Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Q-Lips.
My name is Andrew. How's it going? This is a Simplified Speech episode, and Simplified Speech is our series which features clear, natural, and easy-to-understand English conversations between native speakers.
Joining me today is my co-host from the USA, Indiana.
Hey there, Indiana. How are you? Hey, Andrew.
I'm doing pretty good. And this episode, we're going to be talking about something that maybe everybody who's listening can relate to.
Things we're bad at. Things we're bad at.
Yeah, it kind of seems a little bit weird to talk about, right?
Because usually when we talk to other people, we sort of stick to the things that we know really well.
Maybe we like to brag a little bit or boast a little bit about the things that we're good at.
But Indiana, recently I was listening to a different podcast in the Korean language, which is my second language, the language that I study.
And Just like you guys who are listening to an English podcast to improve your English, I do the same thing for Korean.
So I was studying with this Korean podcast and they were having a conversation about this topic.
The two hosts were discussing things that they're not so good at and it inspired me and I thought I got to steal this idea and talk about it on Qloops.
So here we are in Indiana. I thought we could just go back and forth and talk about some of the things that we're not so good at, some of the things that we're bad at.
But just before we get started with this conversation, Indiana, I want to let everybody know about the study guide and interactive transcript that's available for all Q-Lips members over on our website, qlips.com.
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Guys, we really do appreciate it. All right, Indiana, now the announcements are out of the way.
I think it's time to get started with this episode.
And I have to say my list of the things that I'm bad at could probably go on and on and on for a long time.
So I'm going to have to keep it short. There are many things in life that I'm not so good at, many more than the things that I am good at, in fact.
But I thought, yeah, we could just go through some of the top ones, things that you've noticed that maybe like other people are naturally better than you at.
And you're like, why am I so bad at this?
Like, I don't know. Maybe Indiana, we could start with you.
Could you share one of the things from your list that you're not so good at?
Definitely. I think reflecting on this question, what are you bad at?
There's one big thing that immediately comes to mind.
And for me, that is basically understanding how things fit together physically, like how to build something, how parts go into other parts, basically.
You know, if you asked me to assemble a shelf or a desk from Ikea and you gave me the manual for this desk that you put together yourself, I think it would take me 10 times longer than the average person to like figure out where the screws need to go, why things go together the way they do.
Like I've always been pretty slow with that.
And as a result of that, I always have my husband do those things for me.
And then it's like a vicious cycle because I don't have to put shelves together or, you know, I can say, hey, can you help me put the stand mixer in the kitchen?
You know, the machine that you use to make cookie dough or something.
After I clean it, I can say, hey. Can you put this back together for me?
Because he always helps me with these things.
I'm just getting worse and worse at it. So I think that's my biggest flaw, weakness with getting through life.
That is a big one. I don't know, Andrew, do you relate to this at all?
Or are you one of those people who can really understand why something fits into something else, how it all comes together, how it works as a structure?
Like, is that easy for you? Yeah, I think it's pretty easy for me.
I wouldn't say that I'm amazing at it, but I've never thought that it's a weakness of mine.
Like I, I actually enjoy assembling furniture because from like Ikea, the example that you mentioned there, I'm not, good at building things.
Like, I don't want to say that I'm not good at building things and write myself off in that way.
It's just, I've never learned how to do it.
So I don't know how to do carpentry, for example, or woodworking.
I couldn't build my own desk, but I could buy a desk from Ikea and assemble it.
That's okay. I can do that. And when I do do that, I get the satisfaction and the feeling like I built something.
Even though I didn't really do it at all.
It wasn't really me. I just put it together.
But I get that feeling like I built something maybe the same way a carpenter would feel if they actually completed a woodworking project themselves.
So yeah, that's never really been a weakness of mine.
Not to say that I'm amazing at it, but I've never really struggled with that.
Indiana, why do you think that is? Is it like you didn't do enough puzzles or build Lego when you were a kid or something?
No, I don't know. It's really hard to say why, because I did play with Legos and puzzles when I was a kid.
But I don't know. It's just this deficiency.
There's a problem with my brain. It's a deficiency.
So I'm lacking. That means I lack this skill.
I even but I do relate to what you're saying, Andrew, like the the sense of fulfillment or satisfaction that you get when you build something.
So one time I did actually, even though I'm so bad at this.
We got a shoe rack, so basically like shelving to put your shoes on in your entryway.
And you had to build it yourself. And I was like, OK, this time I'm going to do it.
I'm going to be the one who assembles the furniture.
And I remember this clearly because my husband was watching.
He was about to watch this movie called Lawrence of Arabia, which is famously like three and a half hours long.
And I was like, I was like, OK, well, I don't really need to see this movie.
So that's fine. You watch the movie and I'm going to assemble this shoe rack.
And I think it took me almost the entire duration of the movie to assemble it.
And afterwards, my husband was like, you know, you don't have to build it next time.
Like, it's OK, I'll do it. I was like, OK, I just needed to prove to myself that I can do it this once.
And it felt really good, even if it was embarrassingly long.
Well, good job. And I think that's funny and something that probably a lot of us do.
I don't think that you're alone in this, Indiana, that if we do notice that we're not so good at something compared to other people, like your husband is really good at building things and maybe you're not so good at assembling these things.
So you always say, hey, can you do this for me?
And then he always does it. It means you don't get any practice or any experience with it.
And then you become almost worse and worse and worse, right?
And I think this is really natural to try and ask people who exceed or can do something really well to do things for us.
And then as a result, we don't get that experience or practice.
And then we're just even worse at it. We have even less confidence when it comes to doing it.
Not being able to assemble IKEA furniture is not that big of a problem in the whole scheme of things.
Well, thank you for reassuring me. But so that's my big weakness.
What about you, Andrew? What is the first one that comes to mind for you?
Okay, so the first one that comes to mind is anything related to visual arts.
I am just terrible at when it comes to drawing or painting or sketching, even to an extent handwriting, I think, or printing even.
It's really, really bad, embarrassingly bad.
Now, my writing and my handwriting, if I go slowly and I focus, I can write legibly.
It's not like you can't read my writing, but if I'm just writing to myself, if I'm note-taking, then sometimes I look back and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is really not too nice, this printing. so when i'm writing to other people like if i'm writing i don't know indiana if i wrote you a card or a letter or something then i would take my time to make sure that you could read it but it would take me like double the time but for drawing sketching oh it's embarrassingly bad like it's so so bad like even worse than an elementary school child i feel like so that is the number one thing that i feel like i'm really behind other people you know what do we call it the bell curve which describes skill sets in a general population a general group of people and with that bell curve you have this big bubble in the middle, which is where the majority of people fall into that middle part of the bell curve, the bubble part, which means that like most people are average at something, right?
And then at the top end of the curve, you have like the people who are exceptionally good at some skill, exceptionally good at doing something.
And then at the bottom end of that bell curve, you have the people who are worse than everyone else and are not so good at doing something.
And for me, I feel like compared to the average person, I'm definitely at the bottom end of that bell curve when it comes to drawing.
I don't know why. I just can't visualize things and...
I can't communicate from my brain to my hands to represent what I see in my brain onto the paper.
I just can't do it. I don't know why. So that makes me wonder, and I don't know how often you actually have to write in Korean, but so when you were learning Hangul, and so that's the, I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right, but that's the alphabet, right, how you write in Korean.
Do you find that it's hard for you to write those characters neatly, or is it actually easier because you're kind of concentrating so hard on learning the new, you know, now you know the language?
But, you know, were you concentrating very hard?
Like, yeah, how is your handwriting when it comes to Korean?
It's also pretty bad. My wife says my Korean handwriting is not so good.
Yeah, I think it's also like if I focus on Korean, I can write it legibly.
But when I'm just writing quickly, it's not so good.
Yeah. Yeah. Right. I think writing and drawing are two separate skills and maybe my writing can actually look pretty neat, but no matter how hard I try, my drawings always look terrible.
Like even if I focus, I'm like, okay, I'm going to draw like, I don't know this. somebody's face or an apple or something even if i were to really concentrate and try to do it it would look terrible but if i really concentrate and try to write neatly i think it looks okay so although they're probably connected in that you're using your hands to create both of them I think the mechanism in our brain, what's working in our brain is probably a different system.
And my art one is just not developed. I don't know.
Like maybe if I were to study drawing or study art, maybe I could improve.
Maybe it's just because I haven't really studied before, but I think to a certain extent, most people have a basic level of arts ability and mine is worse than the general population.
So, um, Yeah. You know, as a teacher, sometimes we have to sketch concepts or sketch ideas on the board for our students.
And I always feel embarrassed if, you know, there's like something that I need to sketch for students quickly to have them understand it.
It's always a little bit embarrassing. My images are never very good.
So I prefer to do a Google search and find an image to show students instead of sketch a drawing for them.
That's a good a good hack a good cheat for for that.
Yeah, often when you are not so good at something you got to find a hack for it right a way to work around it.
Okay, Indiana what's number two on your list.
Hmm, number two. So I think a good one for this is that I'm really bad at dealing with certain insects.
So this is also maybe kind of like a phobia or, yeah, so something I'm a little bit afraid of.
So that's why I'm not good at it. But we had some wasps, some really large wasps in our house this week.
Um, and just every time I saw them, I like, I, I couldn't deal with it.
I needed to like, uh, you know, leave the room and calm down and like, you know, like I, I can't, I can't cope with the wasps.
I can't coexist and deal with them being there.
Whereas I think other people might just say, OK, I'm going to go get a glass and paper and take them outside or kill them easily or something.
But it really freaks me out to to be in the same space as a stinging insect.
So I'm not the person to call if you need a spider moved.
Do you feel similarly about insects at all or are you totally good to go with them?
Yeah, I don't like them. I don't like existing in the same space as a wasp.
I totally agree with you that it's uncomfortable, but I think I can deal with them.
Instead of running out of the room, I'd probably run for the fly swatter and try and take a stab at it and get it out of my house that way.
Yeah. I mean, depending on what it was, the bigger and the fiercer the insect, the more likely I would be to run the other way.
I remember last spring I was hanging out in my yard and there was like one of those big, I can't remember what the names are, but maybe you've seen the pictures of them on the internet before, Indiana.
I think it's called like the Asian giant hornet or something like this.
Oh my God. Wow. Yeah, I have heard of those.
It's like massive. It's like probably, I don't know, four or five inches long.
It's like this massive giant hornet. And apparently if they sting you, it can be really, really dangerous.
And we have these in Korea. So they're flying around out here and I don't see them very often, but probably every year I'll see one or two.
And I was in my yard just enjoying the sunshine.
And then I saw one of these nasty, massive hornets fly into my yard and I peaced out right away.
I was like back inside, close the door. I'm out of there.
So it just depends on the size of the insect.
But in general, I feel like I'm OK with this one.
Oh, my God. Those, you said four to five inches.
Yeah, I would be out of there too. I would be gone.
All right. I guess I should move on to my second one, something I'm bad at.
I wrote down here on my list, remembering details from books or movies I've watched or read in the past.
Okay. So I think this is natural as we get older and as time passes, our memories get weaker and weaker and weaker, right?
But compared to other people, I'm not so good at remembering details from things I've watched or read in the past.
Like... The other day I was listening to a podcast again, and in the podcast they mentioned this book, which I remember reading the book back in university.
It's a book by the author's name is Dave Eggers, and I believe the book is called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
So I remember reading that book when I was in high school or university, but that's all I could remember.
I just remember, I remember the cover because it was on my bookshelf and I remember reading the book, but I couldn't remember like one single detail about any of the story or any of the characters or anything at all.
All I could remember was that I read it and And so I thought, that's not so good.
Like I should remember at least some of the story, but I couldn't.
And I think that's really common for me.
Like even books that I've really loved or movies that I've really loved, I'll remember that I enjoyed it or I thought it was good.
I'll remember maybe how it made me feel or the vibe or the atmosphere of that book or movie.
But remembering... specific details other than like the very basics it's just like gone out of my brain rather quickly and so it means that some of my favorite movies i've had to watch like several times again and again and again to be able to remember it and often if it's something like a book or movie that i can talk about a lot of the details it's because i've seen it quite a few times if i just won and done it then it's like out of my brain I don't know.
For whatever reason, my brain doesn't hold on to that.
And yeah, I don't know. Indiana, I know you like to watch movies as well.
Are you one of those people? Like I have some friends who can recite lines from movies.
Like that always blows my mind. Like how do you remember the lines from the movies?
Like that's wild. I can barely remember the main details of the plot.
Yeah. How are you for remembering details?
I think, no, I'm not quite, like, I don't think I would forget the whole plot of a book like that, right?
But I, yeah, so maybe I'm a little, you know, the regular bell curve in that position, right?
I remember some details, but I do find myself thinking that I know the line by heart, and then I realize I've been paraphrasing it, or I have a few of the words down.
And then when I try to quote it in conversation or something, it just ends up being embarrassingly because I didn't actually quite get the line right.
But yeah, so yeah, kind of in the middle with remembering details from books and movies, I would say.
Yeah. I'm sure, Indiana, you know, some people in your life who are like Simpsons or Seinfeld addicts and they they just reference like I have some people who reference like Simpsons episodes from like 30 years ago.
They're like, remember in that one Simpsons episode?
I'm like, no, I don't remember. It's 30 years ago.
Right. So, yeah, it's that's a fault of mine.
Indiana, do you have any other things that you're bad at that you'd like to mention here?
Maybe one more quick one. Yeah, you know, I was trying to think of a little one, a simple one.
So one thing that I'm bad at that I noticed that other people are I think are usually pretty good at is so I'm not a bad driver, I think.
You know, I think I drive pretty carefully and I pay attention.
But if I'm driving a friend or somebody else is in the car and we're having a conversation and I need to do something like park the car, I absolutely have to stop the conversation.
And I'm like, hold on. Like, please stop talking.
I need to park. I need to focus. Like my mind needs to focus on the one thing that I need to do.
Whereas I think most people can multitask and like something as simple as parking or changing lanes, you know, they can just like keep talking and focus on both things at once.
But that's not me. I like I'll turn down the music.
I'll say I'm parking and I need like to completely focus.
I don't know if you would relate to this because, you know, living in Seoul, you probably don't drive.
Right. So. Yeah, I don't really drive here and I haven't driven, yeah, been a driver for at least like over 10 years now.
So I used to drive when I lived in Canada, but after moving here to Korea, I have barely driven at all.
I don't think you're alone in this though.
Like I know my mom is like this when my mom drives, if there's a stressful situation, she'll tell everybody to be quiet.
She'll shush us before making like a left-hand turn or something in a busy intersection and turn down the radio so she can focus.
So yeah, I know my mom does that. I have memories of her doing that when we were kids and being rowdy in the backseat and her telling us to be quiet so she could focus on the road.
Yeah, I think this is kind of common. And I think that's a good thing, Indiana.
I think it's like you're realizing that, hey, I need to put all of my attention into doing this thing, because if I don't, then the consequences could be really bad, right?
Driving is dangerous. It can have deadly consequences.
So I'd rather you be like that than be like, I got this.
And then you're putting half of your attention or half of your focus into driving and then making the road a dangerous place for everyone.
So good job. I think you're doing the right thing.
Yeah. Better safe than sorry. Although I am tempted to like push through it and try to focus on two things, but I just, I can't.
So yeah, I do choose the safe way. Yeah.
Yeah, good job. I'm glad to hear that. All right, Andrew, what about you?
Yeah, the last one that I have here is just a basic one.
And I think maybe with all of these things, Indiana, like the reason why we're not so good at it is because we don't practice it or we don't... put any effort into improving.
Like I'm sure, you know, if you assembled a lot of Ikea furniture every day, maybe you got a part-time job at Ikea, just putting together the display models or something like you'd get really quick and good at it over time.
And me too, if I probably practice drawing every day and I took a drawing class, I could improve my skill and get better over time.
So I think a lot of these things, it's like, Yeah, maybe we're not naturally gifted with them, but it's also because we don't practice and don't try to improve that we're still not so good at them.
And this one, this final example is probably definitely a good case for that.
And that is stretching. I'm really bad at stretching.
I'm super, super, super inflexible and stiff and stiff. yeah whenever i have to stretch you know i i do enjoy running it's one of my hobbies but i never stretch before or after i run and i probably should but if i do have to stretch like sometimes my wife in the warn morning will be like come on let's do some stretches together to start the day and she'll always laugh at me because i like i can't touch my toes i can't bend over i can't do anything.
I'm just really stiff and inflexible. So stretching is something that I'm terrible at.
That really blows my mind because of the number of marathons you've run, you know, and you don't stretch.
You are like a medical miracle, man. That's incredible.
Yeah, no, no. I just, I just do a little jog, warm up, and then I get out there.
Sometimes I'll kick my feet around and pretend that I'm stretching, but yeah, it's always hilarious when you do do a marathon and, At the starting area, you'll see everybody else do their warm-ups and their stretches.
And then I'm like, yeah, just going to run.
I can't do it. Wow. Oh, man. So that's something that I'm really terrible at.
And I should fix, like all of these, I should fix them.
But stretching, not naturally talented at all.
Hmm. Yeah. Well, if it works for you, if you can run without it, I guess.
Yeah. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right.
As the expression goes. That's right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
If it works for you, why not keep doing it?
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, good. All right, Indiana.
Well, I think this is probably a good place to wrap things up.
So thank you for telling me about the list of things that you are bad at.
And guys, this is just a tiny sliver of the hundreds and hundreds and thousands of things that I'm not so good at, but a couple of ones that I wanted to share with you all today.
And yeah, I'd love to hear from our community as well, Indiana.
So guys, if you could share your thoughts and your opinions about this episode, and maybe if you wouldn't mind sharing a couple of things that you're not so good at as well with us, that would be awesome.
You can do that on our Discord server. It's free for everyone to join.
It's a place where our Q-Lips community hangs out and we practice English together.
We communicate and connect with each other.
It's a fun place. Yeah, to spend some time and you can do it for free just by following the link that's in the description for this episode.
Also, don't forget, guys, there's a helpful study guide and interactive transcripts and other great benefits and bonuses for all Q-Lips members.
To sign up and become a Q-Lips member today, then just visit our website, Q-Lips.com.
Okay, I think this is a good place to sign off.
Indiana, thanks for your help today. And everybody, we'll catch you in the next episode.
Bye-bye. Bye everyone.
