Hacking your thoughts

While working on my poker game, I wanted to alter how I was thinking so that I could pick up on the behavior of the other players. I thought of a way to "hack" my thinking to incorporate new thoughts.

Generally, when I'm at a poker table, I have a running commentary in my head about the players and the action, e.g. "This person just did a continuation bet after raising preflop" or "Three people called the continuation bet".

What I thought of is adding more possible outcomes given the start of a sentence. For example, using the thought "This person just did a continuation bet" I can add new thoughts like "... how often do they do that?" and "... the bet was about x% of the pot"

This can also apply to thoughts like "This person tends to fold on the flop after a bet" followed by the new thought "...so I may want to tend to bet if they're in the pot to get them out"

The point is that if I train myself to have various thoughts with the same start of a thought, then my mind will more easily go down those new paths when prompted. Thus I can increase the amount of analysis I do at the table when my normal running commentary triggers one of the new paths.

The Secret of Genius

The secret of genius lies in technical proficiency and grasp and use of abstract concepts.

When a narrow/nice field is practice repetitively, technical proficiency emerges in that field, so that the person can quickly progress through items that would take an outsider a long time to complete.

When someone can grasp abstract concepts, apply them, and form new ones, they are able to bend and break rules for narrow/nice fields and can handle a wider/more wicked field.

An example of technical proficiency is someone who can play a piano or guitar or rapidly calculate math formulae. An example of abstract concept use is a music improvisionist or someone who applies math concepts to non-math problems.

In fact, we use the word "improvising" when we are reacting to situations we are not prepared for.

How I ended up at flexjobs.com and careerpivot.com and what I learned

How did I end up at flexjobs.com and careerpivot.com? I did a search on "generalist job -nurse" (because apparently generalist rn as well as hr is a thing). Then I stumbled across a column at careerpivot.com. That led me to (the author's) podcast. One of the podcasts was an interview with someone from flexjobs.com.

Also of note, I read that in smaller companies where people need to fulfill several roles, a generalist will fare better. In a larger company that can afford to hire enough people to cover all needs, specialists will thrive.

I don't know if people can switch between being a generalist and specialist. I can only speak for my own experience. I think I specialize up to the "adept" stage in any givin discipline, then lose interest. And I don't think I'm likely to change. So it may be true that a smaller company is a better fit for me, and if it becomes a larger company, I would lose my place.