Like so many people around the world, I’ve been caught up with the ‘Susan Boyle effect’ in the last few days. The media frenzy that has followed Susan Boyle’s performance on the TV show ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ has already covered all the predictable sayings: “you can’t judge a book by its cover”; “the voice of an angel” amongst them.
Without taking away a single, well-deserved plaudit from her, I find myself wondering why we’re surprised to find that ‘ordinary’ people are so talented.
After all, many people have a promising ability when they’re young, perhaps in music or on the sports field, but the reason relatively few are successful is because they lack the determination and discipline to put in the effort that will raise them from good to great.
True talent actually takes a lot of hard work. Even if you’re blessed with a wonderful voice, you still have to learn and rehearse the songs! Susan Boyle has been honing her talent since she was a little girl.
Of course not everyone is blessed with the sort of talent that leads to fame on stage or sports field. However, most people are good at something. Perhaps they’re good with people; have a way with the written word; or can work out complicated math in their head!
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success, he talks about the 10,000 hours rule and gives examples of how Mozart, the Beatles and Bill Gates became masters because they practised for so long! And for them to do that there had to be passion, drive and almost a hunger to use their innate talent.
Are you good at something? Could you be even better at it with practice? What’s your hidden talent?
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