> Rather than assuming he’d solved the problem because he was smart and I wasn’t, I took the position that he had some skill that I was missing. Skills, after all, can be learned.
Excellent. Our field (along with others) is filled with people walking around with imposter syndrome (myself included). One way (not the only way, there are many) to overcome it is to 1) assess your skills 2) leverage your strengths 3) cultivate your weaknesses.
Skills. Build them
> The point is that all people see are my successes. They see this book in its finished form, but are shielded away from the tortuous months I spent writing it. They aren’t aware of just how many hours I spent fighting with LaTeX. Or of cajoling my designer-then-girlfriend to help me pick fonts. Or from the countless sleepless nights I spent spinning the ideas around in my head, trying as best I could to find something, anything, to grab on to.
> None of it was exceptionally difficult. Mostly it was just tedious
Excellent point. I've found this to be true in my life as well.