{"id":604,"date":"2013-08-23T20:26:12","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T20:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ashleyjsaunders.com\/wp-blog\/?p=604"},"modified":"2022-06-20T20:50:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T20:50:20","slug":"the-talent-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/the-talent-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Talent Myth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s debunk The Talent Myth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever seen pictures or a video of gold coming out of the ground, you\u2019ll see tiny gold flakes surrounded by rock, dirt and grime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You\u2019ll have to look really close to see the flakes as it\u2019s a minute per cent of the materials extracted. It\u2019s a long process from mining the rock to getting to the point of having a bar of gold.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have to mine in the right place – that goes without saying. It also requires effort \u2013 a lot of hard work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Relating gold and guitars<\/h2>\n

So that\u2019s great, how does it relate to guitar playing<\/a>? You have to have some talent. But what is talent and what does it really mean?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Talent is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary<\/a> as:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

tal\u00b7ent<\/b> \/\u02c8tal\u0259nt\/
\nNoun
\n1. Natural aptitude or skill<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t really explain it does it?!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So let\u2019s take a look at how the Cambridge Dictionary<\/a> defines Aptitude<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ap\u00b7ti\u00b7tude<\/b>\u00a0 \/\u02c8apti\u02cct(y)o\u035eod\/
\nNoun
\n1. A natural ability to do something.
\n2. A natural tendency.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two key words pop out at me, Skill<\/strong> and Ability<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To me, Skill<\/strong> is something that can be worked on, shaped and defined.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ability<\/strong> is something that\u2019s in you. It’s natural. However, it\u2019s a fine line between the two.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Got Skillz?<\/h2>\n

I know some photographers who aren\u2019t professional, don\u2019t have thousands invested in gear or even the latest gear for that matter yet they take incredible photos.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Their ability here is to see the right shot clearly in their mind before they rearrange whatever they are taking photos of or in a live gig setting, waiting for the right moment to snap.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s that their eyes and timing compensates for the lack of high spec gear. Are they better than many professionals? Of course, they have the ability to see it \u2013 then make it happen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t discount the skill involved, the hours wasted in pursuit of the right setting. The hours spent observing how a slight movement of the lights changes the whole emotion of the photo.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the mining aspect. You have a little nugget of ability but you have to spend time working and reworking. Trying again and again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Talent Myth<\/h2>\n

Talent is just that. It\u2019s the hours you have put in where no one saw you working your ass off. The year of rejection for whatever reason or situation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As well as the drive to get you there. The drive that sustains you in the difficult years, when it\u2019s all falling apart. The times when it’s uphill all the way and nothing make sense.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But talent is also the taste of success. It’s the feeling you get when you\u2019re stood on a mountain and you\u2019re looking out across the bay. The landscape. The on the top of the world feeling. This too will help you push through the bad times.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My central point is this: Yes there is something called talent. However, it\u2019s like a diamond. It\u2019s incredibly rough in its first state and needs a whole lot of work to make it look pristine and valuable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Talent is just a nugget. It alone will only take you so far. Luck will push you all the way, just as skill will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In closing, someone once said to a world famous cellist: \u201cI would give my life to have your talent.\u201d His reply \u2013 \u201cI gave<\/i> my whole life to get to here.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/h2>\n

Talent really is 80% hard work, 20% natural ability and luck. Keep working on your 80%! And don’t buy into the talent Myth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s debunk The Talent Myth. Talent really is 80% hard work, 20% natural ability and luck. So, there’s loads that you can do to appear more “talented”!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[390],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guitar-lessons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}