Talent is a Myth

It is often heard when talking about a prominent figure in a field to hear people saying things along the lines of “They’re lucky they’re so talented, it’s so easy for them”. This is such an incredible cop out. The reason that these people have talent is because of one thing and one thing only, practice. These are the people who have already put in their hours of work, and the really amazing ones are the ones who have put in so many more hours than that. One quote that I always found funny was Jeffery Zeldmans quote where he calls Andy Clarke a “triple talented bastard”, while a great quote, “a triple hard-working bastard” may be more appropriate.

According to Malcolm Gladwell it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in something. As a 9-5 work day, that is 1250 days, 250 weeks or in an easier to comprehend unit, just under 5 years of working 40 hours a week. This means that for someone to become an expert, they need at the very least 5 years experience in their field.

The reason that some people in a field are seen as ‘talented’, the young designers that appear to be prodigys, is because these are the people who have reached their 10,000 hours mark early. The ones that instead of working 8 hours a day,  are working 14 hours a day, and the reason that they can work for 14 hours a day is because they are genuinely interested and fascinated by the field in which they work.

It therefore becomes obvious that the only way to become ‘talented’ in your chosen field of profession is to be almost obsessivly interested in it and want to do it every day to become better. This also seems to reinforce the saying “do what you love and success will follow”.