"Natural talent" is a term thrown around in an attempt to explain why some people excel in their chosen field and others suck. I want to discuss why the "natural talent" explanation for true proficiency in anything is crap, and that if you use a lack of talent as an excuse for being bad at something, you are lying to yourself.
First off, yes, some people just happen to be better at something when starting out than others. They got lucky, and it came easier to them.
Second, before I can go any further I need to discuss what it means to be truly good at something. When I say "good," I don't mean someone picked up a trumpet, learned 3 scales and a couple of easy jazz licks, and played in some mediocre ska band at a couple of bars in front of 30 people, half of whom they knew personally. "Good" is someone who was interested in playing trumpet so they took weekly lessons from a reputable teacher, practiced the exercises given to them every day, listened to professional players regularly to have an idea of what a good tone quality is, and developed a command of the instrument over several years. "Good" is not a three-stripe white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that knows some gimmicky inverted guard sweep that he crushes other white belts with because they don't know it, and fails 100% of the time against higher belts because it's a garbage move that he spent all his time on instead of developing the basic mechanics of grappling. "Good" is someone who is a brown or black belt who has been training for several years on a regular basis, and could roll with a blue belt like myself, tell them exactly what he is going to do, and then do it with no possibility of them stopping it because he's just straight up better than them.
No human being on the face of the earth became truly good at something because of natural talent. Everyone hits a talent wall at some point, and once they get past the wall (assuming they have the desire and drive to do so), it is 100% hard work after that. Tiger Woods was talented at golf. He picked it up very quickly at a very young age. Did he become one of the best to ever step up to a tee because of it? Hell no. He became great at it because he learned from experts and practiced his ass off. Marcelo Garcia, one of the best jiu jitsu players of all time, lost his first competition. He eventually developed into a world-class grappler through persistence, constant seeking of knowledge, and ridiculous amounts of time spent on the mat. Talent had absolutely NOTHING to do with it.
There are 3 requirements that need to be met to be on your way to truly being good at something.
1. You need to know what exactly to practice
2. You need to know how to practice it properly, safely, and efficiently
3. You need to practice for the appropriate amount of time on a regular basis
If you meet those requirements, you will eventually become proficient at whatever you are doing. The only way to be sure that you are fulfilling these requirements is to receive instruction from an expert in the field. Other people may have been talented and picked things up more quickly than you at first, but if you persist you WILL become good at it. I can't even begin to remember how many trumpet players my age that I've come across that were better than me at some point, but now either suck or they just quit altogether. Is it because I suddenly developed a natural talent for it, and they lost theirs? No, it's because they got lazy and I didn't. I've been taking weekly lessons and practicing regularly for 12 years. I can comfortably say I'm an above-average player. I'm not completely satisfied, and I will continue to practice and improve, but I am satisfied with the results of 12 years of dedication to the instrument so far. I'm only a blue belt in jiu jitsu, but already the same trend is obvious. Countless numbers of guys that started around the same time as me never got a blue belt, even though they started out better than me because it came a little easier to them. Then they got lazy, and I didn't. I guarantee it will happen from blue to purple. The majority of blue belts will quit, and I will keep training and eventually get a purple belt. I can 100% guarantee that, barring a sever injury that prevents me from training, I will eventually get a black belt, not because I'm amazing at jiu jitsu or naturally athletic, but because I'm not going to get lazy. It will surely take me longer than it has taken others, but I will eventually get there. If you can't honestly tell yourself that you will eventually excel in whatever field you are pursuing, you need to either find a new field that you're more passionate about or change your mindset.
Reality is a bitch. Accepting the fact that someone is better than you at something simply because they worked harder and longer can be a much tougher pill to swallow than hand-waving it away by saying they're more naturally talented than you. But you have a choice to make: you can accept the truth and use it to motivate you, or you can convince yourself that you're amazing at something you suck at or that everyone else is better than you because of talent. I lose to people that are better than me at jiu jitsu because they have worked harder and put in more time than I have. But I am confident that I can eventually catch up to them. Reality will frustrate you, and delusion will comfort you. But living in reality will actually get you somewhere and prevent you from wasting your life.
You can CHOOSE to become great at whatever you want. And if you stop improving, it's because somewhere along the way, you chose to suck. Improving at something requires humility; you need to acknowledge and
accept your shortcomings and directly work to improve them. Don't be confident in your talent. Be confident in your work ethic.
