Can hard work outdo natural talent/genetics?

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She could easily be 'naturally talented' as well, but required more hard work than she would've otherwise to realise this potential due to her circumstances

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Pretty sure not being able to walk properly for 5 years as a kid would nullify your "natural talent" and then some.

Reply 21

Afro Tail

I agree that those who are naturally gifted have an advantage in terms of their speciality; certainly for non-academic areas such as singing and sports.

But I also believe that the way the academic grading system is made, anyone can achieve top marks if they work hard enough to achieve what they want because all the answers and methodology are given to you in the classwork you are taught. So I don't think you need an extra gift to remember information that is already available to you.

Although I'm speaking only on GCSE/A-Level stuff, University may be a different case because you need to think and discover, but I'm yet to experience that.

Reply 22

nomad992

Original post by TheFarmerLad

It's fairly obvious that some people are born more suitably adapted to a specific activity compared to others, be that in academia, sport, singing, acting, appearance etc.. Society has you believe that individuals who are less genetically gifted don't stand a chance against the ones who are, especially in regards to the physical activities (assuming both work hard at a similar intensity). But is it the same in regards to the mental ones? Can a harder working individual outdo another who is slightly less hardworking though naturally more intelligent? Or does natural talent/genetics still trump rigorous labour :redface:

I think an average person who works very hard can beat the majority as the majority are lazy, but talented individuals who work hard are unstoppable. I think this applies for physical and mental abilities.

Reply 23

drandy76

Original post by Gwilym101

Pretty sure not being able to walk properly for 5 years as a kid would nullify your "natural talent" and then some.

It's hard, to say since the term natural talent is pretty vague in the first place, but I think the individuals ceiling will still be roughly the same if it happens young enough to recover from( provided it's not a sport where you have to have been training since like 3 to be competitive) so from there it's a case of applying yourself more than you would have otherwise to reach the same level of ability

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Reply 24

TheFarmerLad

Original post by Another

In sports like martial arts, gymnastics, basketball or anything where height/flexibility is a major advantage... never.

In terms of academia, no matter how hard you work you'll probably never be as good as someone who has a natural talent for maths or physics. Everything else is a level playing field

Sad but true I guess :redface:

I think this also has an affect on other subjects, just maybe not as much as with those two

Definitely

Original post by thefatone

NO and that's the truth, assuming both people work just as hard but one is more talented than the other, the talented will always proceed futher and the untalented one. How do i know this?

In my learning i've basically hit a wall where everyone else in my class is understanding everything and i'm sat in class being derpy and understanding nothing. The teacher asks everyone in the class does you all understand this? he'll go round everyone then he'll come to me last then i'll pause for a minute and say no. From this i have to spend time on it, i don't believe the myth that smart ppl don't work and can get the grades they do, i believe they do work just less than others. HOWEVER the case with me is that i have to spend up to 2 times as much times learning the stuff compared to the average person. Not the smart people the average person. So from this is have concluded that hard work can't outdo talent. I'm a prime example of that(so are my physics grades where they told me the harder i worked the worse grades i got >.> :wink:

. Talent always goes further maybe you can reach the level talented people have but you'll never go past them.

I can relate all too well!

Reply 27

TheFarmerLad

Original post by Proxenus

Most people yeah

for me no

I put in the most hours in a levels. revise 4pm - 5:20pm every school day. and every saturday 12pm -4pm in libary. didnt get good grades

i been lifting for ages. still look like i dont even lift.

**** this

How long is ages? Pains me to say this mate but all bodies are different, some react a lot faster to weight training, some take a lot longer due to genetics. Though keep at it, there's no reason why you can't make some gains :smile: