Hard Work versus Talent
Talent is a natural ability in a skill that helps you perform well. It may be the ability to quickly absorb and understand material, use less effort to recreate a concept, or make changes for improved quality while still in the middle of processes. You’ll hear “talented” most often applied to athletes, gamers, or artists, but most often it’s what helps successful entrepreneurs and businesses thrive.
Hard work, on the other hand, is the time and effort put into improving your abilities. While hard work is occasionally used as an antonym to talent, it’s not really the opposite. Instead, people without innate gift for an activity need to apply hard work in order to be on a similar pace as a talented individual. It takes more time to reach similar results and often requires more training and practice. However, to be a successful individual, you need to prioritize both of these aspects.
What They Both Require
Tim Notke, a high school basketball coach, doled out important wisdom to his team: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” Talent requires hard work to stay ahead – it’s not a superpower, it’s more like an ability buff. What a successful-and-talented individual has in common with a successful-and-hard-working individual is dedication and drive.
The two traits go hand in hand when it comes to success with their common denominator being fierce motivation. If you’re not invested in what you’re doing, neither talent nor hard work will take you far. When in a position you’re passionate about and looking to grow within, that commitment is the key to bring these two traits together.
How to Get Ahead
So how do you really combine talent and hard work? What if you’re passionate about a project or job that doesn’t revolve around what you’re talented in? Luckily, there are still ways to bring both to the table and maximize your productivity. If you’re not giving yourself enough time to learn and grow or optimizing your time by mixing in what you’re already good at, you could be making it more difficult for yourself to be successful.
Focus on Pain Points
Talent doesn’t cover all aspects of a single task. For example, if you’re a scientist with a talent in memorizing formulas, you’ll still need to work on your ability to adequately measure and adjust data. You could even happen to struggle in statistics. In order to be a great lab researcher, you can’t only rely on formula memorization. You’ll still need to actively work on other relevant and important skills.
Optimize Processes
Natural talents don’t always align with what you’re passionate about. Instead of restricting yourself to what you’re good at, it’s possible to find ways to incorporate what you want to do with what you already have a head start in. If you’re a scientist that’s a naturally gifted runner, this could be your pastime for reducing stress. Discover more articles about stress reduction here.
When optimizing your processes, it’s about more than the hobby or career. In order to have an efficient schedule that gives you more opportunities to work on yourself and your projects, you need to make time to take care of yourself, find time management shortcuts that still allow adequate rest, and leave room for improvement.
Push Forward
Whether you’re looking to get ahead in your studies, career, or even hobbies, you’ll need to combine your talents with regular practice, studying, and time. Even if your focus doesn’t initially revolve around something you’re talented at, you can find a way to integrate the skill or use on of your other strengths.
When it comes to success, there’s no fool-proof plan that’s going to get you from point A to point B faster. Instead, there are a number of different paths you can take and strategies you can use that can eventually lead you to the same place. When you’re dedicating your time and effort to something you’re passionate about, one definite boost you can give yourself is utilizing assets you may already have.
