Comments on: Talent vs. Hard Work

By: Mr. Thrasher

Mr. Thrasher — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:44:21 +0000

Alright. This is the sick sad truth. If you are not gifted in an area, you will never be as good as someone who is. Period. This applies to many things. Look at beautiful people. Some of them don’t have to do ANYTHING for that six pack, or that hour glass figure and great skin. Yet they have it. Others will diet. Change their life styles. But all the most expensive products and study their skin to make it shine. It may improve their looks some, that’s for sure. But they will NEVER be as on par as the person who is a natural. All it takes is some mild effort from the natural at best, to out do the person who busted their ass to get where they are. Just a fact of life. Sorry.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:23:48 +0000

The opinion you gave is one that i believe to be the most accurate. i am a piano major, and i have come up with several compositions. and i am also here to say that i did not get it by just sitting on my duff, going “la da te to de” and then magically come up with a composition. I had to play around, figure out what made sense, take music theory classes to understand why that sounded good, and then to figure out how to make good voice leading so that if i wanted to put text to it, it could be sung easily. Either way, talent is only a small portion of this, where the hard work and dedication fill in the rest.

By: Faye

Faye — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:20:53 +0000

You say you want us to give you our opinions, so I will. Well, in my opinion, everybody has a talent at something. Either if it’s to do with something negative, it’s considered a talent. And actually, if you look at it this way, skill is a natural talent. B/c, it’s takes natural talent to learn talent. So let’s see, how about “Natural Talent vs Talent”. Skill can actually be a natural or just a talent you learn. Thinking is a natural talent. Actually, if you think about, natural talent is something your born with. Actually everybody has to solve something until they eventually know what the certain term/problem means. I mean, I know I’m not a genius & I may be confusing you, but you would understand me better if you were hearing me talking about this. Self taught is not a natural talent. You don’t automatically know how to do it, unless you teach yourself, or if someone else is teaching you. But, if you looking at this way, too. Like singing for instance, you can automatically know how to sing or learn how to sing. Actually, there’s 2 ways of what natural talent is. Either it’s something you’re born with, like you’re senses, or something you automatically you know how to do. I’m sorry if I’m confusing you, but I know what I’m talking about & you would too if you were hearing & seeing me explain it.

By: id

id — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:47:33 +0000

Nice article, browsed a few comments and looking in a different perspective.

Talent and Hardwork are both mind set standards of a person. Since one is comparing self to different individuals or 2 different individuals. But for the individual in question(be it talented one or hardworking). He/She will try and picture out someone to compare with and from there assess if what he has done is from hardwork or from his talents…

On another point of view it will go down in how a person tackles the same problem.

By: CC Running

CC Running — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:52:53 +0000

Thank you so much. I agree, 1000% If it exists, it does, but it’s also true that only some can really work hard. And that’s another thing all together. It’s hard to do work hard, to be persistent; a perfect example is in long distance running. You have to work hard, you aren’t just GOOD.

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.