> 1) You pay little attention to landmarks but think of the route in terms of directional turns. You would be more comfortable if given directions such as "go straight ahead for a block, then turn left, then turn right, then go straight ahead again, then turn right" or "go north for a block, then turn west, then turn north, then keep going north, then go east."
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> 2) You do it mostly by remembering visual references. You would be more comfortable with directions such as "go to the library, then turn left, then turn again after the four big trees, then keep going until you see a yellow house, then turn right where the hedge finishes." Even these instructions are easier to follow if you have been there before and can picture the route in your head.

This analysis was very interesting for me to read, because as I read each of these, I thought to myself, "Yeah! That's me!" The really neat thing, though, is that I can kind of explain this, and in doing so, talk about something that I think is kind of weird and cool.

Do you know those tests where you get "graded" on two scales (Concrete vs. Abstract and Sequential vs. Random)? You get your values and plot them up on this square thing and figure out which of four quadrants you fall under, and based on that, learn a lot about how you learn, how you remember things, etc. I find that those tests tend to be quite accurate, and widespread, probably because they are so accurate.

In any case, when I take one of those, I usually end up with about a 50/50 split between CS (Concrete Sequential, typical of an engineer) and RA (Random Abstract, typical of, um, an anti-engineer). The really werid thing is, I can see how BOTH of those apply to my life. For example, the two methods of directions you listed above sound like CS thinking (for #1) and RA thinking (for #2). (At this point, I should admit that I remeber very little about CR and AS results, and these may be C or S and R or A.)

A lot of other things in my life seem to be split. Sometimes I oscillate between two ways of thinking. At times I am meticulously tidy (CS) and at others, pleased with organized chaos (RA). I have a hard time calling specific examples to mind, but there have been plenty.

The nice thing about this is that it makes me very flexible. I can handle a lot of situations in different ways, and work well with a variety of people, because I can generally work on their terms. On the other hand, I have problems because I rarely remain satisfied with the way things are, and I often switch over to the other way of thinking with little notice, which can occasionally wreak havoc on whatever I am trying to accomplish.

I think in the last couple of years, I have been sliding into more of a CS mindset. I'm not sure if this is natural, or environmental, but if it is natural, then it is also serendipitous, because as an engineer, CS thinking is far more useful to me. On the other hand, I occasionally notice my RA traits coming out more in areas of my life unrelated to my work, so maybe it isn't that I am becoming more CS, but rather that the two are divvying up my life, and I notice the CS more because it rules the more prominent aspects of my life. For example, I find myself leaning more and more towards "directions by landmarks" these days, and I find my creative side needing to be fed more in my personal time. I also find that at work and home, while I try to achieve an organized state, I am quite happy with a structured chaos method of keeping track of things, and often shift back to that even after tidying things up.

The question I want to put forth is, does anyone else here find himself split between these two ways of thinking and living? If so, what sort of impact do you find it has on the things you do?

Don Monkey