Does Talent Hurt Us? (Part Two)
Talent can be a double edged sword! It can sometimes cause more harm than good.
If you want to read the first part of the post, see the one before!
STOP Looking Down On Effort.
When people believe that they don't have talents. Or it requires talent to do well. They are less likely to give more effort. Instead, they frown upon effort. They feel that if they have to supply a lot of effort. That proves they suck at whatever it is that they are doing. That this makes them not talented in the task, And they NEED to move on to something else, that they are more talented with.
With this mindset, they will never become talented at anything, Because they won't put in the "10,000 hours".
People will shy away from challenges they feel they cannot conquer.
When you believe you can improve, You are more likely to Accept the challenge.
If you wanted to become a professional soccer player, and you knew for sure. You would NEVER EVER make it, No matter how much you practice or work at it.
- Would you put in the effort to make it happen?
Probably not. Because you have no confidence in your ability to be good at it. While you still may play soccer because it's fun, And you are passionate. You may not try as hard, Or invest as many hours. This is why talent is such a horrible thing to believe in. Things aren't predetermined at birth like that.
The beauty of life is being able to improve and become good at things.
No One Sees Behind the Scenes
Next time you are beating yourself up because you don't feel talented. Look at someone who you feel is talented and study them.
- What Kind of history do they have?
- Why are they "talented."
- Do they have a lot of experience overall?
- What kind of sacrifices did they make to become good at their skill?
Many people say I'm lucky because I'm self-employed. That I'm able to draw and get paid for a living. That I get to be creative everyday and earn a check. But they don't realize that I have been drawing since I've been 12 years old (I'm 24 now) To make this happen!
I used to stay up so late in my teens drawing, Passing out on my drawing table, With burned fingertips from pencil smearing, To develop my skills so I could do this! I wasn't born with it; I earned it!
Many talented people weren't born with any "magical" abilities. They took the long path of practicing and learning to get where they are at.
Talent is not a magical thing that some people get and others don't get. Anyone with the desire and self-discipline Can have what they want!
Lets stop teaching children that they are inadequate if they aren't born with some crazy talent!
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People often are jealous of self-employed people who are succeeding, but I think that should just be more motivation to keep doing well and being happy, it makes it easier to appreciate what you have when you know others want it. Cheers
If they are jealous of the success of others, they have issues to resolve before they can find their own success.
I agree with you, it should be taken as motivation not something else.
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So true! I wish people would just choose to get the same for themselves instead.
Very True.
Oh... So I wasn't born with a talent? I have to earn it... Yes, I actually agree that talent is over-rated, I think it's more like how bad you want it, if it's a skill you want bad enough, you will automatically work hard and claim it. Ok, I'm speaking from my experience of becoming a Magician, I wasn't born a Magician.
SO true!! Hehhe You probably weren't born that way. But who knows LOL
I wish I was born one. You cannot imagine how much work went into making something invisible ;)
good post much to think about it goes both ways so well!!
Great and motivational post. Just a sentence: never give up!
This is why I believe that passion is more important than talent. My passion for blockchain has caused me to dig deeper and learn more than the next guy. I am going to be thinking about how to be better when no one is forcing me to because passion is fueling me along the way and is not just means to and end like money or recognition.
Passion is better! Hehe I love that you were passionate about the blockchain! It may take longer to learn something when you are going off of passion over talent. But in the end, Passion wins.
There absolutely no substitute for hardwork, however, its also easy to blame those who don't succeed simply for not working hard enough. The path to success is the combination of hardwork + luck. Imagine as a scientist slaving away on your research project with less than minimum wage, no recognition and with your boss stealing all the credit from you. How likely will you be able to achieve success if you don't change your circumstances? I would say not very likely. Your personality as well as your environment plays a crucial role in achieving success
@kaylinart - I agree. There is no substitute for hard work. There are no free meals and even talented artists have to work hard to come up with their masterpieces.. Unfortunately, people tend to look at the end result and envy the artist without going into how much sweat and blood the artist has put into his creation.
When I picked up a camera for the first time (not counting those point and shoot generic cameras), I could not even photograph a stuffed animal! I produced several photos where I had performed a guillotine operation (cutting the head off in my photos) because I was shaking the camera when clicked. From there, it has taken me 2 hard years to come to a stage to be able to capture wild animals and birds!
Thanks for one more thought provoking and motivational blog. I really like the simple way and words in which you explain these concepts which, Gurus have taken whole books to explain.
I have posted couple of funny blogs about wildlife (my funny bone must be acting up 😝 ). If you find time, please visit my blogs. Your comments would be very welcome. Thanks
I strongly believe that talent can open the door to procrastination. If a talented person do not have the discipline to put in the work to master the desired skill they will be surpassed in the skill by the non talented person with the drive to put in the work.
WOW! Ididn't think of that! I agree that talent can make you procrastinate. You do not appreciate what you do not earn!
Constant work so it is important you do what you love it no longer feels like a "job" and instead is just a way of life for you that you enjoy doing and reap the rewards from. It does take a whole new mind set though and most of schooling drills it in your head do a test, get a piece of paper get a job. I don't know about you but when I did this for a few years I felt totally stuck and hated it!
With that being said since you are doing what you love instead of the other alternative yes your going to work long hard hours (maybe not always but at first) however it is going to be rewarding and fill you with great joy.
Nice one on talent, you are very correct that when we start seeing ourselves that we dont have talent, it will be difficult for us to put more effort to achieve something. The truth is that some are born with some kind of talent which they must work hard to improve, why some can learn what they desire and become perfect in it. The bottom line is continuous improvement. We should have I can do it spirit. Weldon ma, your article is always interested.