Is There Talent, And Is It Important? (Yes and No)

Is there talent? What is it? Is it important? How big of a role does it play when learning? Those are just some questions that keep coming up when discussing guitar learning, or learning in general. 

A couple of things I have to get out of the way. First of all, I am very much aware that people have different potentials in different subjects. I am also very much aware that we learn at different paces. But the whole way we speak of talent and thus think of it can have a huge effect on our learning, or lack thereof. How we speak of talent sets the tone for how we learn. 

“I could never learn to play like that” is a phrase I’ve heard countless times in various forms during my 15 years of teaching music and guitar. Why is that such a problematic phrase? The reason is simple. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. This is where we can start seeing why how we think of talent can become problematic. 

I would venture that there is no such thing as talent in the way that we most often talk about it. Maybe it is something more like what we are interested in, and maybe it also gives us a bit of a head start if we have an interest in something. It might also have something to do with how fast we learn things. But remember, how we practise, and therefore how fast we learn, can change over time. Sometimes “talented” people get complacent. I’ve seen it happen many times and less “talented” people have improved beyond the “talented” complacent person. 

A good way to think of it might be to look at this picture of the child standing at the bottom of these stairs.

The image is from Unsplash, and is by Jukan Tateisi.

The stairs seem enormous compared to the child, but each step is just an obstacle to be climbed on the journey (a journey which is fun if we like, or even love, what we’re doing), and the “talented” person has a head start in the sense that he or she has already climbed one or two stairs. Does that make it impossible to achieve greatness for the person who’s starting at the bottom? No. Absolutely not. 

So what is more important than talent? Well, the answer is pretty obvious by this point. It’s hard work. I’m a firm believer that hard work is the key. Like someone once said: hard work always beats talent when talent isn’t working hard. And here’s what’s important to remember here. If you think you can never become as good as someone who’s “talented”, you’re already putting yourself at a disadvantage. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. So believe in the journey, not some magical mumbo jumbo called talent. And remember to enjoy the journey. In the end that’s what matters.  

A winner is just a loser who tried one more time.

The Why

Hello everyone!

I have tons of ideas bouncing around in my head, and writing a blog is one of them. I’ve never really properly written one, and I have approached this with some trepidation, due to just that fact. But at the same time I have come to realize that learning by doing is probably the best approach for something like this.

In the summer of 2019 I turned 40. At the time I was suffering from a then unknown medical problem, which turned out to be reflux. Basically my stomach acids were getting into my throat causing a chronic inflammation. That leads to a swelling feeling at times, and it can also lead to trouble swallowing. Back then I didn’t know what it was, and I’d had the symptoms for most of that year. All sorts of thoughts were swirling around in my head, the worst ones being really dark. It was the not knowing.

During that half a year or so when my thoughts were really not in the most hopeful of places I had thoughts of my own mortality. I basically started asking myself, “why do I do the things that I do?” This was a question that had been bobbing around in my head from time to time earlier as well, and it again surfaced with the Covid outbreak in 2020 when musicians could no longer play live shows.

So what’s the answer? What is that why? Before I say what it is, I do have to say something about why I think it’s so important, at least to me. Every person in their work life knows what it is they do. The same goes for businesses. Most know how they do it. But there are very many who don’t know why they do it. So I used to be a teacher. That was what I did. How did I teach? Broadly speaking with a very relaxed style, using lots of humor, and trying to instill a sense of responsibility in my students (in other words, if you don’t want to work, and you’re fine with a poor grade, then that’s fine by me). I also wanted to help as many of my students either find something that they’re passionate about, and/or encourage them to go after that thing. That was the how (there’s more to it of course). So why did I do it? What was my why? Put simply it was to help and/or inspire my students so that they in turn might help and/or inspire others, thus making the world a better place. And that’s really why I do all of things that I do (no, going shopping for groceries doesn’t fall into this category).

Why am I saying all this? Because that’s also the reason I started this blog. Maybe I can help someone with some of my ramblings, which will in the future become more structured (hopefully). Also, will I keep posting them here? I don’t know. I’m not sure I like the layout of my website for this kind of thing, but we’ll see. How often will I post? I don’t know. We’ll see we’ll see about that too.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this type of thing. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions, or topics you’d like to see me cover. Take care!
Cheers,

Elmo