- Jul 2022
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www.zylstra.org www.zylstra.org
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Harold Jarche looked at his most visited blog postings over the years, and concludes his blog conforms to Sturgeon’s Revelation that 90% of everything is crap. I recognise much of what Harold writes. I suspect this is also what feeds impostor syndrome. You see the very mixed bag of results from your own efforts, and how most of it is ‘crap’. The few ‘hits’ for which you get positive feedback are then either ‘luck’ or should be normal, not sparse. Others of course forget most if not all of your less stellar products and remember mostly the ones that stood out. Only you are in a position to compare what others respond to with your internal perspective.
The cumulative effect of one's perception of Sturgeon's law may be a driving force underlying imposter syndrome.
While one see's the entirety of their own creation process and realizes that only a small fraction of it is truly useful, it's much harder seeing only the finished product of others. The impression one is left with by availability heuristic is that there are thousands of geniuses in the world with excellent, refined products or ideas while one's own contribution is miniscule in comparison.
Contrast this with Matt Ridley's broad perspective in The Rational Optimist which shows the power of cumulative breeding and evolution of ideas. One person can make their own stone hand axe, but no one person can make their own toaster oven or computer mouse alone.
Link to: - lone genius myth (eg. Einstein's special relativity did not spring fully formed from the head of Zeus, there was a long train of work and thought which we don't see the context of)
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- Jun 2022
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www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
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I used to tell students (including PhD students) that 90% of what they will write will not be any good. But the only way they will get to the 10% that is good is by writing the 90% that isn't. So, they'd better start writing now! ;-)
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This can also be considered The Iceberg Principle. The 10% (really 9%) you do see is only visible because of the 90% (really 91%) you don't see. Without that 90% you don't get the 10%.
Often you may need to dig below the surface of something to find it's real value.
This is related to quotes about being able to find something interesting, redeeming, valuable about bad books as well as being able to learn from the fool.
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"Sturgeon's Law". According to those who were there, Theodore Sturgeon the SF author made this comment at a convention in 1953. it is that:90% of everything is crud, and it's the 10% that isn't crud that is important.
I've also heard a version of this that relates to only 1% of what's in the Library of Congress being widely known or read.
Related to: - Pareto principle - iceberg principle
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