History Main / AutopilotArtistry

** In "Artist Unknown", [=SpongeBob=] demonstrates innate artistic ability when he aren't thinking too hard about what he's doing, including making an entire sculpture with a single tap of the chisel. However, after he has his confidence crushed, he can't do a single thing because his focus is on doing art "correctly". Then, when Squidward gets frustrated because [=SpongeBob=] can't recreate his previous successes, he trashes the art studio and destroys a block of marble... creating an almost-exact ''Art/{{David}}'' replica.

* ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'': In one episode, an art context is held by the school. Milo is expected to easily win, given his talent, but he enters a creative block and can't produce art anymore. He later understands that he can do art only when he is mindlessly and freely following his inspiration, rather than when he needs to think of a specific goal.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': When Po tries to focus on learning kung fu the traditional way, he simply isn't good at it despite his efforts. However, one morning Shifu discovers Po performing some incredible physical feats in order to get food concealed in high cupboards and shelves. Po initially dismisses this, saying he was just looking for comfort food and didn't even realise what he'd done, but this leads Shifu to realise he ''can'' train Po; he just has to adjust his training methods to best suit the student. Shifu later lampshades this:
-->'''Shifu:''' When you focus on kung fu, when you concentrate...you stink. But perhaps that is my fault. I cannot train you the way I have trained the Five. I now see that the way to get through to you, is with this.''[pulls out a bowl of dumplings]''

-->-- WebVideo/DrewGooden, "I bought every weird ad I saw for a month"

Yes, some characters prove to have natural talent at something when they're unaware of what they're doing. The implication is that they overthink it otherwise, and that not looking allows them to succeed purely by accident. It doesn't have to be as specific as wearing a blindfold- even just doing it while looking at their phone, being distracted, or talking to someone can count. Perhaps they're BlindWithoutThem but manage to succeed when not wearing glasses, or perhaps they just fly through something while not realizing they've done it. It may even just be something they do subconsciously, like only memorizing something while multitasking on everything else. The point is, they can only succeed when they have no idea what they're doing.

** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS4E9KrustyTowersMrsPuffYoureFired Mrs. Puff, You're Fired]]", [=SpongeBob=] gets a new, DrillSergeantNasty boating school teacher, who forces him to drive through a death course blindfolded. It turns out he's a natural at driving when he can't see... but as soon as he's expected to take the course ''without'' the blindfold, he stops knowing what to do.

* ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'': As a ''Cross Reverie'' player, Takuma Sakamoto was an expert potionmaker. However, when he becomes TrappedInAnotherWorld as his PlayerCharacter Diablo, he initially has no idea how to make them. He finally figures out that the only way he can make them is by [[EatingTheEyeCandy staring at Shera's bosom]] so that he's thinking about her assets instead of potionmaking.

* ''Manga/YuruYuri'': Chinatsu Yoshikawa is normally such a terrible artist that her "paintings" make anybody who look upon them want to gouge their eyes out. However, after coming down with a cold, she [[TheDeterminator goes to school anyway to see her crush, Yui]]. Somehow, her sickness turns her into TheAce at ''everything''. She sketches a flawless pencil drawing of Yui in art class, scores an effortless three-point shot in gym '''while fainting''', cooks the most delicious-looking meal her Home Ec class has ever seen, recites a passage from her English textbook in perfect English, and writes out Pi on the chalkboard to over a hundred places. Yet, in her fevered state, she dismisses it all as 'a slump'.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films-- Animated]]

[[folder:Films-- Live-Action]]

[[/folder]]

* ''WebVideo/DrewGooden'': In "I bought every weird ad I saw for a month", Drew buys a product that covers your eyes and is meant to help you play basketball better. He launches into a skit where he's hopeless at getting any shots when looking, but suddenly becomes a basketball pro while using "Hand In Yo Face", eventually taking his playing to the next level- the NBA, where he won the championship for over forty years in a row on every single team, in a gag referencing the ''[[NamesTheSame other]]'' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Gooden Drew Gooden]].

[[folder:Films-- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheKingsSpeech'': Lionel proves to George that his stutter is psychological in origin by asking George to recite a passage of text while loud music is playing through headphones. George's stutter disappears entirely when he can't hear his own voice.
[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': Nanao's biggest obstacle in learning magic is that a lot of the strange tricks she pulls off, especially while in [[SuperMode Innocent Color mode]], she does so on pure instinct. She's so used to controlling her body's own energy from her sword training[[note]]Probably the sword style she was taught invoked some sort of KiManipulation metaphor, and she just happened to ''[[AccidentallyAccurate actually]]'' be manipulating something like ki.[[/note]] that she does it without conscious thought, and is thus able to do things like [[ParryingBullets parrying spells with her katana]] by instinctively synchronizing to the incoming element and disrupting it, [[spoiler:and inventing the Seventh Spellblade when she has to close the distance to Miligan before Miligan's DeadlyGaze can hit her, and so ''wills'' herself to strike faster than the speed of light]]. But because it's all instinct, she's often unable to deliberately repeat such feats, and [[CripplingOverspecialization struggles to cast basic spells]] because they require her to project her magic ''outside'' her body, which she's completely unused to.

* ''LightNovel/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': Nanao's biggest obstacle in learning magic is that a lot of the strange tricks she pulls off, especially while in [[SuperMode Innocent Color mode]], she does so on pure instinct. She's so used to controlling her body's own energy from her sword training[[note]]Probably the sword style she was taught invoked some sort of KiManipulation metaphor, and she just happened to ''[[AccidentallyAccurate actually]]'' be manipulating something like ki.[[/note]] that she does it without conscious thought, and is thus able to do things like [[ParryingBullets parrying spells with her katana]] by instinctively synchronizing to the incoming element and disrupting it, [[spoiler:and inventing the Seventh Spellblade when she has to close the distance to Miligan before Miligan's DeadlyGaze can hit her, and so ''wills'' herself to strike faster than the speed of light]]. But because it's all instinct, she's often unable to deliberately repeat such feats, and [[CripplingOverspecialization struggles to cast basic spells]] because they require her to project her magic ''outside'' her body, which she's completely unused to.

** In "Artist Unknown", [=SpongeBob=] demonstrates innate artistic ability when they aren't thinking too hard about what they're doing, including making an entire sculpture with a single tap of the chisel. However, after he has his confidence crushed, he can't do a single thing because his focus is on doing art "correctly". Then, when Squidward gets frustrated because [=SpongeBob=] can't recreate his previous successes, he trashes the art studio and destroys a block of marble... creating an almost-exact ''Art/{{David}}'' replica.

-->'''[=SpongeBob=]''': I finally realize that I can't do it! I can't do it, Mr. Krabs! I'm a failure!\\

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS4E9KrustyTowersMrsPuffYoureFired Mrs. Puff, You're Fired]]", [=SpongeBob=] gets a new, DrillSergeantNasty boating school teacher, who forces him to drive through a death course blindfolded. It turns out he's a natural at driving when he can't see... but as soon as he's expected to take the course ''without'' the blindfold, he stops knowing what to do.

** Arin invokes this when playing the very difficult ''VideoGame/BattleKidFortressOfPeril'', realizing that he does slightly better in the boss fight when he distracts himself by telling improv stories. However, he still never beats the level, though a 2022 ''Game Grumps Live'' show featured a (scripted) ending where [[spoiler:his improv ''does'' help him finally beat the level]].

* ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'': Occurred once in a ''VideoGame/MarioMaker'' episode. Arin, who is often known to struggle at games, started to play a level submitted by a fan, but wanted to read the comments first. In the process, he effortlessly beat the level without even realizing what he did, to Danny's amazement. Arin even admitted to not having any idea what the level ''looked like'' because he wasn't looking at it.

CentipedesDilemma is the other side of the coin, wherein a naturally skilled character ''loses'' said ability due to overthinking it. Also compare OffhandBackhand, YouWereTryingTooHard, and AchievementsInIgnorance.

Let's face it- we're not going to be good at everything we do in life. People have strengths and they have weaknesses, as does every well-written character. It can be fun drama in a story when a character has to do something they're bad at, but it can be just as fun to see someone overcome those obstacles. Normally this means putting in a lot of hard work, some elbow grease, and maybe a TrainingMontage... but in the case of this trope, it means just wearing a blindfold.

-> ''Maybe being able to see what I was doing has been a distraction all along. This whole time, I should've just been letting my elite athleticism and God-given talent take over. My eyes have been holding me back from greatness.''
--> - WebVideo/DrewGooden, "I bought every weird ad I saw for a month"