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Being Labeled As Untalented
We should have a more fluid perspective around talent and its connection to hard work
“You should not take this job,” a friend told me years ago. It was incredibly demanding and impossible to meet all the demands from this friend’s perspective. I would not be able to maintain work-life balance and would sacrifice everything for that job.
She is right. I’m an intense person. I go hard. I go all in, and I want to feel, at the end of the day, like I gave each life endeavor everything I had and left nothing on the table. I never want to feel like I could have done better as a marathon runner (at least in terms of effort). I have been told, by various coaches, mentors, teachers, and friends and colleagues over the years that they have never seen someone work as hard as I do.
This comes as a surprise to a lot of people after they first meet me. I present outwardly as extremely calm and chill with a voice that never really gives off a ton of emotion. On first impression, I never seem very excitable or like the kind of person who would express a lot of happiness or anger. That is not to say I don’t feel very intense emotions, because I do. However, it just does not come out that much outwardly. On job interviews, I sometimes worry that this outward presentation, which I cannot control, sometimes…
