Talent: The great paradox.

Paradox in that it exists and equally it is something of a myth.

But how can something both be real and fake at the same time?

Well, it is not really fake, I believe we just have a very fake understanding of talent that is widely accepted as truth but infact is false and has dire consequences
Lets take Persons A and B for example who do the same task. A does a fairly good job while B produces magnificent results.

In the situation where both were largely unknown, the general interpretation is that B is a huge talent! Or B is a genius or some other related narration
This narration is flawed in that it takes into no account how both A and B came to arrive at the point of said task so how could their performance be accurately ascribed to just 'talent?

Perhaps B had a great teacher and A had a poor one?
Perhaps B was introduced to said task at age 5 and had 10 years of accumulated experience before A was introduced to said task?

Perhaps B just put in more effort into honing their craft than A?
Why then are we so quick to ascribe excellence in performance to talent?

In the 'mundanity of excellence' (a paper released on researching swimmers), the author argues basically that excellence isn't just one thing, it is a combination of little factors here and there
These factors are somehow simple and most of us can actually do a lot of these simple things if we tried. Herein lies what I believe is our wont to ascribe excellence in performance to talent, if we did agree that it was these little things then the question would be why not me?
This places responsibility on us as individuals to actually pursue this excellence through mundane daily routines but we rather hide our inadequacy under the guise of 'its talent!' rather than pursue the possibility of our being excellent through our own work
When we see only the final performance, the final product, we are fooled into believing its excellence comes out of genius, out of talent. But when we observe the growth process of these outstandingly excellent performances or products, we see a bigger picture.....
.......we see that ascribing the eventual result to just talent is an insult to the effort that was put into creating such. That it is an insult to the time they spend honing their skill and developing their competence.
In conclusion, while people do genuinely have biological, mental and spiritual characteristics that predispose them to potential excellence in certain areas, those dispositions are only made manifest through passion, work and discipline.
So while talent could be the starting point, there is an even larger journey to be undertaken if ever we were to produce anything worthy of being 'genius'.

Simple things that add up into big things over time
Finally, it must be said that the average person already knows what they must do......

Yes you already know what you should be doing if indeed you wanted to be 'excellent' in your craft........

The question is will we do it?

More from Sport

Aight. Here’s my favorite 2 stories about Bill Russell.

Both stories reveal how much of a humble human being he is. And one blows my mind because it dismantles what we think about the evolution of sports.

A thread:


The first is, that there is an assumption that today’s athletes are faster, stronger, etc. which is is based on ZERO evidence.

For instance, Wilt Chamberlain benched 465 lbs at 59 years old. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he benched 500 lbs on the set of Conan the Destroyer

Most basketball experts say Wilt has the highest vertical leap in NBA history. A few others argue that Michael Jordan did.

I think they’re both wrong.

Why?

Well let me tell you a story:

In 1956 Bill Russell was selected for the US Olympic basketball team

During this time, pros weren’t allowed in the Olympics, so the International Olympic Committee tried to say that he was ineligible since he had already signed with the Celtics, even though he hadn’t played yet

Luckily, Russell prevailed and led the team to the gold medal as the captain.

But if they would have stopped Russell from playing for the US basketball team, he would have STILL been in the Olympics.

How?

Because Bill Russell was one of the greatest high jumpers I. The world.

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#தினம்_ஒரு_திருவாசகம்
தொல்லை இரும்பிறவிச் சூழும் தளை நீக்கி
அல்லல் அறுத்து ஆனந்தம் ஆக்கியதே – எல்லை
மருவா நெறியளிக்கும் வாதவூர் எங்கோன்
திருவாசகம் என்னும் தேன்

பொருள்:
1.எப்போது ஆரம்பித்தது என அறியப்படமுடியாத தொலை காலமாக (தொல்லை)

2. இருந்து வரும் (இரும்)


3.பிறவிப் பயணத்திலே ஆழ்த்துகின்ற (பிறவி சூழும்)

4.அறியாமையாகிய இடரை (தளை)

5.அகற்றி (நீக்கி),

6.அதன் விளைவால் சுகதுக்கமெனும் துயரங்கள் விலக (அல்லல் அறுத்து),

7.முழுநிறைவாய்த் தன்னுளே இறைவனை உணர்த்துவதே (ஆனந்த மாக்கியதே),

8.பிறந்து இறக்கும் காலவெளிகளில் (எல்லை)

9.பிணைக்காமல் (மருவா)

10.காக்கும் மெய்யறிவினைத் தருகின்ற (நெறியளிக்கும்),

11.என் தலைவனான மாணிக்க வாசகரின் (வாதவூரெங்கோன்)

12.திருவாசகம் எனும் தேன் (திருவா சகமென்னுந் தேன்)

முதல்வரி: பிறவி என்பது முன்வினை விதையால் முளைப்பதோர் பெருமரம். அந்த ‘முன்வினை’ எங்கு ஆரம்பித்தது எனச் சொல்ல இயலாது. ஆனால் ‘அறியாமை’ ஒன்றே ஆசைக்கும்,, அச்சத்துக்கும் காரணம் என்பதால், அவையே வினைகளை விளைவிப்பன என்பதால், தொடர்ந்து வரும் பிறவிகளுக்கு, ‘அறியாமையே’ காரணம்

அறியாமைக்கு ஆரம்பம் கிடையாது. நமக்கு ஒரு பொருளைப் பற்றிய அறிவு எப்போதிருந்து இல்லை? அதைச் சொல்ல முடியாது. அதனாலேதான் முதலடியில், ஆரம்பமில்லாத அஞ்ஞானத்தை பிறவிகளுக்குக் காரணமாகச் சொல்லியது. ஆனால் அறியாமை, அறிவின் எழுச்சியால், அப்போதே முடிந்து விடும்.