I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier.

As I've often said, I write and collect aphorisms and proverbs of the professions and I've learned

a proverb from computer programmer culture that I love and I find myself quoting all the

time.

It's not a bug, it's a feature.

This proverb is invoked by software developers when they argue that something that might be

seen as a mistake or flaw in their program is actually something quite useful, that it

was purposefully created to do.

This turns out to be surprisingly applicable in everyday life.

It's astonishing how often something that one person describes as a bug can also be claimed

as a feature.

For instance, I remember years ago, a writer friend was trying to sublet an office space

that she'd rented to do her writing.

And part of her pitch was that the office had no phone and no internet service, so it

was perfect for a writer who needed to focus.

It occurred to me that self-knowledge is another way to apply this proverb.

We take an aspect of our nature that might be seen as a flaw or limitation and figure

out how it can be considered a strength.

Now I'm going to give some examples from memory and I wasn't able to double check these

references so forgive me if I get some of the details wrong.

And I was thinking of several examples of famous actor comedians talking about how a

bug in themselves actually became a feature.

...