Hard Work is Not the Key to Success. Neither is Talent. So What is it?
The secret is surprisingly simple.
My ex loved languages. She loved learning new one and had a passion for learning them and collecting them like Pokemon.
I was always impressed and amazed by her ability to learn and pick up new languages with apparent ease. I on the other hand, just barely got through high school Spanish by the skin of my teeth.
She insisted that I could learn if I wanted to. That anybody could. That I only needed to apply myself and study every day. I told her that she was not acknowledging the fact that she had a natural ability for language that others did not have and I did not have this gift.
I, on the other hand, loved to draw. I would constantly be doodling and drawing daily. She always complimented me on my work and says that she wished that she was a better artist. I told her that she could be if she wanted, all she had to do was practice and she would get better.
She insisted that she couldn’t. That she was not born artistic and could not be. That some people were more gifted than others and even if she practiced she would never be a good artist.
I am a fairly talented amateur artist. I am aware that I put in not one, but two qualifiers to that statement. Insecurity popping out, but that’s a story for another day. But I am. And that talent did not spawn out of thin air. It rarely does, with the exception of Mozart and other rare prodigies. Talent spawns out of hard work and dedication.
So that is the end of the story, right? Hard work is what spawns talent. Dedication and hours are the secret to becoming successful in anything.
Not quite. Because if hard work is all it took, then I could easily be a master international linguist right now, and my ex could be a world renowned artist. Anybody can work hard. Everybody has the ability to work hard at what they want.
So why don’t I know seven different languages? I know the supposed secret to success, what is stopping me?
The answer is passion.
I always admired my ex’s ability to pick up languages, and I did wish I had that ability as well. And I knew the secret was to study it.
But I really did not care that much. While I thought it was cool to be able to speak globally, it was not something I really needed in my life. It was not my passion.
It was a passion she deeply had. She loved different cultures and had a very international nature. Travel was something she loved and enjoyed conversing with people around the globe. I was content in my own little bubble.
I could of course have put in the hard work. And that hard work would eventually be turned into talent. But how much harder is that work when I did not really want to do it. The hours would be a slog that I dreaded every day and I would probably eventually give up. Why bother with something that I do not care about?
But what is something that I do care about? Drawing. I love drawing, I doodle daily and love seeing the progress I make. I will watch tutorials on YouTube, read books, and study anatomy. All so that I can get even a little bit better each day. It is not a slog at all, but rather the time flies by. And of course learning takes hard work and dedication, but I would not have that drive to work hard if there was no passion behind it.
I recently read this story by Kyle L. who proposes that anybody can learn an instrument with only 20 minutes of practice a day.
When people approach him, stating that they wish they could play as well, he would challenge them and ask them to pick up an instrument and try. Most people decline and say they are not musically gifted. They give up before they even start.
So if anybody can learn an instrument with only 20 minutes, why do they not? What is holding them back?
A lack of drive. While music is fun and playing and instrument looks cool, the passion does not lie there.
Imagine practicing an instrument every day, the entire time bored by it. The entire time having the mind drift to something else. Pushing through that twenty minutes hoping that improvement will happen, but underwhelmed by the music. Undoubtedly the practice will eventually stop.
Hardly anybody is naturally gifted at music. None of us come out of the womb singing scales. Some people are willing to put in the work because music is what makes them the happiest.
I also read this story by Paul van Gool
The story is about Boyan Slat, who founded The Ocean Cleanup at age 18. The company has removed 22 million pounds of trash from the oceans, an amazing and respectable feat.
How did Boyan do this? He is obviously very talented. Starting a company at 18 is not easy and takes various skills of all types. And he obviously worked hard so that the company succeed and grow. 22 million pounds of trash does not pick itself up.
But I would argue the main reason he was able to accomplish so much is because of passion. I have never met this man, but I think it is safe to say he really cares about the environment. And he really really wants to clean our oceans. Why else would he do what he does?
If he wanted only to work hard and succeed he could have done anything. He could be working hard coding A.I. for Microsoft. He could be working hard painting murals. There are endless things he could have dedicated his life too if all it took was hard work. But would have been happy coding or painting if his passion was cleaning oceans?
No, he would have been miserable. He probably would have given up and failed and then eventually founded The Ocean Cleanup at age 19 instead.
Find Your Passion
Find it and pursue it. Your calling, your purpose, whatever you want to call it. But if you find it and chase it to the ends of the Earth, because if you do, there is bound to be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
