Talent is overrated...

I'm sitting down with a friend in a restaurant close to home. The conversations with him are usually pretty deep, since he has been the type of guy who has hustled his whole life, thus knows a thing or two about working hard. In all, most people look at people with talent and wonder if they've achieved as much because of some sort of genetic fate.

Of course there are some people who are born with certain predispositions. Meaning, that someone could be genetically gifted as to have an easier climb, but this does not mean that person will, or even should.

As much as I found myself agreeing with the points my friend was bringing up, I can't remember thinking about this very thing for a really long time. Yes, that basically implies I used to, and the reasons why might be surprising to some. Being the least talented musician (in my opinion) of my family always had me wondering if I had missed out on the genetic lotto, that was until I found this particular truth.

Of course, I'm not saying this to throw some sort of pity party, or to have someone tell me I'm just as talented as my brothers. The reason why my concerns were valid, was because I sincerely felt them, and probably that's enough. I mean, how many people are too self conscious of their writing skills, because they don't think they are talented enough, and not even compliments seem to fix that self perception.

So.. What changed?

As with many things, it was nothing/something (see what I did there... it makes sense) specific. It's not like I had a meal with a guru on top of a mountain and I came to enlightenment, nothing of that caliber. It was more of a slow journey of self exploration and "tiny lesson" moments.

Like seeing someone you deemed not that talented progress a lot, simply by putting in the work. Elbow grease as some people say, sheer will. Working at the music store allowed me to see un-natural talent (if that word even exists) emulate what I thought could only be natural talent.

As if the coffin was missing a nail or two, a renowned online drum teacher came to the store to do one of his acclaimed clinics one day. Mike Johnston is not a superstar by all means, but if you've tried to learn to drum, or if you are a drummer there is a good chance you've come across his videos.

Out of all the lessons he shared that day the one that really stuck with me was very short:

"I may not be able to out-talent other drummers, but I can surely outwork them"

Seeing the company he built, his palpable success, knowing he is not the son of a privileged family or anything romantic like that, made his statement very real, very close to home. All of the sudden the dismissive part of my mental profile that rejects anything that sounds too cliche-ish was turned off - Message Received...

I felt like sharing this today, because I happen to know there are a lot of Steemians who wonder if they are talented enough to "make it" - for whatever "make it" means. But I think the question is poorly formulated.

If you want to grow, if you want to increase the size of the footprint you are attempting to leave behind, don't think about your talent, your genetic gifts. There is no merit there, nothing even feel too proud about. Think of how you can do more, how you can work harder, how you can learn more....