What are you really good at, and could you teach someone else to do it?

I am kick-ass at Hula Hoop.

And cooking. I could teach you to cook.

The harp (of the string variety) – and yes, it’s the dream job I’m running back to in October! Gosh I love my life!

I am a very good editor. I can and have taught others how to edit.

I have taught martial arts off and on since the late 80s and seem to have a knack of finding out how students learn, especially if they have difficulty learning from other instructors.

I have managed to change the mind of a few racists because, if I believe there is a chance of changing their minds, I am very patient, non confrontational, and know how to debate. The racists who have ceased being racist to me are amongst my greatest life accomplishments.

I seem to be better at teaching about my people than most, seem to be able to reach Gadje minds. That may be incorrect but is my impression.

I am also good at teaching more about the Holocaust than just statistics. Included in my decades long study of the Holocaust has been climbing into the minds of amongst the vilest humans in recorded history. I have the gift of gab and skill with the pen needed to teach what I have learned, including the psychological aspects of both perpetrators and victims.

Copywriting… if my student had a flair or even just a desire for writing and an appreciation of proper grammar and punctuation.

I am able to handle dealing with 28 3rd graders just fine. I may be able to teach you a thing or two.

I’m really good at a number of things, but I lack the patience to be an effective teacher.

I am good at casseroles.. I am a casserole queen. I can teach how to make any casserole under the sun. I can teach you how to cook for a Army. My mom was a casserole guru, it was passed down to me. I even wrote a casserole cookbook.

I am expert at MacGyvering things…I can fix or jury-rig just about anything with what is on hand. Aside from that wishful thinking, I can teach you how to simply survive short term or long term again with what is locally available. I can also teach you how to play guitar, how to defend yourself and also how to give a really good massage.

I used to be good at teaching people to do door-to-door fundraising. I had two trumpet students who became pretty good.

But you know the saying: those who can’t do, teach?

I’d rather do, I guess. Besides which, there’s nothing I’m really good at, although there are a lot of things I am good at. I suppose I could teach most of them.

I can seriously sell poo to a toilet and convince the coat off an Eskimo and have found success in training others how to be great sales representatives.

I can teach someone how to play volleyball. I actually coached a high school JV volleyball team several years ago. The year before I coached, they only won one game. The year I coached, we went 10–4. WOO. =)

I’ve also managed to show people how to have fun while being sober. I rarely drink, but a lot of my friends do and some of them think the only way to truly have fun is going out to a club and getting smashed. One of my friends gave me a really awesome compliment several years ago. She basically said she never thought she could have just as much fun hanging out with someone and not drinking, rather than going out and getting wasted like she normally does. That made me smile. =)

Not that I practice it with my own writing and I don’t think I’m alone on here with being good at proof reading. My ex was writing one of his textbooks and he was always asking me to proof read it and type it. I also helped him write his unpublished science fiction novel. He was such an ego maniac that when he told me a situation he was trying to compose he asked me to compose it for him. For some reason he got angry with me because it was so good. See what I put up with?
A man , an economist, banker, author and CEO is selling a book and tape (DVD) on tv. The book and DVD have exactly the same cover. But on the DVD the word, “collapse” is misspelled.
I was really surprised this got past everyone. It just popped out at me when I was viewing the show last night. I have no idea if the author or the show would even care about the mistake.
Like most people who have cooked for more than half their lives I could teach cooking. But not French or German cooking.

I am good at being really stealthy. I have a phenomenal nose and acute hearing. But seeing is my down fall. My mom was cooking pizza and i could smell that it was cooked thoroughly with a little burn on the edges. I use my nose to find lost items. If I’m in a dead sleep i can hear and will wake up to somebody steeping one foot into my room. I can hear who it is based on weight.

@jjmah yep. 15 4-year-olds all day every day. And they teach me a lot too.

I can teach someone to put an IV catheter into the neck, traveling through the heart into the pulmonary artery.

How to properly inspect a hotel, which includes knowing when to laugh or being thoroughly grossed out by what you find.

I tutor high school students in maths, but I’m not as good at it as I was a few years back. My maths skills are declining, but my teaching skills are improving.

I can teach Adobe InDesign—isn’t that boring?
I can show people how to treasure-hunt yard sales, thrift shops, and craigslist.

Drinking.
Talking.
*Seeing beyond the bullshit.

*most folks don’t like learning this

I am great at setting up and maintaining coral reef tanks. I teach people how to do it almost daily at work :)

I have taught cross stitch, needlepoint, and plastic canvas stitching. I can also teach basic cooking techniques and how to buy and make cheap, nutritious meals. I can teach little children crafts, how to behave, how to read, and basic arithmetic. I have home schooled two sons and three grandsons, and I was a volunteer instructor for the U. S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps

I can definitely teach a few school subjects (which is why I still consider being a teacher or professor). I’ve tutored kids in Latin, English/grammar, SATs, and math (at high school levels). I can teach people in all of those subjects to varying degrees. Latin and grammar/linguistics are definitely my strongest, but I am good at the others and know how to present them to other people so that they can learn them. I can also teach people how to cook, clean, and garden. Would I make a good housewife? Possibly. I learned it all from my mom… :)

Also, most people know that I’m a geography fiend. I could teach people a lot about that too seldom-studied subject. :)

I finally figured out what pisses me off about this question. It’s the judgementalism of it. If it only asked what could I teach someone, I could reel off a list of a dozen things without thinking. But it doesn’t. It asks what I’m really good at.

I don’t think I’m really good at anything, and I doubt I ever will. It isn’t for me to say. If someone else thinks I’m good at something and they tell me, I feel good, but I would never assume they stand for more than themselves, nor would I use that one compliment as an excuse to advertise myself as good, much less really good.

“Really good” is an enormously high standard to me. Maybe Obama is really good at politics. Maybe Tom Cruise is really good at acting tough and funny. Warren Buffet is really good at business.

I seriously doubted that anyone here was really good at anything, because if they were, they wouldn’t be here. But there are dozens of people who say they are really good, which is a wonderful thing. It must mean fluther is an amazing place to have so many really good people here. It makes me wonder what I’m doing here amongst such illuminati. Why does anyone suffer me? Oh well. It doesn’t matter. It’s open to me until they cut me off and throw me out, which will no doubt happen soon. I shan’t dwell on that. I will be in the moment. Whatever happens happens. Deep breath.

@wundayatta I agree with the thrust of your thoughts but I do personally know a few Jellies who are at the top of their game just as I feel I am at what I do. They/I/we come here for a much needed break in our lives. I know I do and it is almost impossible to go 24/7 at anything without needing to take a break and “cool your jets”.

@wundayatta Aren’t you suppose to be pretty good at something in order to teach it? I mean, you don’t have to be, but shouldn’t you be? I know there’s that quote: ”He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches”, but even then, you can’t teach something well that you personally don’t know dick about. Because then that wouldn’t be teaching, it would be misleading. So, I’m failing to understand where you’re coming from.

”nor would I use that one compliment as an excuse to advertise myself as good, much less really good.”

First off, it doesn’t seem that very many people are saying they’re really good at something based on just one compliment.

We have a few editors and copyeditors who have taught people before.

I physically coached a high school volleyball team.

@Arisztid has been an instructor of martial arts on and off for about 20 years.

@Frenchfry is so great at casseroles that she even wrote her own casserole cookbook.

@uberbatman has taught others how to set up and maintain coral reef tanks because she works there.

@YARNLADY can teach any motherfucker how to stitch (this much we knew already) and she was a volunteer instructor for the U.S. Navel Sea Cadet Corps.

@DominicX has tutored students in a variety of subjects.

And I’m sure a few others have been actual teachers/instructors/tutors as well.
Even if they haven’t, most people have passions and goals in life. Something they truly strive for and over time they do become really good at it.

I also wouldn’t use the word advertise to describe what anybody is doing here. We’re all just simply answering the damn question.

“I seriously doubted that anyone here was really good at anything, because if they were, they wouldn’t be here.”

This makes absolutely no sense. Are we all suppose to be a bunch of dumbfucks or something? Are we suppose to have no qualities, abilities or talents? Why exactly wouldn’t we be here?
I see absolutely nothing but ridicule in your answer toward everyone else in this thread who simply answered the question in the way it was intended. Instead, you’re saying that we all must be or think we’re Illuminati to even dare speak about things we’re really good at.
I find it highly hypocritical that you don’t like this question because of the judgementalism of it. Aren’t you doing the same thing to all of us?

I’m sorry you couldn’t think of something you’re really good at. I hope one day you’re able to say with confidence that you’re really good at something. This was a thread where we could all share with each other things in our own personal lives that we’re really good at and can teach to others. Don’t ridicule us for it.

I’m sorry if you felt ridiculed. It was not meant as ridicule.

I’m sure people here are good at many things. It’s just the “really good” standard that I question. To me, “really good” is a standard that excludes all except those at the top of their discipline. Like I said, if you’re a rock star, it seems to me you’d be busy doing your thing instead of hanging out on fluther. I did not mean to insult you or anyone. Apparently I’m not very good at not insulting people, but I’m certainly not really good at it, so I can’t teach it.

Perhaps I am just angry that I have done nothing that would allow me to answer this question with anything useful. I’m sorry for disturbing your question. I shouldn’t lash out in such a childish way. I’ll try not to do it again.

@wundayatta

I disagree with the assumption that if someone is great at what they do, they would be famous.

One only has to look at history to know that many of the “best” were never appreciated in their own time.

Hell, Edgar Allan Poe had enough time on his hands to rack up upwards of $20,000 in gambling debt – in the 1830s – at least twice.

And Van Gogh was famously poor and struggling all his life.

@aprilsimnel Ha ha… I deleted my bit about VanGogh, because I didn’t want to come across like I was beating the point into his head. ^_^

I ddin’t realize that would come off anvilicious. Sorry!

There’s a woman I worked with at a bank. Gorgeous, gorgeous voice. Has sung duets with Michael Franks (and still does when he tours), the jazz guy who had a hit record in the 80s . She’s stunningly beautiful, which seems to be a requirement in entertainment. Yet her career is quite minor. Whaddya gonna do? She doesn’t teach, though. She just keeps singing, for the love.

@Seek_Kolinahr Good points. It makes me wonder if Poe or Van Gogh were alive today and unrecognized, would they be on fluther, or would they be more focused on their art?

I don’t quite get it. There seem to be a lot of great people here, so fluther must be the kind of place that can attract good people. On the other hand, they let me stay here, so it can’t be a very selective place. Do you see the cognitive dissonance I have?

God, I hate questions that ask people to judge or rate. It doesn’t matter if it is self-rating or rating others. It always makes me feel like shit. I know I should stay away from such questions, but somehow I let my guard down, and here I am, feeling hopelessly inadequate again.

@Vunessuh i….is….not….she…... :P

otherwise, couldnt agree more :)

Hey, @wundayatta, I can self-flagellate with the best of them. You’ll note that my answer has the noble distinction of “capability to hula-hoop” as my teachable feat.

@Seek_Kolinahr Maybe you should teach a class.

On self-flagellation?

@Seek_Kolinahr Yes! I’d take it. You never know when you could use a new technique!

Time for me to chime in on my own question. :) I think I’m really good at online marketing and I could teach or guide someone in how to do search engine optimization. I’m also pretty good at web site development and could probably teach someone how to build a website. Oh, and I rock at karaoke and could probably motivate someone to get up on the mic with me. :D

@Seek_Kolinahr – you crack me up
@wundayatta – you are being way too hard on yourself

All right. I will try to make myself tell the truth.

I think I’m really good at fluther. I can see the questions behind the question, and I can answer that as well as the question. I can throw together a sensible essay without even knowing where I’m going. I am good at using my own life and experience to make the points I want to make.

I’m also a really good writer. This is something I struggle with and need constant reassurance about. I have never published anything, but I probably could, if only I could figure out how to package the stuff I write about.

I’m a very good analytic thinker. I can grasp the whole picture very quickly, and see where the questions are, and often come up with ideas that can address the questions, but mostly I ask questions so other people can see where they need to focus their attention.

I’m a good shaman. I know technologies (i.e., using dance and music) that can get people out of their minds and into their bodies. I am very good at this. Maybe even better than my teachers. I understand what needs to happen when (kind of like seeing into the future) and then manipulating the now in order to arrive at that point. It’s easy for me, because..

I am a really good musician. Perhaps an even better conductor. I know music from the inside out. I can see it. I can show others how to fit in. I do things other people don’t do, and they are good. I can improvise because I know how to build rhythm and harmony and I can lay down a melody because I always hear them in my head. I can’t always play what I hear, but damn close.

I’m a good dancer. I know how to get out of my head and into my body and when I do that, I do things that I cannot do. I inhabit the body of someone 30 years younger than me. Or I have the mindset that I am capable of doing what someone 30 years younger can do.

I am really good at parenting. I am patient, and I know how to explain things to my kids and I know how to treat them like people. I understand them.

I am really good at opening myself up, yet keeping myself safe. I am really good at seeing what is going on inside myself. I am good at describing it so others can understand. I am good at seeing stories.

I can teach qualified people any of these skills because I am also a really good teacher. I am really good at what I do professionally, too.

Does any of it matter? Only insofar as I can share it with those who are interested. Only insofar as I can avoid using it as a way make myself feel better than anyone. As people, we are all equal and I try to respect everyone, because I believe everyone can teach me things. None of it matters because we all stand eye to eye when we meet in that autochthonal space that lies, invisibly, between all of us.

GA @wundayatta

Thank you @Vunessuh