there's a stereotype in our culture that
some people are too smart for their own
good
hi I'm tied Cheryl and I'm a
psychologist and the author of awkward
the science of why were socially awkward
and why that's awesome there's a finding
in psychology that people who are
socially awkward are also more likely to
demonstrate what psychologists call
striking Cowan which means that they
have tremendous ability in a specific
area so it's not the case that people
are usually smart across the board it's
usually the case that people are really
smart in one or two areas and then they
might be average or even below average
in other areas one of the splits that
you see is that if someone's really
smart in a certain area they're less
likely to be socially skilled or be a
good communicator but they also have
this obsessive interest they have this
tendency to focus really intensely and
really narrowly sometimes on a specific
topic now that can work against them
sometimes sometimes they're overly rigid
or sometimes they don't like it when
their routines are broken but that can
be a real strength as well because
someone with great focus and great
energy is more likely to persist through
hard times more likely to persist when
tasks could get boring to other people
and it's manifest in what psychologists
call deliberate practice which is the
idea that you practice the same thing
over and over until you reach a point of
mastery and key to deliberate practice
is the idea that you're willing to work
the hardest on the parts that you're the
worst at and awkward people seem to
enjoy the kind of persistence and long
hours that go into mastering a certain
area or a certain topic so we often like
to say that people are nerding out about
something that's actually a very awkward
kind of characteristic you're super
enthusiastic about it you're super
focused on it but all of this focus and
energy can sometimes result in expertise
and and can even result in times when
they reach groundbreaking innovation or
redefine the way that a field operates
or things
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