“She’s really got a talent for it. “
That’s a statement that you hear quite often. Especially when it comes to things like painting, playing the piano or singing. But what is talent really? Do people have a genetic predisposition for becoming a painter? Or a violinist? Or a welder? How come we emphasize talent more when it comes to artistic professions?
In sports, we also tend to talk a lot about talent. As if talent could explain why someone is good at tennis, not the long hours of grueling practice that they’ve put in.
Talent is overrated. This constant talk of talent diminishes the hard work that people who are good at what they do have invested. It’s also an excuse for you to not do something. You’re hiding behind your “I don’t have any talent for that” excuse because that’s the easy way out. It means you don’t have to do the work. Put in the hours. It also means that you’re not getting anywhere. You’re stuck, and you always will be. Unless you embrace that anyone can learn anything. You just have to put your mind to it.
There’s no such thing as divine inspiration. There’s no writer’s block either. Every author knows that it’s just a matter of doing it. Just like any regular job. You show up at your desk and you sit down and write. You might write crappy pages, but eventually, when you write enough crappy pages some of them are going to be good. You just have to stick with it.
When are you going to overcome the resistance and start doing what you want to do?
Photo by Dragos Gontariu on Unsplash
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