Talent or Hard Work

[sk66rc]

Which do you think is more important: Talent or Hard Work? Notice how for some people, everything comes so easy? They don't have to make that extra effort to make things work exactly the way they want them to work? Even in school, for some students who don't seem to put too much effort into studying seem to get a good grade... Some kids seem to have to make extra efforts just to get a passing grade...

 

[Outcast]

Well, being talented would sure make everything easier. Although if you have talent but are lazy, you're pretty much wasting it. I'd say hard work Is more important overall, because if you work hard it will eventually pay off.

But if we're talking talent like NBA or MLB? then I would totally go with talent.

 

[SofiasMami]

I'll go with choice C. Luck. But maybe that's because I'm reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.
You could be the next Michael Jordan, talent-wise, but if you were born in some poor, tribal area of Afghanistan, what are your chances of actually being the next Michael Jordan? Nil.


-Teresa

 

[Badjedidude]

Hard work can get you pretty far, but add talent to it and you'll be among the top-tier of whatever it is you're doing.

 

[Sci-Fi]

^ That pretty much sums it up.

 

[jaguarundi]

Unless you class it under Hard Work - there is also Perseverance, particularly in the case of initial rejection. JK Rowling had Harry Potter turned down numerous times before it was finally accepted, I believe....

 

[Nightwing]

Unless you class it under Hard Work - there is also Perseverance, particularly in the case of initial rejection. JK Rowling had Harry Potter turned down numerous times before it was finally accepted, I believe....

11 publishers turned it down suggesting it was too complex for children. (Though that was her agent persevering... not her.) I'm with Teresa on this example. She was accepted because the daughter of an editor working at a publishers, picked up a copy and said it was great. Talent... hard work... all irrelevant. It's luck. (That's not saying she didn't put in hard work to begin with, or that she lacks talent.... [though there's certainly an argument when she tried to emulate Stephen King's method to resolve his self doubt. That's before you even examine the industry as a whole and begin to take into account how many people actually work on a book.] ... it's saying that we shouldn't underestimate blind luck... the idea of being in the right place at just the right time. It can make all the difference. In the case of J.K. Rowling, it certainly did.)

I always thought talent was just something which influenced the outcome of hard work.... the talented find the work easier and can produce higher quality work with less effort. It's an interesting topic to think about though

 

[Regumika]

Luck is definitely the biggest determining factor in the end. However, all 3 are part of the equation. You can't be successful without all 3.

Hardwork and Opportunity (Luck) without talent = stuck in the bottom of the chain.

Talent and Opportunity without hardwork = You're famous for a short time.

Hardwork and Talent without Opportunity = you're not getting anywhere.

What we need to take away from these equations though.. is to work hard in the things that we do have talent in, and be prepared for an opportunity. At least do the things that we are in control of. Because, how would you feel when an opportunity comes and passes by because you weren't prepared when you know you could have been prepared.

 

[TheSkaFish]

Unless you class it under Hard Work - there is also Perseverance, particularly in the case of initial rejection. JK Rowling had Harry Potter turned down numerous times before it was finally accepted, I believe....

Indeed. I think she was even told something along the lines of "there's no money in children's books" at some point.

I was thinking about this the other day in fact, and thought of an idea. Looking back on my life, I've never really worked hard at things because I believed I had no talent. Nothing ever came extremely easy to me, I could never just do things without being taught, and so on. So I never tried hard because I believed that I was doomed to be average and thus there was no point at working hard...which only proved me right when I continued not to be good at anything. Even the things that I feel I am interested in, I did not try very hard at because I didn't think I'd ever get it. And I realized yesterday that we cannot really have a passion for something, even when we like it a lot, if deep down we believe it is impossible. Passion is like a mania but in a positive sense, and we can't reach that level of enthusiasm if we believe that it is futile. We won't give 100% or more at practice time, if we can even get the motivation to practice at all.

So perhaps, then, you could say this:

Passion x Hard Work = Talent

It's not what you're born with or without, it's what you believe about your potential TIMES your willingness to work towards a dream.

Guitar is a big one for me, I hear songs that get me excited, that make me say "Gee, I wish I could write and play something like that! THIS is why I want to be a guitar hero!" but then I got down on myself because I thought, well, I'm already in my late 20s and just about all the greats started in their teens at the latest. Then I read about this bluesman named T Model Ford the other week. He decided to learn guitar......at 58 years old. He was also illiterate, had never been to school (but had been to jail!), and was a hard-living, hard-drinking man. But he learned to play all on his own, without any lessons. He went on to record several albums of original songs, and played and toured until the end of his life in his 80s or 90s. It made me think that it must have been his passion and desire which allowed him to overcome obstacles like age and no formal training, and do what most people believe is impossible.

 

[jaguarundi]

^A great story.

A good friend of mine when in her thirties with 2 kids decided that she never really liked the career she was (successful) in, what she had wanted to be really, was a doctor. With the support of her husband (her luck to have him, or good judgment in marrying him?) who was happy to pick up all the domestic slack, she went to medical school, worked hard, (she is extremely clever, but doctor training is no picnic) qualified, continued to work very hard and ended up retiring a few years ago as a well respected Consultant in her particular field.

Luck? Talent? Hard Work? Perseverance? All of the above. She's a **** good grandma now as well

 

[will normal]

Hard work. I personally don't think I have a talent and I'm always a firm believer in any kind of a payoff in the end. Talent is nice but can be overlooked.