The subject of natural talent has been on my mind lately. I have been recalling everything I have learned through the years about talent and the necessity to learn how to truly appreciate what it is (and what it isn’t). It is actually something that has crossed my mind on and off for the past couple years. I have felt the desire to share it with certain, young, talented people I have had the privilege of watching grow up and face the big steps in life after graduation. I have always thought I would love to write these thoughts down and share them with these individuals so they have some information that I would have appreciated at that age (even if I didn’t realize I needed it at the time).
Everything I want to express is summed up in this quote: “There are two kinds of talented people. Both know they are talented but only one knows that is not all it takes.” I am not sure if I had heard something similar to that before, or if I made it up, but I think it speaks volumes.
What I want to express is the place that talent holds in our journey to succeed, how it has to be appreciated, what it does for us, and finally, what it doesn’t do for us if we don’t realize the other vital efforts we have to make.
For a person with natural talent, especially when you are young, it is so easy to begin to believe your talent is all you need. Chances are if you are naturally talented, you have been most of your life (in whatever it is you do well). I know for me with my talent to draw, I can remember kids swarming around my desk as early as first grade just to see what “crayon masterpiece” I created in art class. All this attention through the years can build one’s confidence up. Confidence is a good thing, but it can easily turn into “Wow! I hardly have to try at all!” For those of us who hold a natural talent in something, that thing comes very…. well… natural to us! We feel like it so easy and then it becomes apparent to us how “not easy” it must be. We start seeing that others don’t come anywhere close to being able to pick up on that same thing as effortlessly. It makes you feel like you have this super power. This attitude, if not monitored, can give us the idea that we will exceed in our talent with little to no effort. Wrong!
This is where I get on the soapbox to say: this is the mindset that will trump your natural talent and insure you down a path that does not lead to success. With talent comes a huge responsibility. I think there are three things you MUST have to stay on the path of success:
1. PASSION. You have to believe in what you do to succeed. Passion is so important, and it glows on the face of a person that has it. People that see you realize you have genuine drive. While passion is important it cannot stand alone, either.
2. APPRECIATION. Talent is not something you can take for granted. You might succeed for a while, but it will come back to bite you. If you don’t truly appreciate what you have, I don’t believe your best can come out. If you don’t realize that your talent is also a gift for you to give back to others, you will be missing a huge part of the picture. For me it is quite spiritual. I believe God gives us our talents for a huge purpose. If we miss that purpose, our absolute best is lost.
3. And lastly, the REALIZATION that talent will not carry you alone. There is so much time, sacrifice, and strong effort to be given outside of your natural talent in order to succeed. Another quote I love is “Nothing worth having comes easy.” We all know this truth, and those of us who have been given a talent are no exception. You HAVE to work hard; that is all there is to it. If you are going to let laziness, arrogance, and lack of appreciation get in your way, you might as well call it quits.
There can be a couple observations brought up at this point and I will address both. Someone might say, “Well I know so-and-so who was talented, caught a huge break and was on the path to success with hardly any effort at all beyond their talent.” I’m sure there are plenty of stories like that, but the ones I know of didn’t end well because there was nothing to sustain. Again, these things happen, but we are talking about establishing something that lasts. What seems like lucky breaks do come to people, but you can’t bet on them; if you do get them, you have to have what it takes to make them last.
It can also be said that you might not be seeing the actual hard work and sacrifice of those people. It might not have been such a lucky break at all. It is so easy for us to look at others and assume it came to them at no cost. Chances are it did not!
To bring things to an end, I will touch on keeping ourselves from being arrogant. I think many of us at one point, or to a degree, have come to a point where we thought a little too much of ourselves. Arrogance is very blinding and being able to see what and where we are at any given time is key to bettering ourselves. I think a good practice is to always know that there is someone out there better than you. I don’t care if you have been declared the single most talented person in the whole world; there is still someone undiscovered that could kick you in the pants. Why would you want to focus on that? I think that not only does this thought drive you to work hard at being better, but it also keeps your arrogance in check. Don’t confuse arrogance with confidence. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being humbly confident. In fact it is the best way to be. Confidence is a healthy belief in one’s self. Arrogance is confidence’s ugly cousin who thinks he is better than everyone else and shouldn’t have to lift a finger.
Everything I have said comes from what I have learned and am still learning right now. I challenge anyone reading this to keep these points in mind. Be incredibly thankful for the talents you have been given, realize hard work comes with it, and let true passion drive you to new adventures everyday.
