What Is Something That You Are Great At That Not Many People Can Do

"If you are good at something, never do it for free." What is your opinion on the Joker's quotation from The Dark Knight?

I like it, but then, I seem to have read it a different way than most people.I think the emphasis on money in the answers so far is misplaced. Remember, when the Joker actually got the money he asked for alongside that line, he then burned it - so I don't think money was what the Joker was getting at.The meaning I got out of Joker's line was more like:"Don't let others take advantage of your passion for a thing - you'll sell yourself short."If you're good at something that people want done, and willing to do it for free...then you're going to do it for free.This may not be bad in terms of you getting to do the thing you love, but it is selling yourself short - and you never know how much that opportunity cost was, until you reach some opportunity you can't afford.Anyone needs some means to get by. If you do the things you're good at for free, then you need to rely on something else to get by - presumably something you're not good at.It's easy to see why that's a poor idea (no pun intended).There's also the fact that Joker's line, in context, has an additional, specific meaning - remember what his line is the answer to: Mafioso Sal Maroni asking him why Joker hasn't killed Batman yet, if it's so easy.In that context, his response has - I think - a clear implied meaning:"I didn't do it for free yet, because I know you need me to do it more than I need to do it."I think that's actually good advice.At a previous job, I was a subject matter expert on a number of systems and became a crucial part of many processes - too many, and too crucial (the corporate term is "key person dependency issue", as in "it's an issue that we have to depend so much on this key person"). I was about to transition into the next step in my career, and I had assumed that I would just stay where I was - they wanted to keep me, after all.When I got the (expected) glowing job offer, I had a private chat with my manager-and-friend about it. His caution to me was: "Of course they want you. I know you're good, they know you're good, we know what you're good at. That's not what's important here. The question is, do you want them?"The truth was, I hadn't thought about that. I was just happy and flattered to get a job offer and keep working.I was good at something. And my manager was cautioning me not to forget to watch out for myself, when selling that around.That seems like fine advice to me.

Why are some people good at everything?

I am assuming “good at everything” means people who appear to be above average in a wide range of tasks. Me personally, I’m above average in most forms of art (creative writing, visual and graphical arts, music (singing and piano)), mathematics, science, Emotional Quotient, business, and even a random thing like cooking. However, if you ask me “What were the alliances during the World Wars?” or “What is the role of simile in this piece?” I will be moping around and sulking, wondering why in the world proving a trigonometric identity is easier than identifying literary devices. Long story short: I’m terrible at history, geography, and mainstream literature.The reason why I don’t perform well in those subjects (and dancing haha) is very simple. I really, really don’t care. I don’t think they’re important or worth my time. But the things I do care about, I obsess over them. I can’t sit still in Physics class or keep blurting things out before the teacher gets to the punchline. I will paint for five hours straight and practice the piano as if it’s the only thing that will keep me alive. I can go through the Mathematics portion of the SAT test five times and grade it five times. Because I care.People who appear to do great at things, put in a lot of work and effort. It doesn’t happen overnight. I can guarantee you, if you are willing to work for some things, you will get there. Everyone has a different pace of learning, some can learn faster and some learn slower. That’s your luck. People who are good at a bunch of things probably picked them up quickly and practiced a bunch. Even if you can’t pick it up quickly, you can make it up in practice.So, in summary, talent * effort = skill. Skill * effort = success. The effort counts twice. It may seem unfair to you that some people got it easy with talent, but I promise you, they also doubt themselves and they work hard to overcome it. So work hard, and you’ll see the results.

When do you know you are good at something?

If you are enjoying yourself in any endeavor that is a clue that you might be good at what you’re doing. We tend to enjoy doing the kinds of things that we do best because something inside us (or someone else) tells us that we are good at it.Also, listen to other people. If someone compliments you on how you do something, listen to the words they’re using. If they speak mostly in generalities, they may just be ‘being nice’ but if they compliment specific parts of your ‘performance’ than you are probably good at it.Also, listen to experts in the field. There will always be someone who is better at something than you are. Listen to what they say about how you perform. They will be honest with you about your performance because they will have appreciated when others were honest with them about their work.Above all, don’t worry too much about being ‘the best’ at something - just focus on doing your best no matter what you’re doing. Chances are, if you try hard, you can become good at just about anything.

Does everyone have something they are predominately good at, or do some people just suck at everything?

Everyone (as a broad generalization) has genetic tendencies towards specific activities. I’m going to use a well-known comparison in the general media. In football, the two most predominant players at the moment are Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7) and Messi (M10).CR7 has genetic tendencies towards power, strength, and solid strides. He also has a strong gene for sprinting (see his early years at Manchester United). People often criticize him in comparison to M10 for not having the speed and the turning abilities of a deadly dribbler.M10, on the other hand, has genetic tendencies for changing his angular momentum and feet coordination. If you’ve ever seen him play, he’s masterful at orchestrating changes in direction and rotation. Respectively, M10 is often target of comments saying that he lacks strength, speed, and agility.If we use this analogy, it’s acceptable to assume that every living combination of genes (also referred to as a living being) has some predominant values in their structures. Whether everyone has capitalized (or found) them or not is a completely different question.