Why do talented people underperform a lot?
Someone once said "Beauty is a curse". I think, so
is talent.
Beauty sometimes alienates women. Sometimes it makes megalomaniacs
out of them, drives them crazy.
Sometimes a beautiful woman sees no incentive
in self improvement, development of faculties unrelated to her looks - since
she already receives adequate attention.
Talent is worse, especially talent that gets mild recognition
and minor success very early.
Those without talent, but determined, works away quietly -
knowing they have nothing else to bank on. Those with talent often bet too much
on their special abilities, and under-prepare or over-commit.
It was talent that made
the rabbit lose the race with the tortoise. A talented person often does not
win, because he realized that he is talented, and some of the key people in his
life appreciate just that. He may become too content with his position to work
hard.
"A talented person often does not win"...?????
ReplyDeleteTalented people often get a raw deal. This post talks about only one side of this phenomenon. Would love to see a detailed post on this - where the idea is developed in a better way.
ReplyDelete@shivani - yes, talent is not an attribute that will help you to identify a winner.
ReplyDelete@Khagesh, my intention was not to write an essay on talent covering all aspects - rather, I wanted to write about only one thing - how talent itself can be a curse.
if you have any other points, please go ahead and elaborate.
Not everyone with talent wants to rest on their laurels, mister! :D
ReplyDeleteLike you said, beauty sometimes alienates people. The same way, talent alienates SOME people. Talent CAN be a curse, hypothetically.
And the rabbit lost the race because of overconfidence and stupidity, not talent. :)
Most talented persons are smart and realistic...you can't go on the offensive just because someone is talented, no? :)
haha, i didnt say everyone talented rests on their laurels. I said there is a risk that they might and a large number of talented people tend to do that.
ReplyDeletethis mistake is in equating talent with success.
rabbit lost because of overconfidence - yes, but where did that overconfidence come from? do you think overconfidence is rare in talented people?
most of the talented people i know went nowhere in life, with a few notable exceptions who learnt to be humble from experiences of life. On the other hand, i saw less talented mortals succeed and trump the talented beings with hard work and persistence again and again. talent helps, only if accompanied with hard work.
talent is over rated when it comes to identifying a key factor for success, thats all :)
unfortunately this does not even cover that one area properly.
ReplyDeleteOkay. That isn't mentioned in your blog post at all, so I thought I'd just clarify. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI like this post. This is mostly true.
ReplyDelete