Casual Competence
I think most of us have heard of "weaponized incompetence" in which people will generally fain incompetence in order to get out of doing a task. Maybe you know someone like this, maybe you've done it. I think a certain foil to that is Weaponize Competence or Casual Competence (depending on what you prefer to use).
The concept is to be as competent as possible in a wide range of disciplines. If you're not competent in it, have the self-drive to become competent.
I got the idea to write this article after going years of paying to have an oil change in my car. One day I thought to myself, "Why don't I just do it?" So I went into my car's owner's manual, looked at the maintenance information, and determined both the oil I use (full-synthetic) and the oil filter that is compatible with my make and model.
A standard oil change from a cheapo mechanic will generally run you upwards of $70. Doing it myself? About $27 USD. Haven't had any problems. I was able to be done and recycled the oil within about an hour and a half. I had never done maintenance on a car before that.
Now, I had the materials ready thanks to my mother-in-law, so of course there will be an up-front cost to get a jack, a pair of stands, and an oil pan if you can't borrow it. Do the math, and determine if it is worth the investment, look at the long term and compare it to the price of regular oil changes at a mechanic.
This is just one aspect casual competence can take place in your life. It's basically a lifestyle decision. The idea is to be as competent as YOU can within reason of your lifestyle.
I've always considered myself a quick learner. I basically mastered parallel parking on my first try in my drivers license test after watching a youtube video the day prior. It's actually the thing that saved me from failing my driving test (I didn't realize they wanted me to use the e-brake when parking uphill, thought they just wanted me to pull over).
Setting your own appointments, being able to lift moderately heavy objects, basic troubleshooting, car maintenance, all are some examples of casual competency. Hell, even basic math skills is a skill that has came in handy a few times when determining what product I wanted to buy at a grocer by comparing $'s per unit of measurement.
Being competent prevents you from being taken advantage of. When you know how much it costs to do a certain repair on your car or can diagnose a problem with your car, you are far less likely to get taken to the cleaners by a sleazy mechanic.
With competence also comes confidence. When you can look at a problem and know immediately how to solve it. This of course can be a double-edged sword as people will use weaponized incompetence to get you to do the work for them, so be aware of that.
I can repair most of my electronics (at least the non "smart" devices): my iPod, cassette Walkman, computers, etc. I can diagnose and resolve issues if I run into them on my main Linux PC. I've tutored my wife and mother-in-law in various college classes (even classes I've never taken). I can even navigate based solely on directions I looked up prior to leaving, no GPS which has helped me build a better internal map of my geographic area.
My new goal is I want to learn how to grow my own food. So, I'm researching how to start a garden. I also wanted to get better at baking. I got bored one day, so I made my family 2 loaves of simple white bread that tasted fantastic, but I want to get more experience.
We pay for convenience, so you have to determine if the convenience fee is worth the money. In my opinion, it generally isn't, ESPECIALLY in this economy.
Look into what aspects of your life you'd like to become better at or learn how to do. Maybe it's repairing clothes, so learn sewing. Or you're like me and wanted to know how to do an oil change. There's no "wrong" answer, just what fits best for your lifestyle.
Pirate is wearing red flannel, black pants, black Linkin Park concert tee, all-black converse
Pirate is feeling tired, almost bedtime
Pirate is reading Algospeak by Adam Aleksic
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