Comments on: Talent Is Overrated

By: 7 Ways to Combat "The Fraud Factor" | SavvyFreelanceWriters

7 Ways to Combat "The Fraud Factor" | SavvyFreelanceWriters — Wed, 26 May 2010 01:42:09 +0000

[...] post was entitled “Talent is Overrated,” and it discussed how people learning a new skill can often fall victim to not feeling smart [...]

By: Ed Gandia, Editor

Ed Gandia, Editor — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:15:21 +0000

Wayne – The concept you mention above (that once you’ve crossed the line into the “appropriately talented” group, it’s then all about hard work and perseverance) was perhaps one of the most important in the book. Frankly, it was a revelation to me. I had long suspected that talent was, indeed, overrated. But reading “Outliers” not only proved that was the case, it also shed some light on why that is so. I’ll have to check out “Transcend.” Haven’t read it yet. Thanks for your comment!

By: Wayne Key

Wayne Key — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:42:13 +0000

I agree totally with Gladwell. I read his book recently, it almost seemed like he started out the prove that hard work and talent arent enough to make it happen and yet he proved that indeed that is true in most cases. Once you have crossed the line into the appropriately talented range (such as a basketball player being tall or a sprinter having a lot of fast twitch muscle fibers) then it is indeed that 10,000 hours of hard practice that makes a world class performance. Kurzweil and Grossman noted in their recent book “Transcend” that the brain is far more plastic that we had before thought. This means that in the doing of something we re-wire the brain so that it processes better in that context. Absolutely cool! But also more proof tha practice and persistence creates talent.

lol… anyway I run on too much… nice post! and nice to see someone else reading Gladwell.

By: Ed Gandia, Editor

Ed Gandia, Editor — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:58:00 +0000

Michael – I always tell people that freelancing is one of the best ways you can grow both personally and professionally. There’s nowhere to hide. You can’t get by being average or cheating the system. If you want to make a decent living, you HAVE to continually improve yourself. It’s very “efficient” and transparent in that regard.

By: Michael Temple

Michael Temple — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:09:15 +0000

I can’t count the number of times I have gone out on a limb agreeing to do something that I wasn’t sure I could do or knew how to do. Just the other night I was implementing a new technique on a web site and I rebuilt it 5 times before getting it right! It felt so awesome when I was done and it was working like I thought it should. Personally I find this to be one of the most rewarding aspects of being a freelancer. The constant growth from forcing yourself into situations you never thought you could do. I think most of us grow more through a bit of adversity then coasting along because we knew it all the first time.

By: Ed Gandia, Editor

Ed Gandia, Editor — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:35:08 +0000

Hi Nedra – You’re so right. The hard work part is not sexy. We all just want to believe that the “gifted” violinist, writer, painter and architect were born that way. It makes for a better story (for most people; I prefer to hear the REAL story!). BTW, talked with your friend Jason the other day. Good guy. Gave him some suggestions; hope they helped.

Maria – When I was learning the art of drumming in high school, my instructor had me do repetitive drills for hours and hours. Hated it! Teens don’t get that concept. Then I started outperforming my peers…by a huge margin. And I “got it.” Rote drills were suddenly a lot more fun.

Diane – What a great example! I had a similar situation with case studies. “Sure, I can write those for you! Oh, crap! Where am I going to learn how to write a case study?!” Bet you spent a ton of time on that first white paper, didn’t you? And I bet you were glad you did! Congrats on your success!

By: Diane Autey

Diane Autey — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:07:39 +0000

I have a great example of this. A couple years ago I was asked if I could write a white paper. I said sure (never done one) so I went out on the Web and found “The White Paper on White Papers” by Michael Stelzner. I built an outline from his recommendations, read several white paper samples online, and wrote my first one. I was unsure about it, but with only one round of revisions the client loved it! I have written many white papers since and they have become one of my four business writing specialities.

By: Maria, IAC-EZ

Maria, IAC-EZ — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:39:49 +0000

This is a great subject! Been there, done that. Believe me I do understand when you are talking about your wife’s new career. I suppose during this hard economic period a lot of us are finding ourselves forced to explore in new ways to bring extra cash or finally see ourselves with the clear path to venture in a dream career after a layoff and in many cases sacrificing a lot of hours studying and/or researching how to do a task in order to avoid feeling like a failure and self-doubt. The good news is that eventually after countless hours of practice, it does get better. Thanks.

By: Nedra R

Nedra R — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:57:31 +0000

What a great subject to address, I was just talking to a friend about this same situation and how it really does take time to become an expert and feel confident in what you do. People don’t want to hear about the hours and hours it spent in learning how to build websites or the failures you had along the way.