Are you talented? How do you know?

Lots of people can be good at something, say a subject at school, if they put the work into it. But that doesn't necessarily mean you're talented in it, it's just a bit of effort. So how do you know? Do you just base it off people's judgement?

Is this just a case of jack of all trades, master of none?

Reply 1

tanyapotter

i suppose if you have a natural talent for something, you find it easier to grasp than other things and become proficient at it with less effort/time?

Reply 2

wasabi

Original post by tanyapotter

i suppose if you have a natural talent for something, you find it easier to grasp than other things and become proficient at it with less effort/time?

But what if you can do that for lots of things? E.g. someone can play the piano very well, speak 4 languages, play national level rugby etc etc.
You just have to put the effort and these things will happen. It's not what I call talent.

Reply 3

superwolf

Original post by wasabi

I'd say that putting in the effort will get you some of the way to being exceptionally good at something, as will natural talent. However in order to be *really* good at it, most of the time you'll need talent and hard work. :smile:

Reply 4

chickenonsteroids

Does putting a lot of work into something stop you from being talented at it? If it's 'just a bit of effort' why don't more people do the same thing?

Talent is so overrated it's unbelievable.

Reply 5

kmcg97

This thread is gonna show up all the people with no talent, watch.

Reply 6

MidnightDream

A talent is a natural skill with both talent and hard work you can be amazing at something, but you can't just put effort in and be on the same level as someone with the natural talent in addition to the effort (is what I believe anyway)

Reply 7

contradicta

"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." - Stephen King (thanks Zhy)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 8

It's****ingWOODY

Talent = Being exceptionally good at something that requires a skill.
No matter how you reached such a level of proficiency, it's still a talent. Suggesting a talent can only be natural would be like someone going on a talent show and one of the judges says to them afterwards "Wow, you're very good at that! Were you always this good or did you need a lot of practice?" "Lots of practice!" "Oh... well, it's not a talent then is it, GTFO my stage...".

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 9

coatsoft

I think that you need a mixture of both talent and hard work to be successful. Some examples:
there is a boy in my school who seems to think that hes the next Steve jobs. We started GCSE computer science this year and hes so bad, but its pretty funny as he was really cocky and big headed

there is also a girl who doesn't seem to understand much when in lessons but gets A* in most of her exam yet you can tell that she doesn't understand what she has learnt. This will cause her great problems in later life i believe

so i think that you have to be sure you are talented and that make sure that it isn't just in your head. Also hard work won't always work without much talent

think you could achieve with talent and no hard work but your have to be EXTREMELY talanted

Reply 10

Jordooooom

Rugby. But only because I'm naturally fast, have very good reactions and amazing agility.

Yes, I am bragging.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 11

wasabi

Original post by coatsoft

This is exactly what I mean. If everyone puts in the effort like her, A*s will come through, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're good at the subject.

I think a lot of the time, people use the phrase 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration or something similar, but I really can't stand by it at times. If you run a business, no matter how hard you work at it, your business fails because you simply don't have the 'talent' for it.

Reply 12

coatsoft

Original post by wasabi

Lets remember these are GCSE's andim not going to go around bashing them but A levels sound a lot harder as everyone seems to say. I think in higher education and when in the real world it will be the more talented people who can understand what is going on who will be able to succeed

Reply 13

Zhy

Original post by contradicta

"Talent in cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." - Will edit when I remember the source