Impatient with self when learning new skills?

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greatballzofire
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17 Aug 2007, 5:38 pm

When I want to learn something new, quite often it is very hard for me to be patient. I feel like a real dumbbell and get mad at myself because of having to struggle with what should be very simple, like how to back up my links to my external harddrive. I got really frustrated because I couldn't find the menu on my Windows Internet Explorer in order to use the file button so I could proceed. My husband patiently showed me that clicking on a blank spot will bring up the menu, ect ect...and I was on my way. What a simple little thing, but I get so angry with myself over this its a wonder I have ever learned anything! :oops:
I am not this impatient when I am teaching someone else how to do something. At least I persist. That's some comfort. My mistakes don't make me so mad, its just the learning process itself that is so hard. Once I do learn something, it stays, thankfully. :D
Does this frustration and anger with the learning process happen to other people here?
If so, how do you guys deal with this?


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22 Aug 2007, 3:57 am

I find I have an input/output problem.

If I try to do something new, I am running both badly, but if I take what I want to do, and say, how does this work? It is all input, no problem. Once it is in, I can do the out.

Teaching others causes first thinking of what, then output is easy.

Learning/doing does not work for me. Process then goal does.



woodsman25
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22 Aug 2007, 4:09 am

Inventor wrote:
I find I have an input/output problem.

If I try to do something new, I am running both badly, but if I take what I want to do, and say, how does this work? It is all input, no problem. Once it is in, I can do the out.

Teaching others causes first thinking of what, then output is easy.

Learning/doing does not work for me. Process then goal does.


Thats how I feel, u put it well, makes ya look like you are stupid in front of others also. I get so damn angry with that.!


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22 Aug 2007, 7:45 am

I feel the exact same way. When I find myself becoming frusterated, I remind myself that people who are average or above in intelligence can be a little bit slow, as well. Than I don't worry about it, so much. :)



Brittany2907
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23 Aug 2007, 12:42 am

I am continuously impatient with myself when trying to learn new skills.

If I cannot do something then I will get frustrated and just give up and then be depressed for the rest of the day just over that little thing.


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26 Aug 2007, 4:27 am

Is this frustration with learning perhaps an aspie trait? since more than a few of us seem to have remarkably similar frustrations with apparantly the same cause, it makes one wonder...

Its not that we are stupid or even have 'learning difficulty', more that we have differences in the way the information is absorbed.
most neuronorms learn by a consistant one or two of a selection of methods. I find that my learning method changes depending on mood, environment, subject etc. one day i may learn best simply by rote, another day I may need to draw diagrams and pretty pictures.
this is perhaps another way in which the famous aspergers sensibilities come into play.

In my mind, there are a series of little flash cards, each one dealing with a fact, concept or idea. when required, these little flash cards will independantly pop up and provide me with the answer I need. If the appropriate card does not appear, I know that no amount of brain straining will make it do so, even if I know the answer is in fact in there somewhere. I simply have to wait until a memory association brings that answer card to the front of the draw.
This has in the past caused me intense embarrasement. for example, the time in a tafe class when the teacher asked me a very simple question which even a five year old should have been able to get right. Yet I could not for the life of me come up with the solution.
I dropped out of that class in a fit of depression over that.


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mutantleg
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31 Aug 2007, 3:46 am

I guess i know what you mean,
its a little silly, but i've been learning to draw for a while now
and i keep constantly forgetting how i draw!

Its like one day i know it and improve on it a little
and the other day i sit down .. and have most of it completely forgotten!

I started making notes now to fix this,
but its still going very very slowly.

And i have the same problem with programming,
i need to always have a help file opened with the commands
or im just totally lost :?



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31 Aug 2007, 2:52 pm

Brittany2907 wrote:
I am continuously impatient with myself when trying to learn new skills.

If I cannot do something then I will get frustrated and just give up and then be depressed for the rest of the day just over that little thing.

Pretty much how I am, too.
Haven't much patience nor ability to take long view, so I get stuck in the present moment, feeling like I'll never figure this out. Intellectually am aware that "practice makes perfect" and that people rarely get a new skill right the first time, but emotionally I haven't the persistence & am easily discouraged. Doing a poor job of something is so upsetting that I can't soldier on/slog through until some hoped for future point, by which time I'll have finally made progress. I give up, give in, get disheartened & down on myself.
The things I'm good at come naturally to me, and most other things just feel impossible & I haven't faith in self to believe I'll achieve in those areas. Things I'm not good at (things that are difficult) are no fun for me, so that's another reason I don't go far with new things. Know that's a self-perpetuating pattern, alas.
Lessian wrote:
Its not that we are stupid or even have 'learning difficulty', more that we have differences in the way the information is absorbed.
most neuronorms learn by a consistant one or two of a selection of methods. I find that my learning method changes depending on mood, environment, subject etc. one day i may learn best simply by rote, another day I may need to draw diagrams and pretty pictures.
this is perhaps another way in which the famous aspergers sensibilities come into play.

Appreciate your perspective.
Wish I could step outside myself & not be enmeshed in my disasters & frustration. Hard to work around myself when my brain is stuck in the pit of despair. Want to be constructive & productive rather than grinding further into the mental rut, but can't see myself adapting positively to change.


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17 Sep 2007, 1:57 am

I have a tendency to try to jump into things at a higher level instead of starting easy and working my way up. Sometimes it actually works, but usually I'm in over my head, get frustrated, and give up. I guess I have a problem with being seen as a beginner?



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17 Sep 2007, 9:49 pm

I tend to do the whole in over my head thing as well. I always seem to start projects that in theory are entirely do-able, but in practice are surprisingly difficult.
In my case, the problem is that my standards for myself are to high. something looks easy, so I should be able to figure it out and get it done. If I cant, it must be because I am not good enough or incompetant.
And yet my standards for other people are a lot more flexible and realistic.


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