Work Work Play

Talent is never enough

Q:When is being naturally talented a hindrance rather than an asset?

A: When you are afraid of rejection.

I know five incredibly talented brilliant people. They come up with the sort of ideas that you wish you’d come up with first. They are insightful, creative, inquisitive and you’ll probably never ever hear of them.

Even though they have the kind of talent that “less talented” people wish they had, they also have a soul crushing fear of rejection. What the “less talented” lack in talent, they make up for in determination. They (the less talented) have already learned at some point or another to adapt, because they recognize their strengths lie in the connections they make with people.

The “less talented” know that, if given the choice, most people don’t want the perfect you’re holding out for. They want the “good” that you can do. Instead of the perfect dream, most clients are willing to “settle” for tangible results.

My friends are always in complete agreement with me when I tell them that it’s not that other people are better than them, but rather that “less talented” people have talent at one thing they do not: handling rejection.

When you’re paralyzed by the fear of trying because you see “less qualified” people in positions that you wish that you could get, it is safe to assume that they are at least better than you at one thing, trying to get the job. (This doesn’t go for “they underpriced me into the poorhouse” type of competition.)

When you work in competitive creative industries or any industry at all, it probably helps to try. Even if you don’t have the connections, try to make them. In trying to learn to make them, you’ll learn something even more valuable, how not to make them. Even if you think you’ll never use that skill, try to at least learn it. In life, you are not given the answers and then expected to pass the test. That’s school. In life you are given the test, first.

Every day is a pop quiz. And every day you can pass or fail simply on the sheer willingness to try.