This is Why the Hard Work vs. Talent Debate Matters
I am a big believer in the old adage that hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. However, as I wrote yesterday, talent must be put in context, or this wise old saying won’t be so wise. Talent is relative and hard work is relative as well. But why does this even matter when it comes to mental skills training?
Well, it matters because this hard work vs. talent debate has a major impact on how one maximizes their potential. Unquestionably, your ability to reach your potential is a product of how you use your time. As renowned professor and researcher of psychology Angela Duckworth states, when you have a talent “you improve very quickly when compared to less talented players with equivalent practice and opportunity.”
Therefore, time and potential are maximized when you have more talent and not maximized when you have less talent. Now this is not to say that having a growth mindset is not important to potential. Indeed, believing that hard work can turn a non-talent into a talent is an essential mindset for growth. But the fact remains that you don’t have time to apply the growth mindset to everything.
Ultimately, this limitation in time is why the hard work vs. talent debate is one we must all have with ourselves. Moreover, this is why I fell in love with the strengths based coaching approach. This approach provides a simple answer to the hard work vs talent debate.
As psychologist Don Clifton and Gallup’s “StrengthsFinder” system suggest, its far more time efficient to grow strengths than to fix weaknesses. For example, let’s take the skill of writing. No one is born a good writer. However, some people are born with a love of writing. I’m one of those people. There are many other things I could work to improve other than writing. I could work on getting better at cooking, graphic design, or carpentry skills. But I don’t love doing those things. Moreover, since I don’t love those things, it would take me longer to improve my skills in those areas than it would for me in something I love doing like writing.
The reality is I would need some form of external motivation to grow my skills in areas I don’t enjoy. On the other hand, I need no external motivation to work to grow my writing skills because I innately enjoy writing. Obviously, this example doesn’t hold well for genetic talents such as height, arm length, and body type. But for everything else, talent comes down to things you do effortlessly and improve at quickly because you enjoy it.
So, this means that being a hard worker has a multiplying effect when you have a talent. Therefore, the best thing you can do in your life to reach your potential is identify your talents, then invest most of your hard work in those things.