Really liked this post by Seth Godin about people being either hunters or farmers.

Farmers spend time sweating the details, worrying about the weather, making smart choices about seeds and breeding and working hard to avoid a bad crop. Hunters, on the other hand, have long periods of distracted noticing interrupted by brief moments of frenzied panic.

It’s not crazy to imagine that some people are better at one activity than another. There might even be a gulf between people who are good at each of the two skills…

A kid who has innate hunting skills is easily distracted, because noticing small movements in the brush is exactly what you’d need to do if you were hunting. Scan and scan and pounce. That same kid is able to drop everything and focus like a laser–for a while–if it’s urgent. The farming kid, on the other hand, is particularly good at tilling the fields of endless homework problems, each a bit like the other. Just don’t ask him to change gears instantly.

This all struck a chord with me because I’ve always had the feeling that I’m the kind of person who would thrive in a hunter-gatherer society. I’m a hunter, by nature. I’d be great at patiently tracking animals in the forest and interpreting all the signs of nature. I have amazing focus — for a short time. Then I get interested in something else. And I can sit and stare into space for long periods of time.

I guess these are great qualities to have in a hunter-gatherer society. They’re a constant struggle in a farming-based civilization.