I, too, am a book person, and always have been. But this little voice at the back of my mind had me CONVINCED I could be a dancer. Now, I’m 5′3″ with an athletic build that by no means conveys grace and/or coordination. After several failed attempts (and one completely embarrassing breakdancing class) I decided to stop putting myself (and spending so much money) on classes if I was just going to end up discouraged. Rather, I focused on the talents I do have that make me happy. True, we should challenge ourselves and learn new things. But that does not mean we should just ignore those things that we are innately good at. Thanks again for a great article!

(I’ve posted some of it to my blog, just FYI!)

So, for my comment:

I believe that our DNA makes us good at some things, and bad at others. Our upbringing has made us dream of becoming artists, rockstars, architects, or entrepreneurs.

Whatever it may be, I think we need to find what we can be the best in the world at AND what we’re passionate about. Find where those two things align, and you’ve got it made.

- Jun

That article does talk about intellectual and physical limitations, but it does confirm practice is the main reason for success.

#3 on that list is my favorite, because yes why waste 5 minutes just standing when it could be 5 minutes reading? That is the best

and #4 for me is actually chilling at the library… Santa Monica has one of the best public libraries ever, it rocks

I totally agree about talent and practice needing to match up, or as you put it your natural affinities have to latch on to the thing you practice. The fact is that a singular focus is itself a talent, though we don’t often think of it that way.

I am reading The Snowball, a Warren Buffett biography, and I am now relating everything in the book to stuff I see and read about daily (another sign of a habitual reader). The thing that strikes me about Buffett when he started investing is that the thing he LOVED to do was read about companies and learn data, financial info, pricing, etc… so it’s no wonder that he focused on that affinity singlemindedly and practiced hour after hour every day. He got his 10,000 hours of expertise at evaluating companies’ financials VERY early in his life because he just latched onto that natural inclination to read and learn and invested appropriately

I love to write, draw, design, read and play video games. I get paid to do all of those things now one way or another (except for maybe reading), and I am indeed happy, if not content with life.

There is another side to that coin however. A commenter above said you were making a comparison between hobby and talent, and they are not related, but I disagree. Sometimes we choose certain hobbies because we are talented at them. Sure there are people that love to play basketball that are truly terrible, but for the most part we spend our time doing something because we love it, and we’re relatively good at it.

The problem comes when you get paid for doing all the things you love. I know from experience there’s a risk of burning out. There’s also a motivation risk. Why should I write something for fun if I have a way to get paid to write it? Why should I use my free time to play this game, when I can get paid to play the other one?

I took a class with the very talented Bobby Chiu at Schoolism.com and he said to avoid those things you have to master your on/off switch. Know when to turn off and step away, and you’ll never be without motivation. I’ve been experimenting with my on/off switch the last few months to find that right balance. It’s taking some time, but I think I’ll be happier for it.

Sorry if that seemed completely unrelated, that’s just where my mind went after reading this. Good post Caitlin.

Carlos and Jang – you don’t believe in natural talent?? Really? I’m not surprised that some people will disagree with some of my points but completely disregarding natural talents? I’m surprised. What about people that without training can sit down and play any song on the piano? What about people with an amazing sense for numbers? I think there are examples of it everywhere.