Image source - Dribble
Talent is an innate characteristic of any person. And it's not even harsh to say that it is naturally gifted. But the catch here is that talent is not enough to excel in any course of life. Talent can be a thing, can be a part or portion but not entirely responsible for your achievements. There are lots of things that weigh in one's achievement, and although the environment plays a significant role as well, everything is not just absolutely dependent on talent.
If I say about myself, then I feel that in the domain of IT and programming, I feel naturally comfortable for a good period of time. I understand coding more easily and at times I don't have to know specifically about any programming language to understand someone's coding. So I feel it is a kind of gift from nature only that I am able to comprehend coding without taking much stress or time.
I also believe that there is a combination of 3-4 values that helps a person in achieving their goal,
Talent + Hardwork + Training = Success
Let's understand all these values one by one.
As mentioned above, talent is innate by birth. This is purely based on and done by nature. One can be comfortable in cooking and the other in dancing. Even parents can't have their say in what comes to you, it is simply based on the principle of natural selection.
Hard work along with discipline can be the game changer, even if you lack any advanced talent. Because if a talented person is not doing any hard work to sustain it or foster it then it is not going to be any key thing for him/her as well. With hard work and discipline, one can cover a good part and can be placed just below any talented person. Still, I can't entirely say that hard work or discipline only can bring you and a talented person neck-to-neck. Nature prevails, so one average person will have to do a lot to be able to match the intensity of any talent. My point here is simple, no one thing is going to justify the talent in anyone whether it can be "Talent, hard work, or discipline."
Training or hard work may sound similar but let me clear this point as well. Training is different from hard work in a very brief sense. Training is always accompanied by a mentor, guidance, and direction. For example, a football player can be talented by god-gift and might have done initial hard work to get to a level but to go above this level he/she will require a good coach who will give proper mentorship, guidance, and a roadmap to foster. Without training, a talented person can find himself/herself lost after some time. So proper training is also required. And one can easily with proper hard work and training, matches the level of a talented person.
I believe it is a combination of all three above that helps to sharpen the talent and establish it in an absolute manner as well. Lack of either can get you off-track and pretty much struggling in a hardworking, trained and "less than you talented" group.
