We often hear about people who are born with amazing talent and skills in a particular area, marathon runners, boxers, basketball players and soccer players, the list goes on. The reality of this situation is that talent is a small part of the equation.
Talent will not take you so far on your journey to success but hard work and effort will most definitely carry you all the way to your goals.
Talent is the fuel for the fire, it will propel you towards success and make things easier to get going in the beginning but if you have someone who is very talented but doesn’t work hard, and someone who is not talented but works really hard, the person who works hard is usually going to succeed more.
Let’s say you have two people competing for a race. One person comes from a culture of successful, fast runners and has always excelled in running throughout their life, they’re a natural talent and have great fast twitch leg muscles.
Then you have another person, who does not come from a line of winners, but instead has worked hard from the start, always struggling but never given up. The second person although lacking in talent has the passion & determination.
He never gives up and while the natural talent might get up at 07h00 to train for the race, the other guy is getting up at 03h00 in the morning. The guy waking up at 03h00 to work on the skill of running in this example have more time to practice and improve, and when they’ve run the practice race 2-3 times, the other naturally talented guy is only just waking up.
These types of people do not practice and work hard enough to get to the top, as a result, the hardworking athlete overtakes the talented athlete and scoop all the gold medals and trophies. The moment you become a champion, people will consider you as talented but what truly happened is that you’ve become a master through repetition, belief and hard work.
You’ve worked your way to the top and became a champion. There are many people who although talented, have wasted their gifts and just not worked hard enough to support and nurture their talents. As a result, they are surpassed by athletes with the greatest will power, work ethic, and desire to be a winner.
*Stefan Ngolo is a Sports Development Officer at the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service in the //Kharas region. He can be reached at ngoloset@gmail.com