Sharpening

Many people can guess the current time to the minute whenever they pop awake in the middle of the night. It feels like a superpower, but it's not.

Whenever a cashier adds you up, flash a total. Don't calculate. Don't try to be right. Just quietly flash a number, with zero effort. Pretty soon you'll get super good at it.

Whenever you check anything, flash a result. Nothing obsessive or emotionally fraught. Don't be like a daft compulsive gambler trying to game absolutely everything. Just flash a result, calmly, and see how you do. Then don't give it another thought. Let subconscious calibration happen.

Keep this up as a long game, and you'll get like Nostradamus.


This seems like kid's stuff. Unserious. But kids internalize all of human civilization in a few short years, while adults can hardly read a book. Maybe it's time to stop deprecating childhood tactics?