main idea versus detail orienated

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This isn't the square/rectangle one that League Girl mentioned. This is another test................for this one you have to find the triangle figure hidden in the carriage (a triangle that looks like the one on the top). People that are detail oriented find it quickly but people who are big-picture oriented take a few minutes to spot the triangle.

I don't know if this is the same thing or not.

In essays in the like or even in class lectures if the speaker is organized I get the main idea, but in my nemesis, real life situations, I have more of a problem.

Last week I went to a workshop on filling out employment applications and a sample question was, Have you ever not followed a rule at work? The right response was 'yes' because everybody does. My internal reaction is, to the extent I understand them, I'm afraid not to, because I don't have enough of an instinct about which ones are okay to break and which not. On a more subtle level, not the obvious no-no's.

I don't know if this is a detail thing or a social instinct thing.

I would say I'm both. I need to see everything before I feel like I've truly mastered some concept. I think you need both to be able to do things like write computer code or formulate mathematical proofs.

I can't remember where I found that image with the square and rectangles in it. But what was interesting was I came across some blog written by someone who can only see the big picture it impairs him but he saw it as a gift and he had ADD and he had a hard time seeing the details.

I think everyone is both, we all can see details and the big picture. Some people have to see the details because it's part of their job. They have to look for these little details. Some people are either too much of a big picture thinker and some are too detailed to even see the big picture. That I will never get.

I'm not sure, but I may have a trick. I think it is trainable and now i my focus might be on a bigger picture then most. (this may only work because i have some learning disabilities that prevernt me from remembering figures, yet i still read the figures)

I was very detailed oriented, then by going in to business it forced me to have a more open mind. Also, I learnt this from my partner. For example some times the right thing to do to maximize profit would be what i would suggest. Then he would suggest another thing. This would suprise me as he is also a very logical thinker and always sees my side. From there, he would explain to me that the work involved would be too much even if we had the time. And that our time would be better looking at another avenue.

I know this is a very basic example. its just one that comes to mind.

for another example see the * at the end of the post

by being exposed and explained this thinking method i learnt it and then surpassed most people in looking for the big picture.

I think we have the capability to focus on a subject and dissect it to a level that most just wont have the patients or love for. Not knowing that i had aspergers my whole life didnt encourage me to focus on things like computer programing (even though i did dabble in it as a kid) as a matter afact I looked down on myself for things like that. So i pushed my self in to more social situation, even though i couldnt talk i was around people most the time. I had many people that i would consider friends but never had a conversation with.
I lived on my own when i was young with limited budget and no pc. and never was properly introduced to books and stuff

I had a need to focus on something and that became people. I learnt many of their Technics. I learnt how to talk in a professional atmosphere without any sign of aspergers. It was only the small talk and joking around i had trouble with and could never fix,

So, by taking your capability to focus and shifting it on what you want to improve, if that part is indeed improvable, you will have great success.

Staying away from topics like IT and stuff helps. But i understand your need for such things. and I myself am "guilty" of it.

I do however wish that i was exposed more to programing and more technicle things as it would of given me a back up employment plan. Knowing now that i have aspergers I plan to shift y attention on some thing useful that is more technicle (maybe punctuation and spelling lol). Right now my focus is on me. and its not as healthy as i thought it would be.

I have spent the past 3-6 months trying to figure myself out and im learning that its not really worth cause nothing can be done anyways. looking at the big picture i see that i have not done any work in the past 6 months and have been on the net everyday or at the library trying to find a way to fix my problems.

Learning to switch points of interest more frequently is helpful to, focus on things that will help you in your life now. then switch and go back to it later when it interests you again.
there me a price to pay and that would be not being a computer programmer earning 6 figures without risking alot of money.


* Another one would be doing the most profitable thing as compared to doing the the thing that gives you the best life style.
now that i am on my own in business, 90% of my business contacts are in other countries, i never speak to them and all work is done over msn. It has its draw backs that to find such a person that wont just take your money can be costly. But there are ways to filter people. So the lesson here for me was that the negative of people being able to disappear was out weighted by the positive that i didnt have to talk to people and get taken advantage of. And work there was no small talk just instructions.

I am learning sign language and have signs memorized but not the grammar structure so I can't really sign it in ASL (American Sign Lanuage is not English on the hands, it has it's own structure). I really want to be able to do it and understand it but signing to others is something I am ok at.

My teacher has told me to not worry about each individual sign when someone is signing to me but to focus on the idea of what they are telling me.

But even when people talk to me, in things that have nothing to do with what language, I see the details. I see individual words and if someone uses one that I don't understand I am either asking or trying to figure it out and in the process missing things they say while I am doing that.

If I could get the main idea, I wouldn't need to know each word or, in ASL, each individual sign.

If I am reading a book I have favorite pages/details that I re-read a lot. I often forget the ending. It is hard to tell what I book is about because summarizing is nearly impossible at times. After conversations I have a hard time figuring out what we talked because I remember the details. Maybe that is why I like re-reading books several times.

I'll use a math analogy that might make sense only to me. Picture each detail in a conversation as a number. Then the main idea is the sum of them. So in short conversations there are only a few numbers/details to remember and it is possible, at times for me to remember all of them and add them together. So in shorter conversations (very short and very on topic ones) I can figure out what we talked about. But in normal conversations, which are a bit longer, there are so many numbers/details that I have no idea what the sum is (or what the main idea is).

I have a feeling I write with a lot of detail so I will end now. But I would love advice on knowing which details are ok to ignore and any other advice you have on getting the main idea of things I read, hear, or sign or of everyday conversations. I think it depends on what we talk about (how familiar I am with the topic) on if know what the finished conversations is about.

If you were to ask me what someone and I talked about and I didn't feel like details it would feel like lying to you if I left any out.

Ok, ending a paragraph after saying I am ending is an example of my writing in details.

I always been bad to taking note. I never did.
Recently i'm taking notes about norwegian grammar, time by time, and it is first time that I'm able to memorize.

But it seems a detailed thing. I memorized what intetkjønn and felleskjønn are, how articles work, how to use the adjective, and now i must memorize genitive.

I think it depends from contest. When i see an image, i tend to remember it better if i watch the whole picture and often i can remember details too. In written text i seem more detailed oriented. At listening i may be more big picture oriented. i don't know.

When i observe people behaviour i tend to be detail-oriented. I consider people one for one and not in generic masses like italians, germans, english etc...

It seems like you are incapable of seeing the conversation as a whole and are very focused on the details. To a certain extent this may be normal as people always forget some aspects of the conversation. But I cant imagine that you did not know the topic of the conversation. For my self i know while peoples are talking i hear the individual words but afterwards i can make out what the convo was about. Though i hear the individual words i don't have enough time to process it and or to come up with a response to it in a timely fashion. This is seen in small talk where i automatically agree to what ever is said cause i cant process it in time to give a respons.

What may be a good idea if you are really stuck on this issue and it is stoping you from using all you have learnt is maybe take some spoken words and blank out a second or two here and there. this will give your brain less things to process and may give time to analyse the topic more. Also, it will make it impossible to understand the conversation based on each word. Experiment with how long to beep out and maybe you will have to go to the original to understand.

I'm not saying it will work. I know its a lot of work but who knows maybe it will help

Thanks.

If by chance you do try the Technic let me know. Im very interested in ways to get things through my head that go around my learning disabilities