Hard work or talent?

[Flosmom]

A friend of mine tweeted this blog from Dan and Laura Curtis,

http://danlauracurtis.wordpress.com/201 ... e-day-job/ (if you read it, please give them a like or a share so I don't feel bad about borrowing their work to post here )

a day or so after another friend shared this image on Facebook

image.jpg

(54.25 KiB) Not downloaded yet

Which got me thinking, which is most important, talent or hard work?

Another friend, who is an incredibly successful artist (produces concept art for Hollywood blockbusters - his dream job) reckons anyone could do what he does if they worked at it. I don't think I could draw like he does in a million years.

Where does talent end and hard work take over, do you think?

Deb x

[Katymac]

On Facebook I saw "Hard work beats Talent when Talent doesn't work hard!

But I can't link to it......it was talking about Ballet! But I guess it's transferrable

[TalyaB]

Good question, and good links. I reckon it needs a combination of talent, hard work, stubbornness, and the ability to take the repeated rejections and keep level-headed in the face of success, as well as a certain amount of luck (in other areas as well as being lucky enough to have the talent in the first place). And a dedicated parent certainly helps too, as well as access to training and opportunities - which can depend on parents' time, money, location and willingness. I'm sure other people can suggest more.

[pg]

One of the difficulties is that we only see the successes. We then try to work out what has made those people successful. Those who are not in work are invisible. However, the successes often have lots of "out of work" times behind them - and lots of time working on their skills, if they are able to keep motivated to do so. It's hard to keep motivated to keep working on your skills if you are not getting jobs. Perhaps it is that tenacity and discipline that will mean that performers are ready for the break if it comes - and then they become the "lucky" ones.

Connected to this is the tendency for the media to adore (and manufacture) "rags to riches" stories and "plucked from the chorus line". In most cases if you dig these stories are not true. Even when they are true - that doesn't mean that the individual will go on to have a career. They might have one success and then slip back to obscurity - or back to working on their craft (or both). Of course the media will have lost interest by then.

I'm often concerned that people look at training in a back to front way too. I did, before I went to drama school. I wanted the "connections" it would give me - the contacts. What I overlooked was the fact that the connections and contacts are likely to come because the training is good - and that the point of going is (and should be) to get the training. I had no idea how much I had to learn before I went - and I value the self-discovery more than the contacts.

"Networking" is another thing that I used to misunderstand. I hated the idea - coming from the sort of background where putting yourself forward was though of as showing off/vulgar/simply not good manners. I now know that good networking isn't "putting yourself forward" at all - it's being interested, not necessarily being interesting. Good memory helps too! Social ease and a sort of inner confidence helps - not the loud "look at me" type - and being involved in drama from an early age is really likely to be of benefit there I think.

[TomS]

.............

[possiblypushy]

What a great topic for discussion .
I think in most areas of life, talent will only get you so far - it's persistence and self-motivation that really brings rewards. I strongly agree with TalyaB that supportive parents (who can afford all the time and expense) are a huge advantage.

But if I could choose whether my dc is talented or hard-working, I'd choose hard-working every time! I'm sure that every averagely-able child has the potential to be talented at many things (no ds, I'm not including Flappy Birds ).

Other people have said it much better than me:

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
Calvin Coolidge


“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”
― Michelangelo

[Flosmom]

There are some interesting comments posted on Dan and Laura Curtis's blog from people who are coping with the reality of an uncertain career in performing arts.

http://danlauracurtis.wordpress.com/201 ... e-day-job/


Deb x

[begolina]

There was an interesting article yesterday on the Evening Standard stating “ We have this myth that if you work hard you can accomplish anything. It’s true for a lot of people but you need other things to succeed, you need luck, opportunity and the life skills to recognise what an opportunity is.” Plus, guess what, having the right parents it does help

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/sarah ... 45708.html

[Fruitcake]

This is a really interesting debate.

I think success in any field is a combination of aptitude (eg: having the right body attributes to become a prima ballerina) and talent in whatever field is required (ie: it's not really much good aspiring to become an opera singer if you are tone deaf and can't sing a note in tune!);

hard work, dedication and passion;

being able to communicate with people in the right way (eg: being able to 'network' as previously mentioned, which involves having that inner confidence without coming across as arrogant);

tenacity and determination;

a willingness to do anything that isn't illegal or immoral to get where you want to go;

a generous sprinkling of luck along the way.

Oh yes, I almost forgot......loving, supportive, understanding, selfless parents with a very friendly bank manager and the ability to survive months on end with very little sleep!

[obsteve]

I always tell my students, "A little bit of talent and a lot of hard work goes further than a little bit of hard work and a lot of talent".