Filed under: Uncategorized
And now for a little elaboration on the previous post (because I can never leave well enough alone)…
I AM NOT TALENTED
I’ve never considered myself particularly talented. I didn’t come from a musical family; I wasn’t raised around musicians; my interest wasn’t the result of a neighbor or friend taking me under his wing. Instead, I just really enjoyed it and couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Once I did start start to play an instrument, I was no prodigy. I was, however, completely hooked. I would spend countless hours toiling away and came to a point where you just about couldn’t separate me. Did I sound good right from the start? Heck no! I sounded awful, just like everyone else does at the beginning! In fact, several of my friends were way better than me. But not for long, due entirely to the sheer number of hours I was spending playing music every single day.
WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE?
What was the magic? What was my mojo? It was that somehow, from day one, I figured that if I simply hung in there I would eventually improve. Imagine that. Guess someone forgot to tell me to “check for talent” first.
From my observation, a lot of people have a “let’s stand back and see how this goes” mentality about getting good at something (artistically, academically, athletically). This approach says “if it happens to come together from the start, then success was meant to be. If not, we’ll have to try something else (and quickly before self-esteem suffers).”
HOW FAST YOU GET IT IS NO PROJECTION OF HOW FAR YOU’LL GO WITH IT
Big achievements don’t happen by chance, and no one has ever become a virtuoso on talent alone. At best, talent is a head start in the race, but it’s not the finish line. I think we confuse the issue when we use the word talent to refer to an advanced level of skill (i.e. “So and so is such a talented musician”). “Talent” and “skill development,” though related, are two entirely different subjects. One is “having a knack for” or “taking quickly to” something; while the other is the labor and toil involved in making that something into a highly significant something.
There’s no argument that someone who picks up quickly has an advantage. But by no means do they have a free ride. There will be work outside the parameters of the training or lessons or team practice, during which the intense process of skill development takes place. Granted, that extracurricular time may be more enjoyable when “talent” is present, but it’s still work.
Indeed, DETERMINATION, not gifted-ness, is the deciding factor in achievement. What takes place beyond the lesson, outside the classroom, and in addition to the training, is what makes or breaks one’s chances for long-term success.
Countless are the stories of people who get excellent grades with very little effort but then go on to do very little, if anything, with higher education, eventually settling for lives and careers far below their true potential. Fortunately, just as countless are the stories of people who struggled desperately just to get a C- but then go on to become great artists, inventors, doctors, CEO’s, hugely successful in their chosen field.
I DON’T DENY TALENT, I JUST SAY “FUGGETABOUTIT”
If you have some, fine… count your blessings! But then get back to the real work of developing whatever skill it is you are pursuing. Don’t lie down like the proverbial hare and start napping.
And if you feel you have zero talent, oh well! All it would get you is a little advanced placement on the starting line anyway. You can more than make up for it in sheer determination and tenacity. Go for it!
[...] by donknoup on April 23, 2009 I just read this blog post by Mike Roberts and it is awesome. Check this [...]
Pingback by Achieving Success - Mike Roberts « Don Knoup dot com April 23, 2009 @ 4:01 pmDang! That is great advice.
Comment by donknoup April 23, 2009 @ 3:59 pm