Not Everybody Was Meant To Be Mozart
or why talent will always be the most important thing
Last Update On December 7, 2011
People always like to speculate with talent. Some say it doesn't matter and hard work can compensate for it. Others say champions are made, not born but the truth is:
It's all about talent and everything else is speculation. Also champions are born and developed - not made.
It doesn't matter what field you choose there will always be people that progress and do better than others despite following the same guidelines and putting in the same effort. In training for example there will be people that will look better than most average gym rats without ever stepping a foot in a gym. There are others who will be able to bench press 225 pounds on their first day. It would be stupid to ignore that and to think that you can be the other guy if you improve your nutrition and training. Does it matter if you take 20 grams of protein more or less? Does it matter if you do two more sets? In the big picture - not at all.
Of course if you blame your genetics for failure others will always say - it's all about hard work. Pussy. Well, the truth is that it's not. Not at all. Who do you think will make more progress the genetic freak who was born for it or the average person. I will use me as an example. In high school I used to be a skateboarder and I wanted to become rather good at it. I even had dreams of becoming a pro. I was practicing a lot. Basically every day for a few hours and more during the weekend. After almost four years of hard work, a few injuries and so I was slightly above the average level of my local competition. There were also kids that were better than me after only one year of training. Was it because they were training harder than me? I don't think so. Honestly I was training harder than 90% of the skaters around me. Of course I got much better than some of them but I was average at best.
What was my mistake? With two words - expecting the impossible. I don't want to sound mean or anything but chances are some of your “biggest dreams” will never ever happen. And it's not because you don't deserve it - it just wasn't meant to be. You have to find what your inner strengths are otherwise you will always end up average at what you do.
Not everybody can be Mozart. Mozart was not created - he was born a genius. He didn't do anything to deserve his gift. He just got it. The problem is that people always want what they can't have and underestimate their potential while also neglecting the downsides of being a “big success” in general.
I'm sure you all have some talent and progress naturally at something. You probably don't notice it because: “Well, everybody can do that. I suck”. Like I said the grass on the other side is always greener but until we start to appreciate what we have we can't reach our true potential. Of course there will be someone who will always “have it for free” but that's life. Talent will forever be a more important factor than hard work. Lack of talent may not be an excuse for not trying hard enough but ignoring it's contribution is almost impossible. The nature can come up with some crazy combination trying to make it hard for us but nobody was forgotten - we all have something unique even if the person next to us “is better.”
I remember starting a thread on Rosstraining.com about steroids and how effective and underrated actually are and I was amazed by the hate I received. Most people said I was looking for excuses but that couldn't be further from the truth. We have to see the reality as it is because otherwise it will hurt even more when we realize that we were living with illusions for achieving a pipe dream. I for example can say that I would never be a professional bodybuilder not because of poor training but because of sucky genetics. I have extremely small frame. My sister has larger bones than me. I also grow muscle quite hard. In general I'm the skinny guy. However I was able to reverse that process to a certain point through hard training and I've become a more muscular version of myself and strong for the average gym but I'm yet to reach higher.
My advice is to be honest with yourself. There is no shame in admitting that you can't be something. I know some of you are now saying - “You suck big time. I will work hard and will reach the sky”. I wish this was true but it's not and the sooner you admit it the better you will feel. Trying to be someone else is turning back on the qualities you possess for the sake of entering an already lost battle. The media has a lot to do with similar problems and dilemmas.
The successful people you see on TV are not at all what they appear to be. Not even close. The medias like to speculate and make people feel miserable for not being like the celebrities. For example a lot of people idolize Arnold Schwarzenegger and want to follow his step. Hey, there are even some guys who sleep in cars just to train in Gold's Gym even though the gym has changed so much it has nothing to do with what it used to be back in Arnold's day. Sorry bros but you will never be Arnold because you were never meant to be in the first place and turning your back on your actual strengths will frustrate you and hurt you deep inside at the very least. Let's face it Arnold did not play by the rules. He took steroids since the very beginning. In the off-season he would shrink from 240 pounds to 200. A naturally gain muscle does not go away that fast. I'm saying this not to diminish the accomplishments of the man but to open the eyes of the blind fans out there. The same goes for almost everything else. Of course the people who call themselves big successes will tell you that's it's all about hard work when in fact hard work is important but not as important as they would like you to believe.
"Bro...does this mean that we should all give up?"
No, it doesn't. It means that you should focus and develop your inner strengths in order to improve you true personality instead of creating a fake image of yourself, living with illusions that everything is achievable...I think that living in the reality will allow for much more progress than living in your head.
Giving up is not an option but so is losing time fighting for a pipe dream while there is a whole world in front of us.
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