I have a strange learning curve, I always have.

I can pick up most anything in a couple of weeks. No, I won’t be a master in that time, but I can get by. Cabinetmaker, carpenter, mechanic, machinist, electrician, the list is plenty long. No, I’m not a master of those things, but I am a journeyman at several of them, I became a journeyman machinist in 1984, a journeyman electrician in 1988. The gist of those things, the most important skills I needed to do those jobs, I learned in the first few weeks. The years following reinforced the skills, set them in concrete so they’re hardwired in me, I’ll always have them. When I started doing CAD I spent an intense couple weeks doing first 2d cad, (in the late 80’s) and 3d cad/solid modeling (late 90’s)
I’ve gotten better at both, but the core skills were there very quickly.

No, I’m not bragging, this is just as natural to me as breathing. What it does do, is it limits me to the things I can learn. For instance, I will never be able to play the guitar, and that kills me. Not only am I not musically talented in any way, but the amount of practice it requires to be able to play guitar even badly is intense. The good players I know, either came by their skills by innate talent or horrid hours of hard work. I have neither.

Oh, I have tried, when I was in my teens my dad tried to get me some lessons, an old guy with an accordion would stop by each week. Never got anywhere. Lately, even, I have tried, got a nice classic black strat and a guy my age to try to teach me, no dice. Maybe if I could find the right teacher, but so far, that’s been hard. I will keep trying, but sheesh, what a waste of my life. I would love nothing so much as to be able to sit down and play a few tunes between friends.

There are other things as well, like martial arts. I often envy those who are good at it, but I cannot see myself spending the time. If I cannot pick something up in a couple of weeks, at least well enough to be conversant in it, it’s just not for me. I have been thinking for some time about this, and I don’t know how I got here, but here I am; my attention span for learning new things has a specific curve, and mine is fixed, and so far, immobile.
I wonder if I’m alone in this.