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0 pointsryandrake4y ago0 comments

As your sports coach always said "You don't need talent to practice!"

I'm not a huge believer of some mystical "innate ability" that people sometimes use to explain talent. Imagine a great concert pianist who plays flawlessly. After the concert, someone says, "Oh, you were born with such a wonderful gift of talent!" If I were that pianist, I'd be kind of offended--it totally ignores the decades of daily practice it took to get that good. Or a chess grandmaster. You're such a natural! Oh yea? STFU, this took years of grinding!

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ferrumfist4y ago

Talent is used as a label by someone who doesn't understand the practice involved in the given craft.

No one wakes up and paints a masterpiece. It takes years and years of hard work and studying to get to a point before you can even get close to masterpiece level.

yibg4y ago

But conversely, most people will never produce a masterpiece regardless of how long they spend at it.

yibg4y ago

The 2 aren’t mutually exclusive. You need talent and hard work to be “the best” in any given field. It doesn’t matter how hard I practice, I’m not going to be a world class sprinter or a world famous singer, my body isn’t built for it.

For some reason when it comes to physical limitations we accept it. But we reject it when it comes to mental capabilities. There are naturally smarter people, at least in specific areas.

cutemonster4y ago

People understand things they can see, like, someone is short, then, how good s/he can get at basketball is a bit limited (right). Or, someone having a body shape good for running, but won't lift much weights.

But mental capabilities are invisible, and then it's harder for many people to see that there are different and personal limits.

qez4y ago

The capacity to practice is itself partially innate. Take a person with ADHD - they will naturally have a harder time practicing piano. I myself was unable to practice piano as a child, but for different reasons.

dragonwriter4y ago

> Take a person with ADHD - they will naturally have a harder time practicing piano.

Or easier. Depending on how the hyperfocus-or-none dice roll for piano...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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ferrumfist4y ago

Talent is used as a label by someone who doesn't understand the practice involved in the given craft.

No one wakes up and paints a masterpiece. It takes years and years of hard work and studying to get to a point before you can even get close to masterpiece level.

yibg4y ago

But conversely, most people will never produce a masterpiece regardless of how long they spend at it.

yibg4y ago

For some reason when it comes to physical limitations we accept it. But we reject it when it comes to mental capabilities. There are naturally smarter people, at least in specific areas.

cutemonster4y ago

But mental capabilities are invisible, and then it's harder for many people to see that there are different and personal limits.

qez4y ago

dragonwriter4y ago

> Take a person with ADHD - they will naturally have a harder time practicing piano.

Or easier. Depending on how the hyperfocus-or-none dice roll for piano...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse