<b>"Well, folks, it’s not so simple. For one thing, you do not possess a natural gift for a certain job, because targeted natural gifts don’t exist. (Sorry, Warren.) You are not a born CEO or investor or chess grandmaster. You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years. And not just any hard work, but work of a particular type that’s demanding and painful. "</b>
Read this great article on the “Myth of Natural Talent”, it’s conclusions are obvious to anyone who actually has accomplished a great deal of things and rings true of the advice repeated over and over again by the most accomplished business men, scientists, and artists. The natural talent myth is worshiped by everyone who doesn’t want to feel responsible for their own potential. It’s much easier to attribute all that success to someone else’s genetic lottery winning than it is to attribute ones own lack of success to laziness and lack of fortitude. Now, that is not to say it’s anyone’s duty to do absolutely everything they can and be the most accomplished and productive individual possible, it is your own life and your right to do with it as you please. And relaxing and enjoying life is a fine thing, but lying to ones self about ones potential and capacity is not. You must honestly and rationally choose your course in life. Everyone out there, everyone reading this, is capable of the most extra-ordinary feats of intellectual magnitude, business success, or artistic grandeur.
An average single human mind is still the most power computer on the planet by orders of magnitude. It is yours and completely at your disposal to use to further your highest values.. It requires learning new things all the time and striving to become an expert in these things. Unlike all conventional computers, the more a human mind learns and integrates, the *faster* it goes, The more you learn, the faster you are at figuring things out and the better you are at learning even more things. Eventually, you may become an expert at acquiring expertise in new fields. It would take decades, It requires pushing yourself each day farther than you think you could go, it requires optimizing all of your time and welcoming honest self critical analysis. It requires long term consistent dedication, an unceasing and unyielding effort to remain true to your goals and values. It isn’t easy or simple or quiet, it’s hard and tiring, but it is incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.
What It Takes to Be Great
By Geoffrey Colvin
From - <a href=”http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/great_1.html”> http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/great_1.html</a>
