Talent Is Over-Rated...(so are Knowledge and Potential)

I think talent is over-rated. I honestly do. I've found that it's not the people with talent who are hugely successful. Instead, it is those who are willing to do what it takes to get to the goal-post, the ones who scale the hurdles, the ones who are willing to take the big risks, to invest time and effort who eventually get 'the big break.' Now, many times talent and effort meet somewhere along the way...and all the better. The results are even more phenomenal.

 If truth be told, everybody has potential. There's a song we often sang in our childhood days....."I am a promise, I am a possibility....I am a great big bundle of po-ten-ti-al-ity." So true. We are all are. The sad news is that too many remain just that....potential. What is possible. What might be....and then, somewhere, some years, down the road we are merely unutilized potential - what might have been! Sad. The fact is, potential is merely an indicator of what we are capable of. It gives us a clue as to the paths we may successfully negotiate on our way to being purposefully engaged. Neither potential or talent guarantee success.

Sooner or later talent and potential must be converted into activity. What we are capable of and what we actually achieve may not always end up being the same things. Unless we put potential to work, we are likely to find our selves making excuses and little if any progress at all. Have you ever found yourself sitting in a classroom, reading a book or listening to a podcast and telling yourself 'I already know that'? That's good..(I guess)...but what have you DONE about it? Knowledge is never an end in itself. It too, needs to be converted to activity. You must be motivated enough to DO. Beyond, knowledge, talent or potential, it is those only who ACT upon these endowments who manage to eke out the rewards they seek, and more even.

But to be effective, activity needs be planned, intelligent, and consistent. It requires a recognition that talent, potential and knowledge are just half the game...(yep, the math is correct)...the other half requires real effort; real action. It requires a recognition that the rewards we seek are commensurate with the measure of planned, intelligent and consistent effort. Believe me, talent is over-rated (and so are knowledge and potential). The real deal is ACTION. We either get in the game or watch life pass us by.

Perfect is the Enemy of Good

"Perfect is the enemy of good," they say. So, in order that my inclination to perfectionism doesn't prevent me from attempting the everyday-awesome tasks that are set before me, I close my eyes and ears to the obvious lack of flair, the 'ordinary-ness' of the attempts and press ahead - despite the gnawing feeling of under-performance that often accompanies them. That's how it is with me and my writing.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved putting pen to paper (these days, key-board to paper....or whatever it is..) and writing my feelings down. I have loved out-maneuvering and out-arguing my opponents..... on paper....yep, here's where I have won most of my battles. It's been my weapon (maybe unfortunately, I don't know), it's been my hiding place, my happy place, my sounding board, the dumping place for my thoughts, the place of my deepest revelations, where I lay bare my soul...through the mirror of thoughts....where I get in touch with the parts of me that were before then, to me, a stranger.

My most valuable childhood memory is (unbelievably...boringly) that of an article that I wrote which was published in a magazine for children. I was seven years old and proud! The memory hasn't left, though many others have. I know, then, that I am supposed to do something with this...this talent?...this interest, this passion, even. But what do you do when there is a constant call to perfectionism? When something inside you tells you that your efforts are not good enough? When you look around you and there are so many other seemingly superior players in the field? Do you walk away? Do you call it quits? Do you accept that your efforts are not good enough? Do you wait til you've mastered your craft? Or do you do it anyway?

Luckily for me, my love affair with writing pushes me ahead.....in spite of. I couldn't stop even if I wanted to. It's true, this need for perfection could probably cause me to keep my thoughts locked in the sometimes-dark closet of my mind, but luckily a 'higher purpose' makes me want to do more than pander to my ego. And so, whether I have the requisite flair, or whether I lack content, and whether I am able to hold the interest of the 'deeply intellectual,' I do it anyway. I seek not to be perfect.  I seek, instead, to satisfy my calling to inspire and equip. I remind myself that perfect is indeed the enemy of good and I do it anyway.