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I'm Smarter Around Other People

It's a weird concept, at least to me, but I find myself saying things to other folk that I did not realize that I had thought and/or articulated that well.  I don't know much psychology but if I use the terms as descriptors I would have to say that my subconscious is a whole lot smarter than my conscious mind is.

I've actually been able to count on this, but not in a magical way. I spend a lot of time reading things on impulse that at the time I don't understand why I'm interested in them, only to hear ideas formed from that reading coming out of my mouth. I put the time in; I'm just not in control of that ship the way that I like to pretend that I am.

I've played with this idea a bit with the New York Times crossword puzzles. The Sunday puzzle is large but not the most difficult; the easiest is on Monday and grows in difficulty until the hardest one comes out on Saturday.  Particularly late in the week I will try the puzzle in the morning and get practically none of the answers. Hours later when I look again I fill the puzzle in from scratch.

This probably works the same way for most folk; maybe I'm late in life realizing its role in my life. I do know that for my students it is important for them to look at questions long before they try to answer them, to give their minds time to work on it in the background. Work begun after midnight on a due date is usually execrable and this is a good model of why.

Getting back to the other people part of this post's title:  much of my service work comes from interacting with others, and this is when I am most startled by what my mind has been working on in the background. I can try to write a document for a committee and struggle but after talking with others I can just transcribe what I remember saying and move on. Very ironic with my introversion.

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