One day, I was using Duolingo to practice German and my sister walked by. “You’ve always been so good at languages!” she exclaimed enviously. I was dumbfounded. I wasn’t born with some natural talent for speaking other languages—I’d spent countless hours taking classes on grammar, culture, history, and literature; using apps such as Duolingo; and consuming TV shows, movies, and books in my target languages, in addition to studying abroad twice during college, to achieve the fluency I had (I even briefly worked as a freelance translator). The implication that I had “a gift for languages” bothered me because it undermined the hard work, time, and resources I’d put in to achieve what I had.
I’m not the only one who’s encountered this kind of attitude. In a clip on Instagram, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran tells Graham Norton: “When people say that artists are born with talent—you’re not. You have to really learn and really practice.” To prove his point, he plays a recording of himself as a teenager strumming a guitar and singing. The guitar playing is okay, if a bit bland and basic, but what’s really striking is his voice: In contrast with the smooth vocals pop fans and radio-listeners associate with Sheeran, what comes out of his phone is a badly off-key, screechy voice that makes him cringe and the studio audience laugh.
Although some people may naturally have a decent voice, nobody achieves the skill of the music industry’s top professionals—from Sheeran to Beyoncé to Taylor Swift—without thousands of hours of practice and, in many cases, voice coaching. Such practice not only makes these singers more pleasant to listen to, it also extends their vocal range and stamina, both of which are essential to being able to perform a variety of songs for long concerts or studio recording sessions.
The same principle applies to practically every other aspect of life. Though a woman may be naturally somewhat flexible, she cannot be a professional gymnast or ballerina—or even a skilled amateur—without years of training, strengthening, and practice. Though a man may find mathematics easy to understand, he cannot become a successful engineer without years of study. Though a person may find drawing or gardening or sewing a natural, pleasant activity, he won’t become an incredible artist, a fantastic gardener, or an amazing tailor without hours of practice and perhaps some instruction.
It’s good to be familiar with your natural inclinations and tendencies and how you can leverage them, but they are not sufficient to achieve excellence without lots of practice. As basketball coach Tim Notke put it, “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” Don’t let anyone denigrate your achievements by putting them down to natural talent—and patiently leverage the incredible power of practice to reach your goals in any area of life.
