Talent and Hard Work

As a teenager and also as a young adult I have had to ask myself: WHAT IS MY TALENT? In fact, for as long as I can remember, this has been something I have been asking myself. I know I am not a good singer, neither am I a good dancer or a good painter. I have always found solace in the fact that not everyone will be good at these things, and even though I haven’t found the answers to the question I have been asking myself for the longest time, my mindset has been configured a certain way.

If there is something I know, it is trusting my instinct, I also know that I am a fast learner and I am constantly thinking of new ways to do old things.

Some of you are familiar with the 10,000 hours rule which simply says that:

If you practice something for a combined 10,000 hours, you become perfect at it.

10,000 hours is no small time, it is approximately one year, fifty-one days and sixteen hours. Can you imagine practicing something for 10,000 hours straight? Of course, a general rule of thumb is that these kind of rules doesn’t apply to everyone.

Just the other day, I was listening to someone on TV talk about how he believes hard work will always trump talent. While others may believe in something different, I spent some time really thinking about what I believe. Do I believe in talent or hard work?

In the first paragraph, I had mentioned in that I had been asking myself what it is my talent is, but I have not gotten an answer yet. Truth is, I believe in putting in the work to achieve anything, if I want to be a good dancer, I’ll practice dancing, if I want to be a good guitarist, I'll practice how to play. I believe one can do anything they want to, you can be anything you want to as long as you put your mind to it, you just need to put in the work, be dedicated and be consistent.

This is by no means an attempt to downplay talent, I believe there are certain things or something that comes natural to people, you are just by nature good at it even if you’ve never done it before or practice. But, you would agree with me that to nurture talent, you still have to work on it, polish the edges so it becomes smooth, because what is talent if you don’t nurture it? Wasted perhaps?

Talent gives you an edge over others, with talent, you may not need to practice for that long to be perfect unlike the untalented. Also, there is something, call it a smooth flair if you will about watching the result of talent and hard work, watching a talented person who has put in work to develop their talent can be aesthetically refreshing.

I believe hard work and dedication will always beat undeveloped talent, the talented is likely to feel relaxed because they believe they already have the talent, the hard worker knows what they want and also what it will take to get what they want, be where they want to be, so, do not fret if you don’t have the natural talent, you can do it if you believe and put in all you have you can chase perfection, and if you don’t catch it, at least you’ll catch excellence. Never give up! Whether it is by talent or by hard work, same doors of opportunities will open.

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