Lately I’ve been thinking about something that’s been bothering me for a while. On CF (and in competitive programming in general), it sometimes feels like there are two kinds of people.

There are those who see a problem once, and just get it. They read the statement, glance at the constraints, and somehow, within minutes, they’re already implementing a clean and elegant solution. And then there are people like me who read, think, test small cases, and still can’t quite reach that “aha” moment. Sometimes it feels like I’m grinding gears in my head while others are gliding.

So I started wondering: Is this “instinct” something you’re born with, or something you train? And will it be possible for normal people to eventually reach the same level as the “naturals” through enough deliberate practice, or is there just a limit we just can’t cross, no matter how hard we train?