Is talent real?

We hear this word thrown around a lot.

Here are some of my thoughts...

Matthew Syed ( @matthewsyed) is a British Journalist and former Commonwealth Table Tennis champion.

What does he owe his success to? Talent?

Nope.

He attributes his success to:

1. Reps.
2. Luck.

1. Reps

Syed's parents bought a table for him and brother when they were young.

- The pair played for hours daily.

- This 'play' served as an invaluable foundation for his future success.

2. Luck

Syed believes luck played a big part, too:

- He lived in the catchment area for a school who had the best coach in the UK

- There was a 24/7 table tennis club near his house

Reps are good.

Good reps are better.

Syed had the fortune of being coached by one of the game's greatest ever players, Chen Xinhua, who transformed the way he trained.

Result?

His skill level rocketed.

There is no way around it:

To get good at something you have to put in the work.

However:

Focused practice = aimless practice.

. @craigburgess reckons he clocked clocks to 10k hours in his first two years as a designer: https://twitter.com/craigburgess/status/1344249375309115392?s=20

Look for ways to make practice fun.

I try to curb my time spent making visuals.

This serves two purposes:

- It keeps me coming back

- I don't burn out

Another way to make practice fun:

Join an online community.

I've joined 2 in the last few months:

1. Ship 30 for 30. Run by @dickiebush
2. @daily__visual. Run by @craigburgess

1. Ship 30 for 30 was a great experience.

- It taught me the value in staying consistent

- I became less of a perfectionist - a good thing!

Bonus:

- Met a bunch of cool people!

Get in touch with @dickiebush for future cohorts. https://twitter.com/LeslieMathys/status/1328173011803938819?s=20

2. @daily__visual

Joining is one of the best things I've ever done.

@craigburgess is right there with us. Producing every day.

In addition:

- Constructive feedback
- Mindset-changing advice on how to approach visuals
- Great community

Please join us!

So it's simple right? Practice a lot at an early = success in any discipline, right?

Err... not quite.

Take basketball for example: All the skill in the world is useless if you don't have enough height.

Labelling someone talented implies some sort of divine ability.

So captivated by what we see, we gloss over the hours of hard work done behind the scenes.

This is known as The Iceberg Illusion.

. @rainbennett touched on this in the opening comments on @CarlsContent's podcast.

He has issues with the word talent.

We all have it in us.

Getting the reps in brings it out.

Here's my take:

- Good reps are a bigger predictor of success than talent
- Talent (or lack thereof) can be used to make excuses to not work harder

What about you?

Think talent is real?

I'd love to hear from you!