TALENT OR TOIL?
TALENT + TRAINING + FLOW = MASTER
Many authors claim that everything we do comes down to whether we have the talent to do so. Many others, such as Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers”, or Geoff Colvin in a publication “Talent is Overrated”, state that if we dedicate ten-thousand hours to a certain task, we will achieve mastery. In our opinion, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
If one is to become a master in an activity, it depends on several aspects. The first is of course, talent, which is very closely linked to hard work. That leads us to the second crucial point, hard work: to which we can use talent in the right way. The third element is the time we are able to spend in flow; where we use our natural talent even in extreme conditions.
EVERYBODY HAS A TALENT
Talent is a part of the genetic code that we gain from previous generations. As each of us are equipped with genes, it means we all have predispositions to be successful in something. So, the right question is not about whether we have talent, but what we have it for. Early signs of talent appear at an early age, when children intuitively show love for some activities. For example, if a child plays with a toy very often, it means that the activity gives him some energy. On the contrary, activities that do not interest the child, take energy and talent from them. Therefore, it is ideal to monitor the relationship of the child to the individual activities; therefore making it easier to determine which activities the child is pre-conditioned for. Just as genes do not unlock themselves, although develop through environmental exposure, talent must be awakened in some way as well. In order to turn talent into a strength, we need to invest time and work on its development. One of my talents (according to Gallup Strengths Finder) is communication. Thanks to my great-grandmother actively speaking to me as a toddler, I was able to rapidly develop good communication skills. As a result, by the age of five, I was able to interpret adult jokes without a sense of shyness. Another of my talents is critical thinking, although I was not aware of that until I started working with Microsoft. These examples clearly portray how important the environment is in helping us discover and develop our talents.
