Rant: Why is specificity such a rare trait?

[Kevin]

I see this shit everywhere, and maybe I react to it so strongly because I used to be a victim. No one is specific.

An example: The ever-trash r/entrepreneur subreddit. Just go look at it right now - I'll wait.

A software developer says, "I have enough funds to maybe create a small website/business on the side." WHAT THE FUCK? Enough funds to maybe create a small business or website on the side. Why not just say "_______________________________________________," because that's what information actually entered my brain when I read that sentence.

First off, there is no action in that sentence. It's a statement of (potential) fact. He's not saying he's going to do anything, just that he has enough money to maybe do something. So we can fix that by changing the sentence to "I saved up funds and want to create a small website in my spare time."

Now we have intention in the sentence. But it's still terrible. There is no specificity in the funds or the website, or the spare time. Let's try something like, "I saved up $2,000 and want to create a website about programming in the extra 15 hours a week I have when I'm not working."

Now there's intention and some specificity. But there's still not enough for us to help this dude. What is he even struggling with?

• Does he think that $2,000 isn't enough money and wants to know how much he needs?
• Does he not know how to spend the time efficiently?
• Does he have no clue how to start a site?

It could be anything. So we now have to change the sentence again (and make up his issue because I have no fucking clue what it actually was) to, "I've saved up $2k and want to invest it into a website where I teach programming challenges. I have 15 hours to spend per week and am confused on what I should be working on first."

Whoa, now we actually know how to help this guy!

Lesson: Be as specific as possible. When asking for help, thinking about your business, or working on problems in your life. It's never going to hurt.

 

[CCarter]

Dude, I've given up on these "flimpsy" people. It's like sending a "hello" into cave and there is no echo back. Blank stare. I believe at a certain point creativity has been completely drained from so much of society that when even do want to do something they can't even come up with an idea - OR they want to do something big but want instant gratification form it, but if they can't see the instant gratification they don't want to put the action or spend the time doing it all by themselves on their own. So they are just flapping into the universe for something and they hope that kinetic energy, unfocused as it is, will produce something.

It's like a fish that jumps out of water onto land and is there wailing/flapping around land trying to breath. It's clearly out of it's element and at some point realizes it fucked up by jumping out of the water, but what we are seeing is the flapping around on the land with no focus.

Creativity is hard.

But also putting sentences and ideas together in a singular format so you can convey ideas seems to be harder. Maybe it's all the technology, 140 character mentality, of life. They expect to convey a message, a complex business idea or even question in short "tweets" and
"somehow" the world will understand.

if someone has a problem being as specific as possible when asking a question is the only way they'll get it answered. But I don't think people read back their own comments before hitting publish to be honest OR they simply don't have practice in conveying ideas. It makes you wonder what the fuck are they teaching people in schools since even a 5 year old should know how to convey his/her idea to other people, yet some of these people...

 

[Ryuzaki]

It's an epidemic of not knowing how to think. You can only communicate as clearly as you can think.

Even if you're lucky enough to take a philosophy class in high school, you're still only taught what other people think, but not how to rationally employ your brain. You aren't made aware of logic, fallacies in debate, paradigms and zeitgeists that you're trapped within, etc.

Beyond even that, because that's giving people too much credit, the closest they ever got to reading a book was watching the Harry Potter movie and reading the caption on their latest Snap Chat.

This is why people fail, because they can't set goals. Everything exists in a state of wishy-washy-dom in their heads. 80% of the intro threads here, where we're supposed to be the front-line pushing the fringe, can be summed up as "Hi, I like SEO and like money. I like apples." That's supposed to be an introduction. Nothing about your username, avatar choice, location, history in IM, age, experience, interests, skill sets, weak points, goals, timelines, etc. Not a lick of specificity beyond vocalizing an animal impulse. "I wike munny."

And people act like they don't understand why there's such a thing as the top 10% of income earners, let alone 1%. Because they don't understand it. They can't even fathom what it takes to achieve a goal, let alone set a goal.

The movie Idiocracy was so on-point that it's scary. It's sadly up there in the leagues of Orwell and Huxley of how prescient it was.

 

[Klayne]

The movie Idiocracy was so on-point that it's scary. It's sadly up there in the leagues of Orwell and Huxley of how prescient it was.

There is a show I started to watch "Black Mirror", and it shows a lot of things with whats wrong with society and technology in general, and problems we may face in future. It's a satire and Sci Fi, but it's actually already happening, but just in a different way, and more realistic. Watched the second episode, and saw comments were people sad things such as it can't happen, but the thing is it's already happening. Would recommend to watch it, as each episode is as a different movie. Similar to Idiocracy, but every episode is different.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I've watched both seasons and the Christmas special. Some of it can leave you feeling really depressed and hopeless, and existentially unsettled (especially the Christmas one). Netflix is paying the creators to do a 3rd season exclusively for them too.

 

[Klayne]

I've watched both seasons and the Christmas special. Some of it can leave you feeling really depressed and hopeless, and existentially unsettled (especially the Christmas one). Netflix is paying the creators to do a 3rd season exclusively for them too.

I'm at 1 Season, 3 Episode. It's quite interesting. I wonder how the average brainwashed citizen would react to watching a show like that ?

 

[Potatoe]

As anyone who has read my posts here at BuSo can see, brevity isn't my strongest trait. Being brief and precise are two very useful skills in business. These are two things I definitely need to work on.

 

[turbin3]

 

[Kevin]

As anyone who has read my posts here at BuSo can see, brevity isn't my strongest trait. Being brief and precise are two very useful skills in business. These are two things I definitely need to work on.

Good start

But I don't think people read back their own comments before hitting publish to be honest OR they simply don't have practice in conveying ideas.

I agree. I think it's deeper than that, though. We have to ask, "Why do they not read their own comments before they hit publish, and why don't they have practice conveying ideas?"

I think @Ryuzaki nails it here:

It's an epidemic of not knowing how to think. You can only communicate as clearly as you can think.

Although not fully. If they put 2-3m of effort into forming thoughts, it'd get there. But they don't want to...instead they want to outsource their thinking.

This is good if it's something that should be outsourced. "Hey VA, please find me round-trip Southwest Airlines flights from X to Y. I want to leave Date1 and come back Date2, and I want nonstop flights. Price is no object. Thanks!"

That's fine to outsource, because it's not really thinking. You already did all of the thinking for them by giving them everything they need - by being specific.

I think @Klayne gets at it a bit here:

There is a show I started to watch "Black Mirror", and it shows a lot of things with whats wrong with society and technology in general, and problems we may face in future.

The race to the bottom in attention span and overall fragmentation of attention span leaves otherwise smart people unable to actually form coherent thoughts in their head. They're not thinking about what to convey and how to convey it to get back the information that they need.

It's a shame to see, but at the same time...where they fail, you can build a competitive advantage by simply not making these mistakes.

Thoughts?