Photo by Hailey Kean on Unsplash

So I’m just not as talented as they are

Chardy W.
Chardy W.
Aug 23, 2017 · 6 min read

You sure you want to do this? You do know you’re not very talented, right?

On and on and on. I keep getting this from everyone around me. My lecturers, my peers, my colleagues… Fine, I don’t love programming. But I am intrigued by how it works and what it can produce.

“I spent a good sum of money discovering your talents when you were younger — it definitely wasn’t with coding or computers. You’re good with creative writing. Stick with that. We don’t approve of you trying to do something you’re not good at.”

I’ll never forget what my parents said to me when I excitedly told them about my my choice of major. Major buzzkill. But it kinda pushed me into doing to, partially to ‘prove them wrong’.

Have I tried coding? Yes. Did I rock at it? Not really. Did I want to continue despite knowing the odds of me being the next Bill Gates? Yeah, I’d like to try.

Sure, I did have my fair share of struggles and failures. I stayed up long hours and spent days trying to fix small bugs within my code. But there was just this weird sense of satisfaction it gave me at the end when I could launch my program.

The people around me didn’t think so, though. It was always:

“Do something you’re good at. Life will be easier for you that way.”

No one could understand this achievement I felt when my code worked and the program that ran on it started to make a difference in others’ lives.

But I knew that programming could make a significant difference through apps and programs. Tech would eventually make everyone’s lives simpler. The moment I had that break through, I knew I had to follow a guide to achieving my goal.

I chanced upon five key points that I knew would keep me in check whenever I slumped.


1. Know What Drives Motivation

Embarking on the journey will be tough because I lacked skills. But going back to my roots will always keep me in check. As long as I remember how strongly I felt towards programming and have a visual on how my programs will make a difference, I’m golden.

I later came to find out Jacob Thornton, creator of Bootstrap felt the exact same way. He said in this article:

“I’m very socially motivated, and my front-end developer friends will tell me in no uncertain terms if my rounded corners are messed up or something looks terrible in a particular browser. It’s kind of great. I really just want to code and work with my friends.”

He knew what motivated him and he just went for it. He never stopped.

Sometimes it’s just easier to go back to the one thing that matters, to keep you grounded.

2. Constantly Visualise the End Goal

It might or might not be be monetary returns, there’s no shame in that. You just need to identify what that goal is.

Here’s a trick to it, if you’re confused most of the time.

Visualise your goals. Imagine them as though you’re there and have already achieved them. Whether it’s the house you want, the car you want, the body you want, the life you want, whatever. Then internally walk yourself forwards in time to that person. Then turn around to the person who is today and tell them what they need to do in order to get there.

For me, it was sitting there with my eyes closed, envisioning how others will eventually use the app I coded and programmed. I see happy faces, enhanced lives and well, an ongoing passive income to upkeep my wanderlust. It was good.

3. Incorporate Your Expertise

Liking a certain job role or industry doesn’t necessarily have to coincide with what you’re naturally good at. You may be good with talking to people, but somehow you find days where you just want to be a hermit crab in your own shell. It’s perfectly normal.

However, through all my years of continuous learning, I try my best to never put anything to waste. Don’t just ditch your natural skills and go on a blind pursuit of what you like. Simply find the middle point and merge those two aspects together.

I had a friend who was mad interested in computers, but not so much coding. She decided to pursue a degree in Computer Sciences — to later realise it’s not what she thought it would be. She struggled through and later graduated, just to take another degree in Communication.

Realising she likes Tech and Communication, she eventually landed a role doing as a Social Media Marketing Specialist. Basic IT skills were required of her, and the expressionist in her kept the communication portion alive. Perfect fit.

Try taking a simple Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment to understand yourself a little better, then head on to doing what you’re good at and what you love.

4. Practice

The classic solution presented at many points of life:

“Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you don’t get it wrong” — Julie Andrews

Getting rid of bugs obviously didn’t come naturally. Neither did they disappear over the course of a month. Steep grinding through several computer keyboards, missed social nights out, forsaken gym sessions… They were all part of my journey and things I sacrificed just to keep practicing. Till I hit a point where I started getting a little obsessive, I learnt to take things slow, but still keep the pace with random tips here and there.

There’s no other way through this one. It’s all hard work and practice. But it does get your results. That, I can assure you.

5. Psych up with Success Stories

Linking back to the first point on being able to identify what drives one’s own motivation, opening your mind to success stories really serve as a strong backing.

Curiosity comes naturally to me, leading me to finding out all sorts of things. The one thing I realised kept me sane and continuing of my work was knowing about how others’ in the same field did it. It might sound cliche, but there was something in finding out the steps to them achieving eventual success.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee topped my list of cool programmers (cause let’s admit it right. without him, there’d be no World Wide Web. And who knows what would the world be like today…). I loved every moment of reading up on how his story progressed, what made him do what he did and how he is today because of what he did.

Find a collection of these success stories and create a personal relation to each of them. You’d be surprised at how they can be pillars of strengths when you feel like giving up because you “lacked talent”.


With these five points as a guide, it honestly felt easier for me to get things done without the encouragement and understand of those around me. I know that one day, they too will come to understand when they have found their calling. I’m lucky though to find programming. Or maybe it found me.

Talent, is a crazy thing. Many think its necessary for one to succeed in something as big as a career path. But truly, then you think deeply about it, its just a stepping stone that gets you closer to the end goal.

Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos makes the case that our character is reflected not in the gifts we’re endowed with at birth, but by the choices we make over the course of a lifetime.

Take a listen to what the founder and CEO of Amazon has to say about talent — which he refers to as ‘gifts’, and everything else — which he refers to as ‘choices’.

It’s quite simple, actually. The moment you are able to identify what motivates you, practice and keep tapping into your beautiful natural born talent. Continue to be inspired by success stories and keep the end goal constantly within the back of your head so you won’t lose direction.

You’ll never go wrong this way.

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Chardy W.

Written by

Chardy W.

Entrepreneur. Developer. Designer.

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