence at any of them. You never really want to be described as a "jack of all trades."
Golf is not a game of perfect
By Dr. Bob Rotella
It's a great book that talks about the mental aspect of the game and how to approach each round. I have it on audiobook and with it only being 90 minutes or so i have listened to it 4 times already. Absolutely love it
https://www.amazon.com/dp/068480364X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_WBMW0ZBP94RHGX1W98G2
This is totally within my wheelhouse. For all intents and purposes, there is no such thing as "talent." It's better to think of talent as a subjective opinion someone gives (I.e. "you're so talented!").
Nearly everything is a skill because humans learn by modeling or trial and error. Skills are built via mental representations. Artistic endeavors are skills because anyone can do them and improve immensely.
I encourage you to read Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by K.Anders Ericsson.
The moral of the story is that no one is innately born with any skill, hence there is really no such thing as talent in that way. Just subjective opinions.
If you want to work on your mental game I'd suggest this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Tennis-Classic-Performance/dp/0679778314
You can almost just replace tennis with pinball and it's still very accurate. The book applies to just about any sport.
art has helped me a lot. I'm glad you found something creative, I wished someone had told me that art would help me when I was first diagnosed. here's a book that will help you with your painting journey. It has helped me with my music/math/programming/graphic arts journey.
Ya I’m trying to convince myself that it means literally nothing to win or lose and to care about having a clean fun race and I think that might actually help make me faster. It’s always when you turn off that nervous “fucking win already” mindset that you find your groove I find. I had a good start today and then some bad splits and shit races and then a fourth in the second top split so I’m happy. I’m going to start imagining the other people as people just there to have fun and see if that helps. IRacing has revealed that I’m a really competitive person and I think I need to figure out how to fix that since, as you can see, it makes this less fun and more of a meaningless competition. If you’re interested, I’m reading a good book that is a classic book of sport performance and it has really great advice on how to improve yourself without resorting to the negative mantras:
https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Tennis-Classic-Performance/dp/0679778314
It’s about tennis but it applies to all sport and even performing arts. It might help.
Check out “The Mental Game of Poker”: https://www.amazon.com/Mental-Game-Poker-Strategies-Confidence/dp/0615436137
The gist of it is, learn to spot when you aren’t playing your A game and make the changes needed.
Some of y’all have never read The Code, and it shows.
Also it’s hilarious to see people complaining about how dumb hockey fighting is on Wreddit of all places. You’d be surprised how orchestrated most NHL fights are. In almost all cases both parties agree to throw down before they actually do, they square up fairly, and when the fight is over they go to the penalty box and all is forgotten. It’s more performance than actual malice.
The book "The Inner Game of Tennis" touches upon a lot of this (altho, its about a different sport). I think it will resonate with you.
https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Tennis-Classic-Performance/dp/0679778314
The sentence, "Jack of all trades, but no master," followed by something about focusing on language stood out to me. That sentence is, language-wise, really awkward. The first half is like a title or adjective phrase, but the contrasting self half is incomplete or something. "... no master trade?" "... no master skill?" "... no master*y*?"
Anyway, there's a difference between a so-called jack of all trades, a generalist, and a specialist. A specialist is, of course, someone who's highly skilled in some particular domain.
Many people are unaware that the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" has mostly been used throughout its history with negative connotation. It's usedd to refer to a person who's dabbled at a bunch of things but never gained real competence at anything -- someone who has no real skills. Think of someone who's started to take guitar lessons but stops practicing, does a few programming tutorials but never advances beyond that, or take some college classes and drop out. This is someone with no follow through. They end up just being novices at a bunch of things but not having even basic competence at anything. This is where many people find themselves, and they often overestimate their skills.
A generalist is someone who's competent or skilled in a variety of areas. In today's fast paced technology driven world, you should strive to be a generalist so that you can be adaptable and flexible to whatever circumstances you find yourself in. I recommend reading David Epstein's Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. It's not something you can become overnight. A generalist is somewhat of a specialist in multiple domains.
So you should try to honestly evaluate what skills you do have and what you might be able to start specializing in quickly.
Scorecasting does a really interesting analysis of home field advantage that's worth reading. Home winning percentages are bloated due to the non-conference cupcakes teams routinely schedule. In games against similar opponents, your team's all-time home field edge isn't going to surpass 60%.
I'm assuming the 10,000 hours figure you mention is referencing the idea that you can become exceptionally good at any sport if you practice it productively for that amount of time. It was a theory that was made to refute the importance of 'natural ability'. (The theory originates, I think, from Matthew Syed's book Bounce.)
The problem is, the theory doesn't say that if you practice productively for 10,000 hours, you'll magically become the standard of a professional. You'll become a exceptionally good (I think the word Syed uses is master), but the pro players will have been masterful at the sport for a lot longer and will have developed even more
The Mental Game of Poker: Proven Strategies for Improving Tilt Control, Confidence, Motivation, Coping with Variance, and More. by Jared Tendler might be of some use to you. He talks about exactly this issue (and others).
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mental-Game-Poker-Strategies/dp/0615436137
Anyone who experiences tilt in competitive games owes it to themselves to read Jared Tendler's "The Mental Game of Poker". While the book might focus on poker, it is really all about emotions and competition. Interestingly, the author is not a poker player himself. He is a sports psychologist who works almost exclusively with poker players, so the language is quite accessible even if you don't play poker yourself. Learning how to combat and avoid tilt is a valuable skill in almost all walks of life, and I guarantee the first few chapters alone will change your entire perspective on the matter.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mental-Game-Poker-Strategies/dp/0615436137
There is a book called Scorecasting that came to the conclusion that the main reason for home field advantage (in all sports) is due to biased officiating mainly from the impact that fans have on their ability to make calls. The book is about 10 years old, so I don't know if their analysis holds up.
I'd be curious if anybody has used COVID games (with no or minimal fans) to re-evaluate the data.
Bad runouts, bad play from you, variance, tilt, etc. These are all things that you will have to get used to to play this game at a profitable level.
https://www.amazon.com/Mental-Game-Poker-Strategies-Confidence/dp/0615436137