Your Talent is Bullshit
What a headline, huh? Allow me to explain…
So many young artists place a disproportionate amount of weight on “talent”. We all look at each-other and say, “Debrah has so much raw talent. She was born to be an artist.” Let me clear the air.
I’ve never met a truly accomplished artist complain that another artist reached their success through the luck of the draw with talent. That’s because the winners know talent had nothing to do with it.
YOUR TALENT HAS NO BEARING ON YOUR SUCCESS.
I didn’t discover I wanted to be an artist until I was halfway through my college degree. Most would say that’s a little late. I had no experience or skill in visual art. Plus, I knew there were others who already had so much amazing talent or had been drawing since they were six. So for me, a lack of talent was the problem. For you, the opposite may be true.
Some of you are already incredibly talented (or at least you think you are). You’re already leagues ahead of all of your classmates and colleagues. If that is you, then this really applies.
HERE'S THE TRUTH.
We all have our own hill to climb. It’s true that some of us may start a little higher up on our hill, but the advantage doesn’t take you as far up as you think. If you want to get to the top, you have to bust your ass for it.
What are you doing with your free time? When I made the decision to go into advertising, I let that competitive fear drive me. I stayed up every night looking up tutorial videos on YouTube, I made logos every night, I read up on trends and theories, and I got myself a mentor.
No matter where you start in life, the work you put into your future is all that counts. When I finally reach my own goals, I don’t want my legacy to be how lucky and talented I was, but how hard I worked to achieve them. My father told me,
“I don’t care what you do in life. Just be the best at it. You can dig ditches for all I care, but you better be the best damn ditch digger out there.”
Naturally, I inherited a bloodthirsty competitiveness from that. However, merely competing against other artists wont help me reach my goals. My friend once said to me,
“In a race: don’t race the other cars… race the track.”
I don’t need to be better than them, I need to be better than the man I was yesterday.
Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your comments. I’m new to this blogging world, so I’d love your input. I will be writing new posts every week!
-NK