Talent (noun): a natural skill or ability to be good at something, especially without being taught.
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A couple of weeks ago, James Scott Bell mentioned the enormous talent of James Cagney, and that got me wondering about just what talent is and how much it plays a part in success.
We’ve all heard sports scouts talk about athletes who are “naturals.” They’re highly recruited for what seems to be their inborn ability to play the game. Most of us don’t have that kind of obvious talent, but each of us has certain inborn abilities that we can capitalize on. But how can we identify what we’re really good at? One way is by taking a talent test.
I’m not a particular fan of personality tests or talent identification tests. I think testing for specific skills is more useful. But in preparation for writing this blog post, I took a talent quiz at ProProfs. (I have no idea if their test is a reliable judge of specific talent, but I thought it would be fun to see their assessment.)
Among other things, the results indicated that I have a creative flair for story-telling. That was encouraging, but it doesn’t mean I’ll be able to wip (misspelling intended) out a 70,000 word masterpiece while sipping my raspberry-coconut smoothie and having my nails done. It won’t solve the plot problems I’m having with my next book or teach me more about the genre-specific structure I need. It also won’t do much to ensure my text is error-free or help me format and upload the book to the major retail sites. For all those, I need something more.
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Grit (noun): firmness of character; indomitable spirit; pluck.
The answer may lie in an individual’s passion and perseverance, otherwise known as “grit.” While talent may give you a head start in life, it’s grit that will get you over the finish line.
A 2013 article in Forbes magazine identified five characteristics of people who have grit.
- Courage – The ability to manage the fear of failure.
- Conscientiousness – Working tirelessly, trying to do a good job, and finishing the task at hand.
- Endurance – Having the stamina to achieve long-term goals.
- Resilience – The ability to remain optimistic and confident in the face of unforeseen problems.
- Excellence vs Perfection – Striving for excellence, not perfection.
The Forbes article also quotes from a 1907 speech by Theodore Roosevelt that illustrates the essence of true grit:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strived valiantly; who errs, who comes again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
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Finally, in a Psychology Today article, Michael D. Matthews, PhD, argues that neither talent nor grit alone will lead to success.
The message here is clear. Grit is indeed a critical factor in achievement. But it is best applied to tasks and goals for which you have the innate talent and interest to sustain growth. Engage in honest self-appraisal and identify what you have the physical and cognitive skills to be good at, then use your grit to fan the talent flame. Love what you are good at and be good at what you love. Your talent will only take you so far; you need grit to be great. And accomplishing difficult tasks provides a foundation for a life of meaning and purpose.
So there you have it. Talent and Grit. You need both to make the cut.
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So TKZers: Have you ever taken a quiz to identify your talents? How would you compare talent and grit in writing? Which of the five characteristics of grit in this article do you most identify with?
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Another Side of Sunshine: A Reen & Joanie Detective Agency Novel
10-year-old Reen and her 9-year-old cousin Joanie have plenty of talent and grit, but is that enough to find the treasure hidden by the mysterious Mr. Shadow?
Click the image to go to the Amazon book page.
Kay, this post resonates with me. I’ve always appreciated Teddy’s quote, esp. in the face of critics, doubters, and a huge collection of rejections.
I’ve known many extremely talented writers who should have made it but didn’t b/c they gave up. Good friend/mentor Dennis Foley says, “You can’t fail at writing; you can only give up.”
Endurance carries me through.
Thanks for this great start to the week!
“You can’t fail at writing; you can only give up.” Love this. We all want things to work in our favor from the get-go, but that’s not life for most people.
I love that Roosevelt quote. He was a guy who knew something about grit.
A lot of thinking for a Monday morning. St. Louis is a baseball town. Baseball highlights natural born talent and the effects of training. Bob Gibson was born with talent and skills that made him a star athlete. He turned down a profesional basketball contract to play baseball. He was also a Golden Glove boxer. Babe Ruth was a great pitcher who was moved to the outfield so he could bat every day. Ted Williams was a terrible batting coach. One of the best hitters ever to play the game, he had 20/15 eyesight. He could see the rotation of a pitch when most other batters barely saw the ball.
Where does training fit in? SAT prep courses can increase almost anyone’s score by more than 20%. Something the test givers don’t want to be known. Tiger Woods hit thousands of practice balls. Tony Gwynn (back to baseball) takes hundreds of swings a day. Practice can make you very good.
Keep swinging.
Great list of athletes, Alan. We don’t always appreciate how hard they worked to get that good at their sport.
“Keep swinging.” I may have to put that on a sign above my desk. 🙂
Have a good week.
No, I haven’t taken any tests like you describe. I’d hate to find out I was more suited to be a bricklayer. Practice may not make you perfect, but without it, the rust sets in.
Good morning, Terry.
I’m not sure how good those tests are. It seems to me that things you love doing are probably the things you’re talented at.
(Can’t envision you as a bricklayer. 🙂 )
Grit unlocked the door to writing publishable fiction for me. I believe talent is more common than some might believe–what actualizes your talent is grit. No matter what the ups and downs of external success might be, if you put yourself into the arena of endeavor, and keep raising the bar, striving to be better with each go, challenging yourself enough, you will prove yourself successful.
That’s grit in action. All five items on the Forbes grit list resonate with me, but it starts with courage. Many of writers are paralyzed by fear of failure. I’ve certainly been. But all of these matter.
Thanks Kay for a stirring post this Monday morning. Hope you have a great week!
Good morning, Dale.
I guess the Forbes author put Courage first on the list for a reason. We all can identify with the fear of failure, but the other four attributes can help us overcome it.
Have a great and gritty week!
Great message for me this morning, Kay!
All five grit points resonate with me. If I had to pick one, it’d be #3. Putting a story together, striving for excellence, not being deterred by the million and one details that have to mesh together to make the thing fly requires endurance. It’s fun, but certainly not for wimps, right?
Which reminds me of a movie line, spoken by Kurt Russell and his flight instructor in Executive Decision.
After running through all of the checkpoints, again and again, trying to make sure he’d covered all the bases, Russell, in the pilot’s seat, looks at the instructor and they both said at the same time: “Just fly the plane!”
Don’t try to figure out every detail of your story, Deb–just write the story… 🙂
Good morning, Deb!
How did I miss Executive Decision? I’m adding that movie to my list to watch.
“Just write the story.” Good advice.
Have a great week.
Years ago, I volunteered at the local theater as an usher, concessionaire, etc. During the spring season, the theater made a ton of money hosting dance recitals for the local dance schools. So little girls in tutus, sleek young women with hair buns, and Karens from Hell micromanaging everything. Anyway, during all those dances, I could quickly spot that one kid who stood out with what I called tah-dah energy. Other kids did the routines spotlessly, but they lacked that coiled energy of true talent. Without true talent, grit means nothing.
As to tests, I’ve always enjoyed tests like what dog breed I am–a Bernese Mountain dog, and what Hogwarts house I belong to–Hufflepuff. Otherwise, I know my talents after so many dang years of doing stuff.
This has many names: star quality, stage presence, sparkle, or “It” in the case of Clara Bow. In Hollywood, it’s considered to be independent of actual mastery of the craft and of professionalism, which causes much moaning and gnashing of teeth among directors. So it’s apparently its own thing (though panache will pass for it in a dim light).
It’s an “inborn talent” so long as no one knows how to teach it. For a long time, Paganini was the only one who could play his 24 violin caprices, but now they’re taught routinely to advanced students. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone figures out how to teach sparkle some day. At which point, yikes!
Morning Marilynn.
It’s interesting that we can spot talent even in young children. It seems to be in their DNA.
I’ve never taken a “What dog breed am I” test. Hilarious.
Have a good week.
I knew several excellent pianists in high school, all of whom were deemed to have “natural talent” by most people.
It seemed to me that they were putting way too much practice for people with a god-given gift. It’s as if they had no faith in their divine good fortune and insisted on putting in far more work than the players who were merely good. The difference already amounted to thousands of hours, and they were only in high school. It was an amazing display of sacrilege.
I come from a family of compulsive storytellers. We’re a pretty argumentative bunch, too. People who had never joined us at the family dinner table thought I had a god-given talent for things like high-school debate and impromptu speaking. Sorry, Charlie: that’s prior experience (and everyone in my family) talking.
We’re not special because we’re special. We’re special because we didn’t chicken out or half-ass the things that were important to us. That’s better than being born with a silver typewriter in our mouths, anyway.
Excellent, Robert.
“We’re a pretty argumentative bunch…” Argumentative people have an advantage in storytelling since they’re accustomed to organizing their thoughts so they can present them in the most effective way. Keep arguing! And writing.
Have a good week.
I’ve never taken a talent test. The closest I came was a test where you upload a chapter and it tells you who you write like. Fun, but I’m not sure how accurate it is.
All five points of grit resonated with me. Great post, Kay!
Hi Sue,
Yes, the five points of grit are all important for us to keep in mind.
Have a good week!