jakjak wrote:
Very well said, and i agree completely.
But i have wondered about this for years. It's never been clear to me exactly what generates a talent. Part of me has come to the conclusion it is more a natural function of our personalities than anything else. We are naturally inclined to be better at some things rather than others because our particular personality traits produce emphasis which could be called strengths and weaknesses.
Well I think there is a thing such as native or intrinsic talent that people have to different degrees. In many cases it may lie dormant. And of course if the conditions aren't there for it to express itself then it will never be expressed.
Bernie Ecclestone once said that in rural China there are probably 2 or 3 guys who could give Michael Schumacher a real hard time - if there were opportunities to get into race cars in the first place, series that would provide a route for development and so on. So if Mr E is correct, and it's not that implausible a theory, there are guys who have all the things necessary to be a dominant, great F1 champ but may not even know it and certainly have no way of showing it.
What I find interesting when we look at creative people is that so many of them don't seem to be able to sustain their output. They seem to be creative for a time, and then the quality drops and what they do becomes less inspired, less inspiring, more mundane, more formulaic and predictable. Few seem to sustain creativity over decades.
And the guys who do seem to be the guys who don't just sit around waiting for inspiration - although they acknowledge that without inspiration you can't make it happen. They treat it like a job, put time aside for it, have working hours and chip away the whole time. That seems to keep the channels to... whatever it is open. Perhaps it keeps the relevant parts of the brain working away, it's some kind of exercise.
jakjak wrote:
Being a Christian means i believe the bible is an impeccable source of knowledge for the "nature of thigns". There is alot in there i have yet to explore, and i think it will provide a definite answer for what a talent is. Maybe my views on what a talent is will change after a study, i'm not sure.
I'm not a Christian, or an adherent of any other faith. I do recall that many years ago when my parents decided that it would be a good idea for the kids to go to Sunday School because it would instil good values in us, the teacher there said that everybody had a talent and that the thing was to find that talent and make the most of it. So that may mean that some of us may never be great guitarists or songwriters.
I think my 9-5 is the expression of what I'm naturally good at. I don't get on my high horse about it, but I do think of some of the colleagues I've had over the years in different companies and wonder why things that I can do so well seem so hard for them. Part of it is attitude I think, but another part is the way that different people are wired. I can do somethings really well, I am less good at others. I like what I do for a living, it's a pleasurable activity for me, but I can think of other things I'd rather be good at.
However my dreams and the hand that has been dealt me do not overlap 100% ? There's nothing wrong with trying to improve my playing and my singing, but I think that at my age I have to start facing up to the fact that my real strengths, my TALENTS, are elsewhere.
