Do you . . .

[Baba]

. . . still retain information? I don't. I'm not sure I ever did.

Seriously. I don't know how it's possible, but I don't retain ANYTHING, anymore. I'm 53. Was never a drug user, I experimented a little bit as a teen, that's about it. I don't drink much. It doesn't matter what it is, entertainment, tv shows, movies, podcasts, books, concerts.

If you were to ask me to write a short essay on anything I have recently witnessed, I couldn't do it.

I can still play complicated Rush songs from my youth, and other various songs I have learned over the years, but that seems to be the only thing I hold onto.

What is that?

 

[JiveTurkey]

I have to hit myself over the head with it more than a few times for it to semi-stick

 

[DrewJD82]

Definitely not like I used to, that's for damn sure. I was the never-apply-myself-cram-the-night-before-a-test-and-ace-it kid in school but no f*ckin' way would that happen now. It's more because every day is an information overload for me and there simply isn't time to retain it before the next project or issue falls in my lap I have to research. I'm 4 years into my position at work, but I'm still learning as I go and there's a LOT of sh*t to learn in property management/maintaining a commercial campus. City/building/construction code, local laws for things specific to our property, there's a lot before I even get into what my job mainly does (fixing sh*t).

It mostly sucks when I'm trying to take in info for something non-work related and there's just no room. It's like my brain is maxing out the CPU daily and the RAM is all used up, but there's a few apps still trying to open.

 

[la szum]

Definitely not like I used to, that's for damn sure. I was the never-apply-myself-cram-the-night-before-a-test-and-ace-it kid in school but no f*ckin' way would that happen now. It's more because every day is an information overload for me and there simply isn't time to retain it before the next project or issue falls in my lap I have to research. I'm 4 years into my position at work, but I'm still learning as I go and there's a LOT of sh*t to learn in property management/maintaining a commercial campus. City/building/construction code, local laws for things specific to our property, there's a lot before I even get into what my job mainly does (fixing sh*t).

It mostly sucks when I'm trying to take in info for something non-work related and there's just no room. It's like my brain is maxing out the CPU daily and the RAM is all used up, but there's a few apps still trying to open.

There was a popular author who also worked in a Restaurant Kitchen washing dishes and bussing tables.
Before he became successful and financially independent he kept that job while writing his first 3 or 4
books. He said he couldn't have a job that was mentally tasking, and that doing a job he didn't have to
think about let him write in his head while on the job, and not be mentally fatigued when he got home.

Makes sense to me.

He also mentioned it being the most fulfilling creative period of his life, because he didn't have any of the
obligations that come from being "successful" like interviews and book signings and promotional tours.

Last thing I recall about his interview was, "Be wary of doing what you love for a career. You may discover that
when it is a job your love for it will wane."

 

[JiveTurkey]

There was a popular author who also worked in a Restaurant Kitchen washing dishes and bussing tables.
Before he became successful and financially independent he kept that job while writing his first 3 or 4
books. He said he couldn't have a job that was mentally tasking, and that doing a job he didn't have to
think about let him write in his head while on the job, and not be mentally fatigued when he got home.

Makes sense to me.

He also mentioned it being the most fulfilling creative period of his life, because he didn't have any of the
obligations that come from being "successful" like interviews and book signings and promotional tours.

Last thing I recall about his interview was, "Be wary of doing what you love for a career. You may discover that
when it is a job your love for it will wane."

I wish there was a 1000% reaction available.

 

[Mongillo19]

There was a popular author who also worked in a Restaurant Kitchen washing dishes and bussing tables.
Before he became successful and financially independent he kept that job while writing his first 3 or 4
books. He said he couldn't have a job that was mentally tasking, and that doing a job he didn't have to
think about let him write in his head while on the job, and not be mentally fatigued when he got home.

Makes sense to me.

He also mentioned it being the most fulfilling creative period of his life, because he didn't have any of the
obligations that come from being "successful" like interviews and book signings and promotional tours.

Last thing I recall about his interview was, "Be wary of doing what you love for a career. You may discover that
when it is a job your love for it will wane."

The old Overjustification Effect

 

[DrewJD82]

There was a popular author who also worked in a Restaurant Kitchen washing dishes and bussing tables.
Before he became successful and financially independent he kept that job while writing his first 3 or 4
books. He said he couldn't have a job that was mentally tasking, and that doing a job he didn't have to
think about let him write in his head while on the job, and not be mentally fatigued when he got home.

Makes sense to me.

He also mentioned it being the most fulfilling creative period of his life, because he didn't have any of the
obligations that come from being "successful" like interviews and book signings and promotional tours.

Last thing I recall about his interview was, "Be wary of doing what you love for a career. You may discover that
when it is a job your love for it will wane."

Yes on all fronts, so, so much yes.

After 20 years in the restaurant business I could do any job in there with my eyes closed, that's why it was so f*cking hard to get out of it. I was on autopilot 98% of the time, even the things I'd say to people. I've seen customers get perturbed/freaked out when they see their server standing at the POS screen entering an order while having a full conversation with another server, or when they don't write down orders, but it's all part of the autopilot thing.

Hahahaha there are a couple managers and cooks I've worked with over the years who I've had to 'fight' over who was going to wash dishes, not because we didn't want to, but because it was a break from people or the kitchen and no one can bother you once that Hobart is rockin'!

And my boss just asked me last week why I don't give guitar lessons, it's exactly because of that doing what I love as a job or adding the accountability/responsibility to hold up my end of the deal when I don't feel like doing it. Some days I just don't want to be social and now that I don't have to force myself to be, I don't. But I never want to feel like I'm forcing myself to do the thing I love the most.

 

[la szum]

The old Overjustification Effect

Hadn't heard that term before. So thanks for that.

 

[la szum]

Yes on all fronts, so, so much yes.

After 20 years in the restaurant business I could do any job in there with my eyes closed, that's why it was so f*cking hard to get out of it. I was on autopilot 98% of the time, even the things I'd say to people. I've seen customers get perturbed/freaked out when they see their server standing at the POS screen entering an order while having a full conversation with another server, or when they don't write down orders, but it's all part of the autopilot thing.

Hahahaha there are a couple managers and cooks I've worked with over the years who I've had to 'fight' over who was going to wash dishes, not because we didn't want to, but because it was a break from people or the kitchen and no one can bother you once that Hobart is rockin'!

And my boss just asked me last week why I don't give guitar lessons, it's exactly because of that doing what I love as a job or adding the accountability/responsibility to hold up my end of the deal when I don't feel like doing it. Some days I just don't want to be social and now that I don't have to force myself to be, I don't. But I never want to feel like I'm forcing myself to do the thing I love the most.

I sometimes secretly fantasize about going to work part-time in a Restaurant again. Far superior to owning one!!

4 of the 5 establishments in town here have changed hands since COVID. Lesson: there is always a dumb(er) person
to buy it from the dumb person who owned it previously.

No idea why anyone would want to own one. Talk about an all consuming toxic relationship.

 

[Baba]

I definitely have a block in my brain for stuff I DON’T like. I have friends that still remember a good few of our teachers’ names. I hated school, so I don’t remember ANY of them, except one, and I liked him, a lot .

It might have been like 3 years out of high school, and that info just fell out of my brain.

I’ve been to countless concerts over the last 40 years. Loved going, don’t remember a thing from any of them.

I CAN quote movies like it was my job though

 

[TSJMajesty]

Yeah, restaurants suck. I too have worn most of the hats, but it was a great experience, especially when I was a waiter. (I used to smoke just a little weed sometimes before a shift, and my personality would open up just a bit wider, so I'd get a bit more talkative and friendly, and my tips were definitely better, and girls would literally give me their phone numbers on the back of the guest check, along with little lovey-faces! Haha!)

I learned how to micro-manage my time. I could juggle 3) 4-tops and a few deuces during a lunch rush, because I was not only organized, but I knew the importance of letting everyone know I haven't forgot about them, and I'll be right back as soon as I grab my other table's order.

I learned a thing I call "slotting-in", that I even use when I'm running a carpentry crew, which has been as many as 10 people at a time- and everyone always has something to do. I'll leave all sorts of tasks that need doing, but aren't top priority, available to 'slot in' for whomever has some time between other things. It works great. "Hey do me a favor- whenever you have a few minutes, and you're waiting on the guys to give you your next measurement, go over and cut out those 4 door plates." This way, a task gets done, but doesn't add any extra amount of time to the job, since it was 'slotted in' to time the cut-man would've otherwise spent waiting on the next measurement to cut.

And in serving, if I had a few minutes, but I knew in about 3 minutes I was going to be busy for the next 10 minutes delivering a large order of food for a table of 6, I may go around to my tables and grab any dishes that were done, which had the extra benefit of me not walking back into the kitchen empty-handed. Collect a few drink orders, while re-filling some water glasses, drop them off at the bar, ask someone to deliver them to table 6 if I was in the middle of serving my other table when they were ready, and go get my food. (So there's a little, ask-for-help as needed in there as well.)

So to the OP, yeah I'm still real good with retaining info, maybe because I got very good at juggling lots of small details in my younger days? Who knows? But I always exercise my brain.

One of the ways I do that is by learning JP solos. So many of them are really interesting (that's a big key to retaining something- it has to interest you), and even though I can't play most of them at speed, I can remember them.

I just this week got a 3-D drawing job, and I hadn't used my 3-D drawing program in a while, but all the keyboard shortcuts I had memorized came right back to me, along with all the tricks I'd learned for how I want my workflow to go. Yeah, I had to go back and draw some things differently, but 90% of it came right back to me.

The day I really start losing my mind, I'm ready to go, whenever it becomes a problem. My mind is my most important tool!

 

[TSJMajesty]

I sometimes secretly fantasize about going to work part-time in a Restaurant again. Far superior to owning one!!

4 of the 5 establishments in town here have changed hands since COVID. Lesson: there is always a dumb(er) person
to buy it from the dumb person who owned it previously.

No idea why anyone would want to own one. Talk about an all consuming toxic relationship.

Ever notice how when a restaurant changes ownership, you can't get a table for weeks, then it all dies down again? Am I the only person who prefers to just wait a month or so?

A club-owner of a place we used to play at capitalized on that phemon, by closing down whenever business got slow enough that it made sense to do so. He'd remodel, move the bar maybe, give it a new name, some different paint, and re-open to long lines. Did that little trick twice. I only caught on because once when we were getting paid, I asked him, hey if you're the new owner, how come the phone number didn't change? (This was my first time meeting him.) He said it's always been my club. Then told me his "trick."

Oh, and for the kids here (if there actually are any, and not just a bunch of old dudes), the reason the phone number was at issue, was because this was back when we had these things called "land-lines," although we didn't call them that, because they didn't need to be differentiated from any other kind of telecommunication device. We just called them "phones", and they were, get this- attached to THE HOUSE WITH ACTUAL WIRES! Yeah, you heard that right-- you couldn't take them with you everywhere. We couldn't lie to our bosses/wives/gf's... well not in the way we can do so nowadays.

 

[mbenigni]

. . . still retain information? I don't. I'm not sure I ever did.

Seriously. I don't know how it's possible, but I don't retain ANYTHING, anymore. I'm 53. Was never a drug user, I experimented a little bit as a teen, that's about it. I don't drink much. It doesn't matter what it is, entertainment, tv shows, movies, podcasts, books, concerts.

If you were to ask me to write a short essay on anything I have recently witnessed, I couldn't do it.

I can still play complicated Rush songs from my youth, and other various songs I have learned over the years, but that seems to be the only thing I hold onto.

What is that?

I’m precisely the other way around, and I’d trade places with you in an instant.