What is talent?

Tom_Cruise

I always assumed that talent was something that you are predominantly born with and through proper training you can hone your skills.

I have read two books lately that take the position that a specific talent is not something you are born with or inherit, but a skill that can be learnt through hours upon hours of focused practice.

What are your views on this?

Can anyone become say, a world class violin player if they are start young, get proper tuition and work hard etc?

Thephantomsmask

Movie roles drying up Tom?

mosstin

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

I always assumed that talent was something that you are predominantly born with and through proper training you can hone your skills.

I have read two books lately that take the position that a specific talent is not something you are born with or inherit, but a skill that can be learnt through hours upon hours of focused practice.

What are your views on this?

Can anyone become say, a world class violin player if they are start young, get proper tuition and work hard etc?

Gladwell?

Fox_In_Socks

Baby don't hurt me,
Don't hurt me,
No more

Prodigious

Mila kunis. That's talent.

dxhound2005

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

I always assumed that talent was something that you are predominantly born with and through proper training you can hone your skills.

I have read two books lately that take the position that a specific talent is not something you are born with or inherit, but a skill that can be learnt through hours upon hours of focused practice.

What are your views on this?

Can anyone become say, a world class violin player if they are start young, get proper tuition and work hard etc?

I vaguely remember seeing someone on TV years ago propounding that theory and being impressed by the argument. But as with lots of other things in life there is probably not a one size fits all. Were you convinced by what you read in the two books?

darced

This post has been deleted.

Tom_Cruise

dxhound2005 wrote: »

I vaguely remember seeing someone on TV years ago propounding that theory and being impressed by the argument. But as with lots of other things in life there is probably not a one size fits all. Were you convinced by what you read in the two books?

Some aspects were very convincing and overall yes, i do think they provided enough evidence to back up most of the claims, but not all.

Like, Usain Bolt is indeed talented, but i don't think hes the fastest man on the planet through training - he obviously is genetically built for the able to achieve such feats of speed. Maybe this is a slightly different topic, im not really sure.

Agricola

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

Can anyone become say, a world class violin player if they are start young, get proper tuition and work hard etc?

I think so yes. The one thing that all world class anythings have in common is that they started very young and completely through themselves into it. And pushy parents who do almost anything to support them are also a common part of it.

I don't think Tiger Woods had any special golf gene that got him to where he is/was (Is he still good, I dont know!)
He spent ridiculous amounts of time honing his game, ate properly, trained his body fully. He basically worked hard on everything to get to the top, and often went above and beyond what other pros considered to be required.

Same with Beckham and freekicks. Same with Maradona and ball control. Its all immense dedication and repetition that gets them there.

sock puppet

Agricola wrote: »

I think so yes. The one thing that all world class anythings have in common is that they started very young and completely through themselves into it. And pushy parents who do almost anything to support them are also a common part of it.

I don't think Tiger Woods had any special golf gene that got him to where he is/was (Is he still good, I dont know!)
He spent ridiculous amounts of time honing his game, ate properly, trained his body fully. He basically worked hard on everything to get to the top, and often went above and beyond what other pros considered to be required.

Same with Beckham and freekicks. Same with Maradona and ball control. Its all immense dedication and repetition that gets them there.

Well not everyone. There is the odd freak that takes up a sport for instance when they're 18 and is then winning gold in the Olympics 2 years later.

Truncheon Rouge

Your natural super talents were taken from you by thetans sent by xenu.

Ruudi_Mentari

Hard to explain, but I know talent when I see it....

Pherekydes

Schmalent.

GoldenLight

Talent: is having the natural skill to do something, without learning that skill (or part of that skill) in the first place. It can actually be very detrimental to a person.

Reality_Check1

Google Nature versus Nurture

Spend 5 hours reading up on it

Find out you've just wasted 5 hours

nocoverart

Or maybe the Authors of the books you read have a lack of talent for writing.

The_Nipper_One

I got pretty good at the guitar when I was in my teens, playing fast solos over the back of my head type stuff.
People used to say I was talented, and my other friends who played the guitar casually used to always ask how I did X and Y.

The truth is, talent is just something other people see at a certain point of advancement in anothers skill.

The first time I sat down with a guitar I was no better than anyone else.

People saw Talent in me because for every hour they saw me play, they didn't see the 100 hours of practice behind it leading up to that point. They didn't see the 12 hour sessions of sitting with headphones on going through speed and accuracy drills.

The real thing that matters to be good at something is not talent, it is a real LOVE which allows you to sit in sollitude and BECOME GOOD at something through focused dedicated practice.

What was very enlightening to me through becoming good at the guitar is the way we can sometimes trick ourselves into thinking we want to be good at something, and then when motivation strays we think we're useless and untalented. The truth is that it's far more likely we just didnt want it enough.

Tom_Cruise

The_Nipper_One wrote: »

I got pretty good at the guitar when I was in my teens, playing fast solos over the back of my head type stuff.
People used to say I was talented, and my other friends who played the guitar casually used to always ask how I did X and Y.

The truth is, talent is just something other people see at a certain point of advancement in anothers skill.

The first time I sat down with a guitar I was no better than anyone else.

People saw Talent in me because for every hour they saw me play, they didn't see the 100 hours of practice behind it leading up to that point. They didn't see the 12 hour sessions of sitting with headphones on going through speed and accuracy drills.

The real thing that matters to be good at something is not talent, it is a real LOVE which allows you to sit in sollitude and BECOME GOOD at something through focused dedicated practice.

What was very enlightening to me through becoming good at the guitar is the way we can sometimes trick ourselves into thinking we want to be good at something, and then when motivation strays we think we're useless and untalented. The truth is that it's far more likely we just didnt want it enough.

Good answer.

Fromthetrees

The_Nipper_One wrote: »

I got pretty good at the guitar when I was in my teens, playing fast solos over the back of my head type stuff.
People used to say I was talented, and my other friends who played the guitar casually used to always ask how I did X and Y.

The truth is, talent is just something other people see at a certain point of advancement in anothers skill.

The first time I sat down with a guitar I was no better than anyone else.

People saw Talent in me because for every hour they saw me play, they didn't see the 100 hours of practice behind it leading up to that point. They didn't see the 12 hour sessions of sitting with headphones on going through speed and accuracy drills.

The real thing that matters to be good at something is not talent, it is a real LOVE which allows you to sit in sollitude and BECOME GOOD at something through focused dedicated practice.

What was very enlightening to me through becoming good at the guitar is the way we can sometimes trick ourselves into thinking we want to be good at something, and then when motivation strays we think we're useless and untalented. The truth is that it's far more likely we just didnt want it enough.

I agree with a lot of that but just to take that example. Anyone can become exceptionally good at most things like that but haven't you just a highly developed ability at the end of it. Would the place where real talent lays is after the thousands of hours of developing this ability and then being able to create your own guitar tunes, write your own songs and to be able to perform them.

Say Bolt had the raw talent and developed his ability to be the best.

Everyone can't be a consultant or have a Phd but many people who aren't might have been able to if they had given more time and effort to it.

Nature vrs. Nurture.

Divided roughly evenly ranging differently from person to person.

666irishguy

I've always defined talent as the maximum exploitation by practice and repetition of a natural leaning toward an ability.

Latchy

A lot of people who made it in the music industry had natural talent but they needed luck ,to be in the right place and somebody with money and influence to expose and exploit them to the world . The most obvious example would be Brian Epstein and the Beatles .

gurramok

Latchy wrote: »

A lot of people who made it in the music industry had natural talent but they needed luck ,to be in the right place and somebody with money and influence to expose and exploit them to the world . The most obvious example would be Brian Epstein and the Beatles .

Thought you were gonna say Jedward there

Latchy

gurramok wrote: »

Thought you were gonna say Jedward there

That would be an insult to natural talent ,even in it's most primitive form .

StudentDad

How does that saying go? Success is 10% talent and 90% hard work.

Talent will only get you so far. If you work hard enough that final 10% may just mean the difference between you and everyone else.

If you take acting as an example. How many actors work their arses off but don't get the recognition or that elusive in the right place at the right time moment?

Whatever about talent to, my mind, it's a useful part of the mix but at the end of the day success is down to hard work and a bit of luck.

SD

Pride Fighter

Talent is not wasting it.

gammygils

Talent in our day was 'sexy girls' Or 'clunge' nowadays

'Well lads! Any talent?''

Latchy

StudentDad wrote: »

How does that saying go? Success is 10% talent and 90% hard work.

if you mean 90% hard work as in having the right people in place to promote whatever god giving talents you have then you are talking about 95 % of every mainstream musician or actor who ever made it big time .

There will always be very talented people, including actors, singers, songwriters , musician's (who will have other people to sing their songs ) who never make it big , for a variety of reasons .Hollywood history has a hundred movies ,some successful and others not so much because the wrong actor or actress was turned over for somebody else .

Ruudi_Mentari

"Tawent is de abiwity to wise above"

- Dappy.

belcampprisoner

this is talent it took years of practice


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg7uGL6Ku20

Three Seasons

OP I'd recomend you read Mastery by Robert Green. Fascinating book which details the process of becoming a master in any field and gives examples of past masters.

The writer says we are all born with unique natural inclinations. We must find those inclinations and then put in massive amounts of effort and practice to become masters along with finding a quality mentor usually. One of the hardest aspects of mastery is also emotional and political funny enough.

Fascinating read.

Daveysil15

It depends. for exapmle, Lionel Messi is a very talented footballer. You couldn't teach someone to play like that. But you take another sport like bodybuilding - you wouldn't need too much talent for that, just a lot of hard work and the right genetics. There are some things you are born with, and others you have to work at.

twinytwo

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

I always assumed that talent was something that you are predominantly born with and through proper training you can hone your skills.

I have read two books lately that take the position that a specific talent is not something you are born with or inherit, but a skill that can be learnt through hours upon hours of focused practice.

What are your views on this?

Can anyone become say, a world class violin player if they are start young, get proper tuition and work hard etc?

It is something you are "born with", it has a lot to do with brain chemistry... yes you can become a good violin player with hours of practice but no you wont be exceptional at it, this is what true talent is.

Wibbs

Practice is a massive requirement, but to be truly exceptional the talent has to be there. This goes triple for creativity. I recall reading somewhere that in the early 60's there were something like 300 gigging bands in Liverpool, only one Beatles though. How many kids were practicing the guitar day and night, yet only one Jimi Hendrix, or Peter Green. Look at someone like Picasso He was a remarkably talented draughtsman when he was a child. Van Gogh was more in line with the practice is all thing mind you. He started late and was pretty dire at the start, with little indication of what was to come. He was obsessive with practice. Obviously that tapped into an innate creative talent though.

No doubt there are people reading this who have various innate talents, maybe in athletics, maybe in writing, maybe in music, art etc, but who never kindled that spark.

darced

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alphabeat

^^^ bet hes is disappearing to another school / gym and practising his hole off

gramar

Three Seasons wrote: »

OP I'd recomend you read Mastery by Robert Green. Fascinating book which details the process of becoming a master in any field and gives examples of past masters.

The writer says we are all born with unique natural inclinations. We must find those inclinations and then put in massive amounts of effort and practice to become masters along with finding a quality mentor usually. One of the hardest aspects of mastery is also emotional and political funny enough.

Fascinating read.

I'd go along with people being born with inclinations for the mastery of certain talents. I know there are certain things I could not do no matter how badly I wanted to do them or how much I practised.
I'm also sure there are many people out there with undiscovered talents as they have never been in a situation where they realised they were particularly good at something.

darced

This post has been deleted.