You can become successful without talent

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We pay too much attention to talent, believing that only people with innate abilities can become outstanding. Robert Green, author of Mastery, thinks differently. After reading his book, I now feel the same way.

Most of us believe that people who have achieved outstanding success have been endowed with innate abilities. I have been interested in this question for a long time. It was impossible to give a decent answer to it on your own, because only a person who has achieved incredible success can answer it.

Therefore, I decided to read a book by Robert Green, in which he gives an answer to the question of how great people achieved success. If you are fluent in English, I highly recommend reading it; if not, then I will talk about the most important below.

Darwin and his genius brother

In the very first chapters, Green talks about a global study conducted in the United States. Over a long period of time, researchers have observed dozens of children who showed exceptional ability to do something at an early age. Only a few of them later achieved success.

Take, for example, Charles Darwin, whom almost everyone knows about. It turns out that the famous scientist who put forward the theory of evolution had a younger cousin. Since childhood, Galton amazed everyone with his extraordinary abilities. He began reading at the age of two, learned to write by the age of three, and then, as an adult, achieved considerable success in scientific activity.

Unlike Galton, Darwin showed no ability as a child and was repeatedly reprimanded in college for academic failure. In the end, he graduated from college with a very mediocre diploma. One of the reasons for this was that Darwin was completely uninterested in studying the subjects that were taught to him.

So we have Galton, who was a little genius, and Darwin, who graduated from college with a creak. Which of them does everyone know now?

Recipe for success

I am sure that at least once in your life you had a feeling when you started to do something and understood: “This is it. This is what I want to do all my life. This feeling must be believed. This is an inner voice that tells you the right way. For example, Leonardo da Vinci woke up this feeling at the moment when he stole paper from his father's desk and went into the forest to draw nature.

Where to begin?

If you've already experienced this feeling, then it's time to move on. The next step is to learn. A lot to learn. You need to be so cool in what you love that all actions must be brought to automatism. To do this, you will need not only theoretical knowledge, but also experience. That is why at the beginning of the journey between money and experience, it is better to choose the latter.

For example, the famous boxer Freddie Roach faced the same problem. Choosing between paid work and free coaching at a boxing club, he opted for the latter in order to use the time to improve his skills. Later, his decision paid off with interest, because for his fights he earned dozens of times more money than in years of low-paid work.

Charles Darwin turned down a medical school offer and turned down a well-paying job at the church. Instead, he went to work for free on the ship HMS Beagle so that he could study exotic plant and animal species. The research he did along the way helped him later formulate his famous theory of evolution.

When choosing between money and experience, it is better to prefer the latter. This will provide an opportunity to gain the necessary knowledge and develop abilities. Over time, if you do everything right, it will pay off with interest.

The importance of a mentor

The problem, however, is that you don't always know what to teach you. You can walk like a blind kitten, not knowing where you are going. This is why it is so important to find a mentor.

A mentor is a person who will give you a very important thing - a direction. He will show you in which direction you need to develop and how to use your time as efficiently as possible. What is the use of this for the mentor?

First, people who have achieved some success move to the next level of development - they want to teach and share their experience with others. Secondly, the mentor sees in you a young version of himself, because we all were once beginners, and perhaps your mentor also had a mentor and is now replenishing his karma.

Like many other great people, you need to find a mentor, but your main goal is to surpass him.

What's next

You learned what you loved, became a professional in it, found a mentor and learned from him everything there was to know. What to do next? Now your time has come.

You must bring something new to what you love.

The hardest part is that most of us think like everyone else. We lack childish naivety and curiosity.

Don't be afraid to ask questions and be open to everything.

Perhaps you will find a solution to even the simplest problem that no one else could have thought of before.

Conclusion

Summing up:

1. Find what you love to do.
2. Forget talent, hard work comes first.
3. Don't chase after money. You will need experience first.
4. Find a mentor who can guide you.
5. Bring something new to what you love. Don't be afraid to break the rules and ask questions.