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Every so often on the news, you would read about an incredibly bright boy being offered a scholarship in a major university.
You would then sigh as you look at your own report card.
It’s over. I lost out to a genius 10-year-old.
You then wonder to yourself, how is it possible for such a young child to be acing exams meant for people twice his age? Is he really just that gifted?
It is an age-old dilemma. Some people think that hard work is more important as unused talent can go to waste, while others say that hard work without talent is like digging a tunnel with a toothpick.
So, who is right and who is wrong?
Genius Vs Talent
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Before we start comparing hard work to talent, we must first differentiate talent from genius.
Genius refers to someone who is able to learn, understand and solve problems with unusual perfection.
Talented refers to someone with an exceptional aptitude or skill for a particular vocation.
For instance, a genius would be more likely to have a higher IQ score than someone who is talented.
Let’s put it in simpler terms: a talent can hit a target no one can hit, a genius can hit a target no one can see.
Both are interrelated in many ways, but talent can be learnt while genius cannot.
Case Study: Magnus Carlsen Vs Mikhail Chigorin
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Magnus Carlsen is considered one of the greatest chess grandmasters of all time due to his natural talent for the game, and is a five-time World Chess Champion.
Here’s the rub: he started playing chess at five years old! Most of us couldn’t even count to 20 when we were five!
Magnus is undoubtedly an extremely gifted player with an incomparable flair to the game. He just takes to chess so well at such a young age that it is almost unfair to other players and even other geniuses!
On the other hand, Mikhail Chigorin, the founder of the famous Russian school of chess, learnt how to play chess at 16 years old, which is considered quite late for chess players.
To make matters more interesting, he only started taking chess seriously at age 24!
Surprisingly, even though Chigorin is an outstanding player for his time, he has never won a world championship in his life.
Chigorin worked hard to develop many strategies and gambits that are still used to this day, even by Magnus, and helped popularise chess in Russia during the 19th Century.
Even though he was not on the level of Magnus, Chigorin’s determination and unrelenting hard work cemented him as a pioneer of modern chess.
So, who is more successful overall? The natural talent that is Magnus or the hard-work and dedication of Chigorin?
It depends on your interpretation of success in this case.
One can argue that Magnus’ natural-born genius shaped his illustrious career filled with countless championships and tournament wins, which makes him more successful.
Others will say that Chigorin’s impact on chess is more important due to his innovations and hard work even though he only started playing later in his life, which makes him much more successful.
Disputes About Talent vs Hard Work
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Throughout the years, many people dispute the validity of this argument.
Many people think that talent and hard work has to coexist in order to truly achieve success.
Although Einstein is a genius who came up with the most influential scientific theories and discoveries, he still had to spend a lot of time working hard on problems in order to find their solutions.
Magnus’ success is not possible without his hard work, his natural talent just made it easier.
Some people argue that hard work is nothing without natural talent.
They feel that you can work as hard as you want, but it will be useless as long as you don’t have the talent for it.
Others feel that talent can be developed through hard work, and that natural talent and developed talent are as important as the other.
Some even say that natural-born talents are ‘unfair’ as they didn’t do anything to earn their talents.
What do you think?
Conclusion
There is never a concrete answer to this dilemma.
Personally, I feel that talent is nothing without hard work.
Even naturally talented individuals such as Lionel Messi, Magnus Carlsen and Pablo Picasso had to put in sleepless nights and work tirelessly to hone their craft.
So don’t be disheartened and compare yourself to those gifted kids on the news, keep your head down and work hard!
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