Hard work vs Talent

Last month our focus was on hard work and dedication. I told you guys that this is an essential part of our everyday life. If you want to make it in life then these two things are a must for you to focus on as you navigate the turbulent waters of life on your path to success. Well I have decided to keep writing on it every once in a while and bring you people different hints, share knowledge and even share some personal experience on it.

So today what I want to talk on is on Hard work and Talent. Do you believe that Hard work can beat talent? A hard working person and a person that is naturally talented in a field, who do you feel would excel more? I'll love your opinion but I would tell you mine.

Let's do this...








We all know the story of the tortoise and the hare. How the tortoise was able to beat the hare because the hare was too relaxed and thought it's talent was enough for it not to work hard just like in the pic we have above. Well that's one example but today I'll use engineering work as another example. Picture this, a motor mechanic that has trained hard under his master to learn the trade. He knows his way around the nuts, bolts, pistons , crank shafts and everything there is to know about a vehicle. He spends countless hours of his spare time studying and practicing his trade in order to perfect it. With hard work he becomes a very skilled motor mechanic and is well known for his hard earned skills. Everyone that comes to the shop, even his colleagues know that he is very good and they know that he started out not knowing much what a screw. However he has come very far from where he began. Now that's for someone that is hard working.

Now in the same workshop there is another person that is just naturally gifted with handling mechanical issues. Ever since this fellow was a kid he just had an affinity to vehicles and other mechanical gadgets, he knows all about them and finds it easy to fix their faults. He is equally good in what he does so for some reason he feels he doesn't need to work hard. He is more relaxed, hardly tries to learn anything new and when the boss is talking he simply glances at what the boss is showing them and walks away with the confidence and mind state that he would always excel when it comes down to doing the real work.

I personally believe that in this case, the hardworking person with no natural talent is going to excel more. Yes raw talent is good but even raw talent without effort and more knowledge would only remain raw and untapped. It would never grow into something better, something more refined. The natural talent we are given in life isn't given to us to just stare at. I believe it is ours to explore and develop and the only way to develop it is by putting in some hard work. It's by dedicating our time to improving it that the talent you have been gifted with would truly shine. I believe that is how legends are born, they were given a natural talent but went the extra mile to work harder for it and develop it into what it turned out to be. Just think of every single one of the talents out there, you wouldn't be hearing of them today if they allowed the talent in them remain dormant. They wouldn't have excelled if they didn't work hard to improve those talents. Today you hear their names from Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adiche, Innocent '2face' Idibia, Don Jazzy, Albert Einstein, Michael Jackson, Picaso, Leonardo Da vinci, Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and many many more... These are all naturally talented people that realized that they would still need to put in some effort in order to make things work for them. They would never have gotten to where they are today if they didn't bend down and work to improve that talent. Years of training have refined that raw talent and that is why almost subconsciously the football legends are able to catch that true pass or even almost predict where an opponent is going to try to cut them off from. That is why the Musical talents can sing and dance in a petrifying rhythm and sync. That is the reason the artists are able to write and paint with so much beauty to their art.

Perfection is possible or impossible to reach depending on your definition of it but I believe that with hard work you can get very close to that perfection. If you have just natural raw talent without working hard towards improving it then you might not get as far as a hard working person would. You would find yourself capable of doing what they hard worker those but not as efficiently. However a natural talent has an edge because with a little applied hard work that isn't even up to the level of commitment that the hard worker with no talent puts in, he/she(the talented one) can excel more than the hard worker. The talented person wouldn't need to (but could, to excel even more) put in as much work.

So I feel that when it comes down to it, when it comes down to just steady hard work against just raw talent without effort. Hard work would always excel more than talent. Now I know I keep differentiating people with talent and people with no talent but I only mean it in a particular field. I strongly believe that everyone, every single one of us has a hidden talent and if you haven't found yours yet, just know that it is there deep down in you somewhere. You just need to give yourself time and you will find it. When you find it, do what you have to do. Work hard towards it and improve it. Natural talent can only give you an advantage on your road to success, you still have to work hard to get there. Natural talent without practice would eventually fade from you if you aren't careful and could take a while to regain.

 So this post isn't only about working hard to improve your talent, it's about discovering that talent also. It's about finding that hidden potential and exploring it to the fullest. I know it's in you there somewhere. It's a beast and it's waiting to be let loose. You can't keep it inside, you have to use that hard work to train it then let it loose by using it. Unleash the beast that is your talent on the world. The world has never seen anyone like you before. So show them what you are made of!


That is just my opinion. What of yours...?