What if you made NOT quitting your talent this time? Talent is a great thing to have, but it doesn't help a quitter—never has and never will. When people say you have a talent for something, what they really should say is: "I can see you're not a quitter."
Talent doesn't make great artists, bankers, musicians, craftsmen, politicians... It's hard work, persistence, endurance, determination, and good old-fashioned grit. A fairy isn't going to come along and magically grant you the power to be talented. No one is going to fulfill your dreams, achieve your goals, finish your studies, or create wealth for you other than the person staring into your mirror in the morning—YOU.
We all believe from an early age that we have all the time in the world.
Use your time wisely. You only get 24 hours a day.
Saying you don't have what you want because you aren't talented is a cop-out. Everyone has things they do better than others, but believing you have no talent or natural skills is not the case. People doing what they enjoy in life are doing it because they had a dream and refused to quit trying. Talent may make something come naturally with less effort, sometimes for some people, but you lose it if you don't use it. So then, doesn't that make talent a byproduct of not quitting?
Time proves time and again that time passes fast for all. Just look at any old photograph and think about where the people in it are now. They thought they had all the time in the world.
Old photos keep the best time.
When I sit down to write a story, I can't help but wonder about time. It's not the time it takes to write a story but the time I've invested in being able to write a story in the first place. That may sound like an irrigant statement (a mix between ignorant and arrogant), but give me a chance to explain.
They say it takes 10,000 hours of study and practice to become an expert at something. Think about that for a moment—10,000 hours of study and practice - about 20 hours a week for 10 years. To be a great pianist, a great carpenter, and an expert at anything, you need to throw 10,000 hours of study at it. That's a whole lot of not quitting. From Picasso to Einstein, Lady Gaga, to Elvis Pressley—any successful person on the planet all have the same thing in common -the wherewithal to dedicate 10,000 hours to something. Those 10,000 hours are made up of 10,000 hours of alone time focused on their passion.
He never thought he would grow old. She never thought she would grow old.
For me, it was 10,000 hours from Age 13 to 24 studying photography, then another countless hours later in life studying marketing. I am sure of one thing. Had smartphones, with all the distractions been available to me as a teen, I'm pretty sure I would not have dedicated the needed hours to become good at anything outside of using my phone. Look around for a moment and tell me what you see. Everyone is busy banging away on a smartphone. The phones are smart, but what about the rest of us? Don't get me wrong—there is a huge amount of good information on your smartphone. You are probably reading this on your phone now–that phone can help you learn to do anything you want to do. Hopefully, some of us will use the smartphone to develop our talent for 10,000 hours—just saying! The key is to put the phone down and do the thing—that becomes your talent.
How much time will YOU waste being comfortable?
Okay, I'm sorry for the rant, but can someone explain how a kid who spends all his time on TikTok watching senseless videos will ever be great at anything? Sure, he might have a good laugh, and a sense of humor is valuable, but when will he put his 10,000 hours of alone time 100% focused on something he is passionate about? I'm just taking a few minutes of my time to ask.
Can this sunken sofa live without you? You can live without it, that's for sure! Get Out There!
Get Out There! Paint something. Join something. Take that class. Rehab something. Do something. Do anything. What one person can do, another can do. That sunken sofa will be fine without you. Crawl out and live your dream—time's a wastin' and running out!
T. Smugala aka Supreme Leader of 573 Magazine
Be sure to visit all of our awesome sponsors who make these stories possible!
