Bruce Lee once said, “I don’t fear the man who practices 10,000 different kicks. I fear the man who practices one kick 10,000 times.” In reality, of course, the great martial artist was hardly afraid of anyone, but such a focus on something almost always means being somehow close to perfection.
There is a thread on the internet, partly bragging, partly sarcastic and full of self-deprecation, where netizens tell what superpowers and unique skills they have. From driving trains to constantly choosing the wrong line at the store, from speed reading to making a really high pitched squeak sound in the back of one’s throat – please welcome to this wonderful selection made for you by We!
More info: Reddit
#1
Being alone without being lonely! 🎉.
#2
Their, they’re, there.
#3
Picking the wrong line at the grocery store.
A while back, a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, the author of which, the user u/RackCitySanta, asked readers a rather provocative question, in my opinion: “What’s something that you know you’re better than 98% of people at?” Judging by the comments, the topic starter truly opened Pandora’s box of sorts…
Judge for yourself – as of today, the thread has 4.4K upvotes and over 6.5K various comments, where the discussion goes from ways to land a plane on water to debates about whether a squirrel’s guttural screech can actually scare away coyotes. Perhaps this is one of the most varied threads I’ve ever seen!
#4
Losing weight and keeping it off. I have lost nearly 200 pounds over 23 years ago with an iron will not to gain it back. Studies indicate I am in the 1% success rate at this point. No surgeries or injections, just diet and exercise.
#5
Giving subcutaneous injections at work. I am the queen of this.🙂. I have a special method that I use, that makes it pretty much painless for patients. One of the best moments of my day is when I give one of these shots, and the patient looks at me amazed, and says ” I didn’t even feel that!” 😎.
#6
American Indian Law.
I haven’t been a practicing attorney for a few years, but currently work in a legal-adjacent field. Multiple times I have had people come in with all sorts of ideas on how the laws work on a particular reservation.
This particular tribe has its own bar, and I’m maybe one of 200 people in the world who has taken and passed their bar exam. Needless to say, I have had to correct many a false assumption.
In fact, by the way, getting into the top 2% in any field is not such a difficult task. Let’s do some math – the population of the Earth today is 8.142 billion people, so 2% of that number is actually 162.4 thousand people. That’s about the size of Springfield, Missouri.
Now just imagine a Springfield where everyone from the mayor to the last homeless dude is, well, a top-notch pilot. Or a professional cook. Well, actually, a truly unique skill is being in a much lower percentile.
#7
The self awareness to know I’m prob not better than 98% of people at something.
#8
Making up fake scenarios in my head and hurting my own feelings.
#9
Overthinking, I’m the best at it for sure.
Tom Brady, as you probably know, was drafted as the overall 199th pick, but in one of his interviews, the greatest football player in history once admitted that this meant not only that NFL managers rated 198 players higher than him.
It also meant that he was stronger or luckier than thousands and thousands of footballers who were never drafted or had a chance to get into the League. From this angle, the perception becomes, you must admit, a little different.
Experts say that in order to be considered a true professional in your field, you need to devote at least 10K hours to it. Including training and work. Of course, this is an average figure – because some people achieve efficiency faster, some slower, but, in terms of a standard 40-hour work week, this is about 3.5 years.
#10
Procrastinating.
#11
I was taught blacksmithing at a young age. Haven’t met anyone else that still does it.
#12
Kinda lame, but apparently, untying knots. My mom used to brag that I could unite any knot in under 5 minutes. Rope, twine, shoelaces, electrical cords, plastic bags, jewelry. And it’s still true today. I’ve been challenged and timed.
Interestingly, this study, published on LinkedIn, claims that depending on the generation, the number of years spent by the average worker in one job is steadily decreasing. So, while baby boomers spent more than 10 years in one job, and Gen X – from 5 to 10, millennials change jobs with a frequency of 3 to 5 years.
This still leaves the opportunity to “gain” those 10K hours, right? But Gen Z, as the authors claim, are mainly job-hoppers, changing jobs on average every one to three years. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why employers often rant about young employees? Who actually knows?
#13
Minding my own business.
#14
Keeping secrets. And it sucks, because people are always telling me things that I don’t want to know and/or have no business knowing…because they know I’m better at keeping secrets that 98% of others.
#15
With proof? Typing. I can type 120 wpm on a bad day, 140 on a good day. I hit well over 100 wpm on a phone too.
As for self-critical jokes about how some of us are better than anyone else in the world at getting into trouble or making the wrong life choice – after all, our world largely rests on self-deprecation. Just imagine if everyone around us were completely serious and entitled! Perhaps we would not want to live in such a world at all, so self-deprecating humanity will always have a chance…
#16
Hugs. I am a phenomenal hugger!
I think 🤔.
#17
Driving trains. Better than 99.9% of people even.
#18
Olympic style fencing, of course. Not because I’m an excellent fencer or anything, but because it is a *wildly* uncommon sport. Here in the US for example, the total number of registered fencers – which includes very nearly everyone with anything more than a few beginner training sessions – is under 100,000 people. While it would be difficult to compile *actual* numbers the world over, and while the sport is much more popular in other countries, there is no chance that more than a fraction of a percent of the world’s population has *any* fencing training.
In any case, we’ll be really glad if you read all these stories, from the truly unique to the simply sarcastic and ridiculous, mark those that you really enjoyed and, perhaps, tell us something about yourself in the comments too. In the end of the day, we’re almost certain that each of you is unique in your own way – so why not reveal this uniqueness to the world right now?
#19
Pattern recognition.
I can usually say the villain, plot and twist of a movie within the first few minutes. Sometimes I get it from the opening credits. I can sing the next lyrics of a song I’ve never heard before.
I thought I was psychic when I was younger. A lot of things happen as I predict. I ***love*** it when I’m wrong.
#20
Being humble. Like, I’m the best at that.
#21
I’m really good at making people smile, very quickly.
#22
Making a really high pitched squeak sound in the back of my throat that makes coyotes bark back at me.
#23
There are around 800,000 certificates pilots in the US and I’m one of them. With a population of 330,000,000 people in the US, that makes me better than at least 99.7% of people in the US at flying airplanes.
#24
Tetris.
#25
I hate it but grading comics and cards. I can take a 10 second look at a comic or baseball/mtg/Pokémon card and give you an exact grade it would received from a professional company and I’ve never had training. Last I checked I’be done it for about 400ish products and been right 99% of the time. It’s my one innate talent and it has no use at all since I don’t collect or get involved with em anymore And it’s not really marketable in a way that actually makes decent money.
#26
Pissing off my wife.
#27
Fixing planes? But only bc I suspect most ppl can’t do it at all.
#28
Lucid dreaming Which of course is rather useless.
#29
Not panicking in stressful situations.
#30
Unfortunately, due to statistics and matchmaking, I know I’m in the 98th percentile for several video games.
#31
According to Warcraft Logs, enhancement shaman.
#32
Powerpoint presentations. Let me give ya’ll a few tips:
– ALWAYS use a BLACK background with WHITE text. If I catch you using a white background with black text, or any other color background with a text color that blends into the background, I will manifest in your closet and take a s**t in it.
– NEVER have more that SIX (6) items onscreen at once. The human brain can only keep track of up to 6 things at once. Try it. Once you get past 6 items, your brain has to manually count them to even keep track of how many there are. And by “items,” I don’t just mean pictures – I mean blocks of text, too.
– Speaking of text, STOP PUTTING GIANT WALLS OF TEXT IN YOUR PRESENTATION. Your presentation is supposed to *add* to your speech. You’re not supposed to read off of it like notes, and if the audience has to pause and read off your slides, then they’re not paying attention to your speech. All text should be a minimal summary of what you’re saying. The less text you have, the better. You also shouldn’t have to squint to read said text.
– All images should be high-quality. No grainy-a*s jpgs that you had to resize to fit the screen. If you can see pixels, it’s a bad quality image.
– 9 times out of 10 you do NOT need titles for your slides. I know it’s included as a default in most presentation design programs, but it is not necessary. It doesn’t add anything, and usually just draws audience attention away from your speech.
– You gotta have charisma when giving a speech. No mumbling, no monotone, don’t talk too fast or too slow, recover quickly when you stumble over your words, and try not to look nervous. And LOOK at the audience, don’t just read off your notes. If you have an accent or a speech impediment…just try your best.