Being out of one's league

Whether it comes down to skills, social or ecomnomic classes or other people in general, this seems to be a topic of divided opinion. Like, say, being curbstombed on the swim team you just joined in a race against the fastest player on the team. You say this to yourself (or someone else does) at first and either 1) do something about it or 2) use it as an excuse to not even try.

Do you believe in being out of your league/depth/whatever? I don't, being someone who likes finding ways around everything and hates making excuses for not even trying and blaming outside factors for one's own failures. And if you really suck at something, you could just make use of a friend or family member who's more skilled at that thing.

edited 29th Sep '11 2:01:06 PM by redandblack64

I like being "out of my league". It makes victories more sweet, and failures less depressing.

What point would there be in achieving things I know I can achieve?

edited 29th Sep '11 2:09:32 PM by Carciofus

Yes, but rarely will it happen for everything. You just can't expect to always be on top.

Pick the right opponent or situation, and you'll always be out of your league.

The question is, how do you respond? Curl up and surrender, or fight?

I find that term is more usually applied toward getting into relationships, and it actually hold true more often than it should. People are extremely judgmental toward each other when it comes to appearances, regardless of whether or not they want to be. This is also something that most people ultimately have to overcome without outside help.

Not to say that you don't have a chance if you aren't "in someone's league," but it doesn't help your chances—though from what I've seen, this applies less and less as people age.

Also, this bothers me:

You should focus on what you're good at, because then you'll pull it off better than anyone else.

There's no such thing as out of your league: It's possible to prevail while outmatched.

edited 29th Sep '11 3:24:56 PM by SavageHeathen

While it may be possible, if the chances of prevailing are less than 1 in 10, it is safe to say they are "out of your league." Because the expectations are that you will not succeed.

edited 29th Sep '11 3:29:52 PM by Swish

"Out of my league" doesn't mean that I can't possibly succeed. It simply means that I am up against others who are much better at <whatever> than I am, and I cannot expect to succeed. I may in fact succeed, but it's not the most probable outcome.

Personally, I don't mind being out of my league at something as long as I'm aware of it beforehand.

That's... Problematic.

At any given meat market, if you set your sights on a particular chick, the odds that you'll actually end up sleeping with her are typically less than 1 in 10.

Your odds that you're going to sleep with a woman on a given night of straight cruising are somewhat better than 1 in 10 (assuming you're actually cruising), but the odds that you'll get your specific pick are generally slimmer than that.

edited 29th Sep '11 3:36:37 PM by SavageHeathen

I used 1 in 10 as the statistic for a general purpose situation(since that's the use in the OP), rather than picking up a specific woman(which admittedly, would likely need to be lower).

I personally don't believe using the whole "out of my league" bit as a reason to not try... But one can claim it to explain why s/he failed(assuming there's not some other obvious reason).