To me, the story of talent is a horror story. Since I'm a writer, and since I very much want to know success, want to share my work with as many people a. Jul 26, 2016 The Talent Myth: Why Exceptional Musical Ability Is Within Your Reach Jul 26, 2016 Aug 30, 2020 by Eric. Lesson Topics: Inspiration Jazz Musicians.
When watching an elite athlete in any sport, it is tempting to conclude that the athlete was born with innate talent. How else can you explain the seemingly super-human abilities of players like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, or Venus and Serena Williams? When we then compare ourselves, our children, or the athletes we coach to these icons, we concluded that we obviously were not born with that level of talent, and have little hope of reaching similar levels of ability.
There is no talent trait
Scientists have attempted to identify the gene trait, or biological marker that is responsible for excellence, not just in sports, but also in academic and artistic endeavors. They have studied thousands of elite performers, comparing them to thousands of less accomplished counterparts. Do you know what they found? Nothing! There is no innate trait or marker that separates elite performers from the rest of us. Talent is a myth! Michael Jordan did not bound out of the womb dribbling a basketball. In fact, as many of you may know, he didn’t even make his high school basketball team initially!
No substitute for Hard Work
The truth is, no athlete ever reached world-class status without thousands of hours of practice and hard work. Not Tiger Woods, not Michael Jordan, nobody. Many of us have heard the stories of Tiger Woods hitting golf balls since he was a toddler. Tiger surely logged tens of thousands of repetitions at a very young age, and has hit millions of golf balls in his life so far.
Enjoy the Process
If there is anything hard-wired into these amazing athletes, it is likely a deep love for their sport and great enjoyment gained from practice. There is no way they would have practiced and worked as hard as they did if they did not get enjoyment out of the process.
So what is the lesson for all of us as athletes or the coaches or parents of athletes? It is to follow and nurture the athletic activities you enjoy the most. Don’t discourage a child athlete because they don’t seem to have innate talent. Watch carefully the activities they engage in most and seem to enjoy, and reinforce and encourage their participation. At the very least you are facilitating participation in an activity that is inherently enjoyable to that young athlete. And who knows, you may be guiding the development of a budding world-class athlete!
If you are interested in further reading on this topic, I highly recommend the book Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin (2008, Penguin Books). As always, feel free to comment or email DrRich@mindforsports.com for more information.
While friends and family often compliment my artwork by commenting on my natural talent, people in the artistic community generally avoid that type of praise. Instead, peers evaluate my work by simply stating how good it is, which better credits the hard work I have done.
But why is the narrative different depending on who is involved in the discussion? Why this dichotomy? A public obsession with talent is particularly present in regards to art (visual or music) and sports. We generally don’t talk about talent in the same way as other professions – pilots, doctors and businessmen are rarely said to have an inborn ability or natural gift.
Why is that? Why is the concept of talent so narrowly applied?
In short, a talent myth has been created to help explain the work of high-achieving individuals in the artistic and athletic fields. People don’t see the years of training and practice that creates excellence, so they misattribute success to natural gifts or inherent talent.
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. — Stephen King
The talent narrative perhaps first came into existence when masterful artists destroyed their early works to ensure the public never saw how they learned their craft. This was especially prevalent before the era of modern art.
Awkward drawings, bad attempts at sculpture and poorly executed paintings never saw the light of the day, so genius artists were known just for the portfolio of polished works they went on to produce. People never saw their struggles and the years of studies that led to such extraordinary work, blurring the perception of what causes creative success.
Like many of those artists, I am not eager to advertise my early work or the work that I don’t find well executed; if a painting doesn’t meet my expectations, I will not publish it on Instagram, enter it in a show or send it to a gallery. Only my best work is put out for the public to see.
Therefore, the people who tell me I have an in-built artistic talent don’t fully grasp the amount of work, commitment, time and sacrifice in my private life that it took for me to become a competent artist.
I like comparing being a painter to being a chef. Being a great chef requires a combination of hard work, imagination, experience and recipes. No one wakes up one morning and becomes a world class chef. You learn how to cook through practice and learning from mistakes.
At first, you can’t even make decent scrambled eggs and your first meatloaf is dry and bland. The pie is probably burnt. But if you pour your heart into cooking and practice it every day over an extended period, then you will probably become great at it. Painting is no different. As the famous quote goes: “You want to know the difference between a master and a beginner? The master has failed more times than the beginner has ever tried.”
Agnieszka is one of judges in the Atlas Art Contest, which is open for entries until September 30, 2016.
Born and raised in Poland, Agnieszka moved to the US in 2001 and graduated from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco with a B.F.A. She pursues a career in fine art painting while simultaneously working on a graphic novel. Agnieszka is continuing her art education at Justin Hess Atelier in San Francisco and her work can be found in private collections in the United States and in Poland.
The Talent Myth