Talent doesn’t count for much – you’ll see talent going down
the drain all the time.
Talent can be a barrier in your way, if it creates an ego in
you that prevents you from learning. We learn from people around us – and ego
stops us from doing that. It says “Oh, I am an educated person. What can my uneducated
domestic help know more than me?” It says “Haha, I studied political science at
Stephen’s, what do you know about how the poor is suffering in India? Someday I
shall make time and teach you all about India’s current political situation.”
Obviously, your ego makes you forget that you can benefit from listening, that
everyone has unique life experiences that teach them things that others don’t know.
Talent slows down the intrinsic hunger for learning from every situation and
every person.
It was talent that made the hare lose to the tortoise.
Talent does not come bundled with responsibility, as Spiderman would like us to
believe. Everyone has to learn to be responsible – talent without
responsibility and accountability is hardly ever a great force.
Talent is a like a prize from a lottery that you received
without having enrolled for it. Now that you got a prize you never asked for,
you don’t know what to do with it. Until you learn to put it to good use, its
utterly useless in your life.
Talent is not needed to do well. It is better to forget that
you are talented. You rather need confidence that you can be the best in what
you are doing. You need to believe that it is going to be a hard road, that you
are not entitled to it but no one can stop you from getting there because you
are very motivated.
Forget your talent, and find your motivation. Find your true
goals in life. Then we can see if the talent is of any use.
All the time, you shall see persistent, humble,
never-say-die fighters with much less apparent talent or intelligence do well
and beat the talented people again and again.
Great post Ramanuj. I believe the answer to all this lies in personal psychology. Education at elite institutions make people confident (you could argue that it inflates people's egos), and as a consequence, they aren't willing to listen to others.
ReplyDeleteCheers