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.