Developing Talents?

Though it may be wise to spend the bulk of our time growing our strengths, I still believe that we can and should develop our talents to the best of our abilities. We should see our talents as gifts to be used in as many areas of our lives as possible. Though I agree with much of the advice given surrounding focusing on our strengths, I do not believe that we should enhance our strengths at the expense of ignoring our talents. Our talents can lead us to new and fulfilling paths in our lives.

The problem with talent is that it takes time to develop. Even though we may have a knack at a something it still takes work to change it into a true source of pride. Take the painter Cezanne for instance. Cezanne struggled to keep afloat as a painter for years and only began to be recognized for his work later in life. Malcolm Gladwell (2009) writes in his essay on “Late Bloomers” that “The paintings [Cezanne] created in his mid-sixties were valued fifteen times as highly as the painting he created as a young man”(p.299). Cezanne, it appears, required time and practice to hone his art.

Gladwell (2008) described the process of becoming expert at something as a long and arduous journey. Gladwell describes this process as the 10,000-hour rule. Through citing various studies, Gladwell demonstrates that in order to become an expert in something it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice. 10,000 hours is a long time and comes out to about ten years of work. In short, it takes about ten years before you can expect to become expert an expert in any given field.

Of course this often does not apply to geniuses or savants. People who right out of the gate have an extraordinary talent. These people are the Mozarts of the world. Those individuals that compose symphonies by the time they are out of grade school. Yet the 10,000 hour rule does apply to the rest of us. Because this idea applies to the great majority of us, it may be useful to remember not to give up easily at things that we have talent for, but are not yet great at.

I remember one teacher I had in 8^th grade who handed back my class assignment of poetry. At the bottom of the page in small neat letters it read: “Ted, you have some natural talent in poetry that could be developed.” Interestingly, my 8^th grade teacher seemed to recognize what Gladwell is talking about. I had natural talent, something that I did not work for, but was only a small bit of talent, a small bit that I would have to choose to work at to enhance. After years of practice, I remember the day that I finally published a poem. It was a great feeling, but a feeling that came with the price tag of 10,000 hours.

Natural talent is a gift from our maker. We should strive to multiply our talents by remembering that it will take time and effort. We should try to not push our talents aside, but embrace them. Though talents may not be as malleable as strengths they are never the less enhance-able and should not be ignored in favor of purely focusing on our strengths.

References

Gladwell, Malcolm (2009). What the Dog Saw.

Gladwell, Malcolm (2008). The Tipping Point.

Lindstrom, Martin (2008). Buy-ology