Perseverance versus Talent
Benefits of Talent
- Talent can make the journey easier. If you have talent for a particular area, such as music, you’ll have an easier time making progress. The journey is smoother and faster.
- Talent is insufficient. Talent doesn’t eliminate the need for practice. Talent without practice is no more valuable than not having the talent in the first place. The athletes you see on TV have both talent and years of intense practice.
- Talent isn’t a choice. You can’t choose to have a particular talent. You either have it or you don’t. Ideally, your interests and talents are in alignment.
- Talent is only necessary at the highest levels. Can you be the world’s greatest pianist or golfer without talent? No. But you can make a good living playing the piano or playing golf without much talent provided you work hard enough and long enough.
There’s nothing wrong with being talented. The more talent, the better. But talent isn’t enough to ensure success.
It only determines the extreme upper limits of your success. It also makes progress easier and faster.
Perseverance can be enough to ensure success in all areas of life
Benefits of Perseverance
- Perseverance is enough to achieve 99% of your goals. Forget about talent. If you have the ability to persist and maintain a positive attitude, you can be successful at almost anything.
- Anyone can have perseverance. Perseverance is the result of a certain way of thinking and viewing the world. You can choose your beliefs and your thoughts. Therefore, you can have perseverance. Start today. Make yourself do something that you don’t want to do, like clean out your desk or purge your unneeded emails. Be tough and get it done.
- Perseverance begets perseverance. Developing perseverance is like building your biceps. Your ability to demonstrate resolve grows with practice. Make yourself do something each day that’s unappealing.
- Perseverance is calming. That might seem counterintuitive, but it’s true. When you have determination, you don’t have any choices to make. You simply keep moving forward. Constant self-questioning is stressful and exhausting. When you only have a single choice, life is simpler. Having too many choices creates anxiety.
Perseverance is among the most important attributes to possess. Perseverance can overcome a lack of talent in most situations. Unless you need to be in the top 0.25% of something, talent is irrelevant. It only makes the journey a little easier.
All the talent in the world is useless if it isn’t applied diligently.
The ability to persist during any challenge is the key to long-term success.
Take control of your beliefs on success and your perspective on life.
Believe that persistence is more important than talent.
Hopefully, you have some of both. If you can only have one, perseverance is more useful.
