Everyone has their superpowers. Knowing what yours are can help you understand what you're good at and what you should avoid.

Mine include...

- Reasoning from first principles
- Seeing both sides of an argument
- Having a clear vision for an ideal imagined future
- Generalizing accurate patterns, architectures, and systems from specific examples
- Acting optimistically to try to improve things around me
- Tolerating pain while working toward the ideal
- Being resilient in the face of failure and adversity

These have been powerful allies in my life and my career.

They have also been dangerous traps that have caused me a great deal of suffering.

- Living with a sense of inefficiency while others see sufficiency
- Feeling a great deal of self-doubt or indecision in the face of abundant evidence
- Living with a sense of deficiency while others are satisfied. Feeling a deep sense of grief if/when it doesn't come to pass
- Struggles trying to explain the "plainly obvious" to those who are lost or even angry
- Continuing to work while others have given up - or worse, resent your efforts
- Like a frog in boiling water, finding myself cooked long before I even realize it
- Continuing to push forward when I really should have given up

My opportunity in the second half of my life is to learn to apply my strengths more wisely - avoiding their downsides and personally destructive potential.