Hard Work Beats Talent,When Talent Doesn’t Work Hard!
On an athletic level, it is clear. There are plenty of “gifted” athletes that never excel because they rely on their natural ability to pull them through. We see this in middle school, high school and we clearly see it in professional athletics. It is always sad to see money and fame ruin a great athlete’s career.
This lesson can also be seen in academics. Some students rely far too much on their natural ability and end up paying the price. We all have stories of high school valedictorians that never made it through college. On the other hand, we also have stories of kids who struggled through school and ended up very successful in life. Sometimes those challenges we faced, made us far more prepared for the real world.
There is no simple secret to success. There are no silver bullets. There are no short cuts. However, nothing is more important than preparation and hard work. Yes, we can always point to the examples of people who were successful by flying by the seat of their pants. We can also point to the guy who jumped off the 3-story building and walked away without a scratch. There are always exceptions. However, I prefer not to jump off buildings.
In business, we compete every day. We compete with other companies. We compete with other employees. We compete with other candidates during interviews. Does the most naturally talented individual always win? No. Does the most naturally talented individual win most of the time? I would argue “No”. In my experience the most prepared individual wins.
It is a common excuse in business to say, “We can’t compete with Goliath Corporation. They are 5 times our size!” Other companies will always have more people, more budget, better products, better market position and so on. This should not, and cannot, be an excuse. Why do startups with little or no budget beat billion dollar companies every day? It is simple – because they can. They are rifle focused. They usually only have one product, while larger companies have an array of products to worry about. They don’t have legacy issues to deal with. They know that failure is not an option, so they work exceptionally hard. If they don’t succeed, their company fails. They simply don’t have other revenue streams to fall back on. They are nimble and creative while larger companies are often bureaucratic and slow moving.
The lesson is simple, “Hard Work Beats Talent, When Talent Doesn’t Work Hard”. Don’t make excuses. Simply work hard and be prepared. You will win more often than you think.
Hard Work vs. Talent: The Eternal Debate
One of the cornerstones of American culture is the concept of human equality: the notion that while some of us may be born into better circumstances than others, we all have equal rights as human beings to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We’ve enshrined that status in the very documents that declare and outline our system of government.
But as equal as we may be in the eyes of the law, it would be a mistake to assume or assert we’re all the same. We all have things that come more easily for us than they do for other people, even the very first time we try them. Like it or not, we can’t doubt the existence of the elusive quality we call talent.
Maybe you find it easy to play the clarinet, or chess makes intuitive sense to you. Dealing with people may be a snap; or perhaps you’ve got an instinctive flair for time management skills. Talents pop up for everything in every corner of life. You can learn a skill or get better at something, but it appears you either possess a talent, or you don’t, with no in between. Why?
Like most of the big “Whys” in our world, the answer to that one remains uncertain. There may be a genetic component to it. Many people have a “talent” for rolling their tongues, while others lacking a certain gene can’t roll their tongues at all…no matter how hard they try.
Recently, the New York Times reported that all else being equal, those with innate talents especially in terms of intelligence tend to do better in life than their less-talented colleagues. That makes sense…but so do the studies that suggest that in the long run, hard work and constant practice can overcome a lack of natural talent, which can often take people farther and higher than talent alone. Like the nature vs. nurture debate, this one will no doubt drag on for decades before we reach a consensus if that ever happens at all.
It probably won’t, because let’s be blunt here: when it comes to human intellect and behavior, pat answers rarely exist beyond the realm of children’s stories. Perhaps “practice makes perfect” comes closest to reality. Research by psychologist Anders Ericsson (popularized by writer Malcolm Gladwell) estimates it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at anything. This applies most obviously to music and sports, but it also extends to mundane activities like business skills, learning to write well, driving, even housework. We just don’t see these sorts of things celebrated they way we do Yo Ya Ma’s cello playing or Michael Jordan’s basketball skills.
For every Mozart who excelled as a child prodigy, we have an Albert Einstein, who did only reasonably well at math in school (the popular misconception that he failed is a myth) but later built himself into the world’s top physicist. Better yet, consider Tiger Woods, who started playing golf at the age of 18 months before going on to become a superstar in the sport starting at age 18. Does Woods have talent? Indubitably. Did almost two decades of constant practice hone his talent to a keen edge? Absolutely.
If talent trumped hard work, then would the most famous basketball player in history have started out on his junior varsity high school team? Well, he did. Michael Jordan’s coach didn’t even think he deserved to be in his school’s top 10 players. Jordan undeniably has talent; but combining it with hard work, and pushing himself well beyond the required workouts, got him into the Hall of Fame, not just talent.
When it comes to success, I believe three qualities hard work, persistence, and desire hold greater value than sheer talent. Just about anyone of normal intelligence can learn to accomplish any human activity or behavior competently IF that person practices enough, day in and day out. Sometimes, talent can actually hinder accomplishment. If you tell someone over and over they have a talent for something, they may just decide they don’t have to work hard to succeed. Needless to say, we don’t hear much about those people, do we?
You can make it without innate talent if you work hard no doubt about it. Conversely, you’re less likely to succeed by depending on talent alone. Those of us who make the big time usually do so because we combine talent with hard work and determination.
The lesson here? Talent does give you an edge you can’t deny that. But hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
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