Comments on: Talent vs. Hard Work

By: David Foo

David Foo — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:15:36 +0000

I think its very true. That if one has talent but has no hard work then the talent is pretty useless. You need to continuously work at your talent.

By: scottie

scottie — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:07:56 +0000

Scientific research seems to support the idea that “natural” talent is way over stated. The anecdotal evidence that people have been citing doesn’t account for early, related experiences. Sure two kids will perform differently on a new task but what related prior experience have each had. Even Mozart is debatable (Hayes 1985; Thinking and Learning Skills; Research and Open Questions) (Please see Howe, Davidson and Sloboda 1998 Behavioral and Brain Sciences).

By: Chen

Chen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:39:08 +0000

Very well written.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:51:42 +0000

Okay I think you all went slighty away from the objective of this discussion.

Now…Talent is not *Learned*…..You were just born with it. Eg.(Not theoretical)

“two 10 year old children are given a test on a subject they have never been taught, Both pay full attention and are interested in the subject. Of course one is vastly quicker at understanding than the other”

As this is a every 30 seconds of life occurrence(Which is a theoretical guess) that is undeniable, where doe’s this leave hard work you may ask?. It leave’s it sadly behind someone with talent, as even if the fast child stoped and messed around for awhile they may still be ahead or even with an un-talented hopeful.

Of course talented people have a tendancy to slack off a bit to much, as it is common for a talented person to get into the habit of feeling like a “Teacher’s pet” and slowing down to avoid the stigma or they just are not that interested(Like any other human being).

I see from being on both sides of this conundrum, As in my computer career I am considered talanted as in compared to other IT nerd’s. Yet at creative writing and history kind of stuff, I would be left looking like a douche bag that is clinically retarded. *But that’s not saying if I were interested in it would I not be any good at it*.

Hope the perspective helps.

By: tom

tom — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:08:30 +0000

I am a pianist. It has taken me 45 years of study and practice to reach the professional standard that a young prodigy would reach in their early teens.

But it doesn’t matter, because I got there in the end.

By: Dat Nguyen

Dat Nguyen — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:12:40 +0000

thanks for posting this
this argument has been stuck in my head for 5 years since i realized my friend’s talent. He is like a genius, he won many international rewards, he beat me in every single category: music, art, maths, science, English, sport, social skills.
Ever since then, i think my jealousy had made the friendship bad. But i always think about it: Talented people were born with a gifted brain, body; i, was given nothing |: ; am i wasting my time trying to beat him?
I love Naruto too, but it’s sad that: Rock Lee, he did work hard, but now, compare to Sasuke who is an Akasuki, there is no contest.

By: Myron

Myron — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:21:08 +0000

I am asking myself does natural talent exist? Ore is it all that brought you too now that creates how your perceive things and recreate them. What man call talent is always the beauty of the creation relative to the patterns that are currently in the average brain. So does it really exist ore is talent an opinion and is everyone talented in his own personal special way.

By: Neelabh

Neelabh — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 07:28:17 +0000

you have written this article rather well. my opinions are my own so they are subjected to criticism. from personal experience i have found that everyone has a set of abilities that come together to make a natural talent. like if i have the ability to perceive colour strokes and abstract representation i will have a talent for art. the thing is i’ve noticed people work really hard and yet unable to compete with those who have natural talent. the thing about rock lee was that he was god it’s true but it seems highly unlikely that someone as normal as you and me could ever be that good otherwise you’d have rock lees walking around on the streets. anyway i have a natural talent for art and compared to my other friends in class i catch perception and representation almost instantly whle they have continously work hard for it for weeks and are unable to achieve the same level as me. and it’s not limited to arts people can also have a natural talent for maths and physics and they will inevitebly do better that people who don’t. the thing is that hard work will only take you so far while with talent you can learn it yourself through trial and error. a person who has no natural talent in art will learn to extract inspiration and will need to be guided. a person with talent will automatically be able gain inspiration and with passion will be able learn how to represent it on paper perfecting himself because he can never be as good as his insiration, thus creating an engine to drive him to perfection.

By: kaske

kaske — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:43:22 +0000

@Not Relevant – I agree 99% with you, HOWEVER you shouldn’t neglect the POSSIBILITY that the average person through hard work reaches a high level in what he does. There are visible but there are also HIDDEN talents which might show themselves only after some time of hard work. It may be 1.3% possibility, but nevertheless, in a sea of different combinations even THAT is possible. You can deny the probability, but not possibility.

If I “become” a genius, even after 60 years of “just” working hard – it’s still accomplished, and in these cases time loses its importance. Once you’re there, you’re there.

By: Not Relevant

Not Relevant — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:56:19 +0000

Sigh… This culture is obsessed with trying to make everybody ‘feel better’ about themselves. Nobody can be exceptional, right? That would make the unexceptional people feel bad. If we see something truly amazing, we have to find some way to alleviate our jealousy/insecurity/inadequacy… so we reduce it to, ‘well they just worked really hard at it for a long time.’ What about all the people who work ‘really hard’ at something and still suck at it years later? You don’t hear about them in these stupid arguments. To their credit, some of them do get beyond ’suck’ and actually reach mediocrity.

And what about the people who manage to put in minimal practice time but yet show FAR more brilliance at their craft than some people who’ve been doing it for decades longer and/or for many more hours a day? Hmmm…

Going by what many of you say, then any human being alive right now -given the hours of practice- could be better than Tiger Woods at golf, a better composer than Mozart, a better artist than Picasso or Michelangelo, a better writer than Shakespeare, a better thinker and physicist than Einstein, etc.

Wow, just pick ANYTHING and practice really, really hard… and you’ll reach genius-level skill! Hmmm… I’ll bet there’s NEVER been ANYONE who’s put in LOTS AND LOTS of hours to get really good at something (yeah right)- and why do most of them never manage to achieve anything CLOSE to that level of brilliance?

Don’t even tell me that the handful of true geniuses and masters recognized throughout our history were the ONLY PEOPLE who put in many hours of practice and study. You just don’t think about (nor hear about) THOSE people… do you? And why would you?

And why is it that a child can come from a musical household, be totally immersed in it from infancy, and still turn out to be completely tone deaf and lacking in any real musical competency or aptitude? And why is it that another person can come from a totally non-musical household, not stumble upon music until their late teens, and then show prodigal skill on a certain instrument? Hmmm…

Face it, most people are just ordinary. Gifted people should be celebrated. As someone said earlier, if some people have an aptitude for writing with their left hand, then why couldn’t another person’s brain be programmed with a significant aptitude for music, art, literature, physics, mathematics, etc.?

So quit crying over the fact that you don’t feel special, and quit trying to make yourself feel better by rambling on and trying to ‘explain away’ the fact that there IS real talent and GENIUS out there… you probably just don’t possess it.

Every person is NOT just like everyone else. Grow up and face it. You’re all just trying to hide behind your big grown-up words and ability to commiserate with others, to babble and to pathetically argue away your insecurity and shortcomings.

It’s all just the ‘adult’ version of-

BILLY: “Mommy, I’m just as smart as Bobby, right?”
MOMMY: “Yes sweetie, you’re just as smart as Bobby.”
BILLY: “Bobby, my mommy says I’m just as smart as YOU. So THERE.”
BOBBY: “Then why do you get F’s on your report card even though you have a tutor twice a week and your daddy is a college professor? And why are you eleven years old and still in second grade?”
BILLY: “I could make good grades if I wanted to. And my mommy says I’m just as smart as you. So THERE.”