h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I mean performance in a wide range of contexts including; thinking speed and efficiency, typing speed and accuracy, decision making whilst driving.. To physical things like strength (some days i can do 100 pressups, some days i cannot manage 20..
Is it normal to be really variable in these things? I can't even find a common cause for especially good days (though of course lack of sleep or alcohol can often, though not always) lead to especially poor days.
A friend of mine once said that the difference between average people doing average jobs and performing averagely through life in general and those who excel in life, was that those who excel had the same days and moments of brilliance and strength that we all have from time to time, but they weren't just moments. They were always like that.
With an interview coming up next week,i hope the day coincides with one of my moments of brilliance, but theresno way to be sure

Interesting question.

I'm a woman so I do blame my hormones. I definitely have days in the month when I can't focus on complicated tasks, and I recognise those days and instead do easier ones. If I can't avoid a difficult task I really struggle, even though most days I know I can handle it just fine.

But I also have days when I wake up and just don't have the energy. It feels like I almost physically drag myself through those days. Other days I think of as my "stop the world" days. I don't want to be out in the world, I don't want to see anyone. I've had days like this since my early 20s, but they're few & far between -no more than one or two a year, & I actually haven't had one this year. There's no reason for these days, it's not that there's something going on I want to avoid or I don't have the energy. But I can tell as soon as I wake up, it's a very recognisable feeling, and I just phone in sick (if there's nothing urgent in my workload that day) and spend the day on the sofa with a book.

I think Red Dwarf had this sort of thing covered in that episode with the vial of luck. It's just a virus

Good luck with the interview

Deb

"I'm a woman so I do blame my hormones. I definitely have days in the month when I can't focus on complicated tasks, and I recognise those days and instead do easier ones."

It´s true that when your belly is swollen and aching you don´t feel like doing anything, however, you can manage by taking something to relieve it, or/and just endurance the moment.

I´m sure that men can experience just the same thing, they may be suffering from headaches, or worried about anything, they, I guess, just will face the task, complicated or not , the best way they can, just as any woman, with or without the period.

"A friend of mine once said that the difference between average people doing average jobs and performing averagely through life in general and those who excel in life, was that those who excel had the same days and moments of brilliance and strength that we all have from time to time, but they weren't just moments. They were always like that."

To start with, what does it mean to excel in life?

Surely,There must be more than constant brilliant perfomance and strength to achieve what ones want. I doubt that bit of constantly.

Good luck with your interview. Try to be relaxed, if you have abilities to do that job, they will see it. Be confident.

Sleep deprivation or hunger can cause considerable variation. So can a blood clot in your ankle. One place where I don't seem to show much variation is the swimming pool. I always seem to do my 25 laps at or near the same speed, regardless of anything else. I also seem to walk at about the same speed without regard to the time of year or the temperature. Granted, walking in ankle-high snow slows me down quite a bit, but that doesn't happen often.

Reading speed seems to vary for me, though. So does concentration. Sometimes I really listen to music or other people talking. Sometimes I can't quite concentrate, and might want people to repeat themselves.

The original premise seemed to be putting a lot of disparate things together. I'm not sure if that was intentional, or just how it came out. I might be quick to perceive things but not particularly strong. or, I might be grasping things slowly but able to pick up heavy objects. I don't think these things are necessarily connected.

Made me think of a term I haven't encountered
for a very long time: Biorhythms

There used to be charts and even early computer
programs which followed three factors from day
to day in wavey flows. One was the lunar cycle
and one was a projection of your 'biorhythms'.

Can't remember what the third one was... possibly
some projection of your circadian rhythm based on
user supplied data... but the three lines flowed up
and down and over and around each other like a
woven rope, a triple-line weaving vortex along a
horizontal linear path of the days of the week,
ad infinitum.

I recall trying to observe its predictions without
bias but soon fell into the same sort of distortion
of reality applied by believers in astrology, forcing
highly subjective interpretations upon the data.


~jwf~

I was also reminded of biorythms. I'm surprised that seems to have fallen by the wayside. Tycho Brahe also had an idea that certain days of the year were especially unlucky. The same days for everyone as I understand.

Seems the three lines were 'physical, emotional and
intellectual' and there's a free generator available:

http://sitefoundry.com/biorhythms/


~jwf~

PS:
All three of mine seem to be in sync and are currently
on a huge downslide - there's no counter-rotation; they're
flying in close formation and by Dec 7th I'll be in a funk,
crippled and dumb as a brick.

Some days I am sharp and quick thinking. Others my brain is like mush. Most days are somewhere in between...that's just life init'.

It is normal to experience 'variable performance', but:

>>some days I can do 100 pressups, some days I cannot manage 20.

If your strength is declining by something like 80% for not apparent reason, I'd urge you to see a Doctor; or at the very least, get your blood pressure checked.

"f your strength is declining by something like 80% for not apparent reason.."

Well I do work nightshift, so that screws with my muscle-strength, alertness and everything else for a start! At 3am, I can sometimes be really energetic though! More often not

Nightshift!
OMG check out "melatonin".
Seriously.

~jwf~

I read every report and study on the ill-effects of working nightshift and, beleive me, I am well aware that there is just about nothing it does to your body and mind that is good .

But the point I raised in my OP pre-date this job, which I've only been doing for about a year and really, really hope not to be doing in another year's time!

When I'm on my rest days (4 nights on, 4 off) I appear to more or less, be myself, albeit a slightly more prone to sleepiness, clumsiness and forgetfullness, self.

But yes, I think variability is part of the human condtion; it just amazes me sometimes just *how* variable my abilities can be!

But working the night shift might explain the variability.

"To start with, what does it mean to excel in life?"

Hi Maria

What I mean is, those irritating people who seem to achieve more in a year than most of us mere mortals achieve in a lifetime. Margaret Thatcher was renowned for surviving quite happily on 2-3 hours sleep per night, but leaving aside just how much more we could all do with an extra few hours per day, she is the kind of person who really could not have got to her position if she had 'off days'. If you're standing in a chamber full of people shouting questions at you and recording your every twitch, then you have to be 'full on' at all times.

But even lower down the scale, we all know people who are our age but have run numerous businesses, travelled to umpteen countries, play as hard as they work, progress in terms of money, status and achievments in a rapid trajectory upwards from the day they enter school, till they retire, and probably beyond.

Now I know that many many people would respond by saying, it's just as much as of an achievment to raise a family, keep a basic job, 2.5 children and a Volvo, but that would be missing my point. There is quite obviously some difference between such 'average' people, regardless of how happy they are, and those who seem to cram so much into their lives. My assertion is that, that difference is in their variability of performance; there is none. They perform at the full speed they are capable of at all times.

The nightshift is a red herring though Paul; I've always been highly variable; it's just that my useless moments are a little more numerous now.
I could've posted this a year ago before I began working nightshift.

But we don't see them all the time. That would be like "The Truman Show," which was kind of creepy. Some high-achievers take siestas in the middle of the day, or have the capacity to nap for exactly 15 or 30 minutes and then move forward as if there had been no gap. There are also some who use meditation regularly, and achieve a calming effect that lets their minds recharge themselves. Regular exercise helps clear and recharge the mind, too.

Martha Stewart is said to need only about 4 hours of sleep at night. I never imagine her to be seriously sweating about meeting deadlines, though. She has her schedule, and is relaxed in the knowledge that everything will get done in plenty of time.

I used to find that when I got excited about a particular project, that excitement ignited enormous amounts of energy in me. I did not feel tired, because I truly loved what I was doing.

A lot of happy people don't realize that they are working very hard. It doesn't seem hard to them.

Jon Ronson wrote a book called The Psychopath Test, where he found that many high-achievers displayed strong psychopathic traits. Maybe it's a lot easier to achieve things if you don't spend time empathising with people.

"Maybe" it's easier?

I've read some of those "how to succeed" books. The standard line is that it you can work two hours a day more than your fellow employees, you will surely rise to the top. The idea is that the people around you will set you back if you try to act like them or let them influence them.

There's then a danger of being a 'busy fool' though, isn't there?