How Desire Trumps Talent Across the Boards

Desire and dedication trumps talent. The person who winds up excelling is generally the one who wants to get better, not the one with the natural gifts for writing, science, bowling, drawing - or whatever.

There is an insightful piece at Creating Passionate Users about succeeding - and this intriques me because it's a topic I talk about often with students. My experience is that a student who wants to do well with what I'm teaching - and who will practice and then practice some more - will have more success than a  student who is simply saturated with talent.

Kathy Sierra wrote

"Apparently God-given talent, natural "gifts", and genetic predispositions just aren't all they're cracked up to be. Or at least not in the way most of us always imagined. . . . In theory, again, anyone willing to do what's required to keep getting better WILL get better. Maybe the "naturally talented artist" was simply the one who practiced a hell of a lot more. Or rather, a hell of a lot more deliberately"

As manino at Mercurial puts it

"if we were willing to put in more hours . . .  we could become good. Great. Potentially brilliant. (The) dedication to mastery drives the potential expert to focus on the most subtle aspects of performance, and to never be satisfied."

My experience is the same and I've seen it happen over and over. It doesn't have to be drudgery but it will be repetitive. In short,

• If you want to draw well, draw every day. Then look at what you've drawn. Examine it carefully. What could you do differently to improve it?
• If you want to write well, write every day. Then rewrite. And write again.
• If you want to network well, start making connections.

If you want to play golf well, practice. Play whenever you can. Just don't tell your spouse it was my idea.

 

Comments

[Susan]

Nancy, one talent you've got in spades is researching . . . or it's something you practice a LOT. I've never seen so many baby names as you've got at your list. It's enough to make me want to have more children, or find a litter of puppies to name or something equally fun.

[Susan]

I'm kind of glad you chose writing over golf. This way more of us can enjoy what you're doing.

[Nancy R. Callahan]

Fantastic point -- very inspirational for those of us with few natural talents. :)

[Terry Starbucker]

Susan, I tried golf many years ago and boy was that hard - you REALLY have to practice that to be any good. I so agree with your point here- that's why I decided to blog; I always liked to write but I wanted to get better at it. Who said "practice makes perfect"? They knew what they were talking about! All the best.