Checkout why your successful career move depends on your level of skill
Talent is rare, but it’s not the key to your success.
Unnutrured talent is the reason why there are more unsuccessful but talented people in the world.
Skill (repeated set of behaviors that can guarantee mastery), on the other hand, is paramount to your success.
“What looks like skill is often persistent revision,” says James Clear.
If you have talent, you can use it to build skills. Talent can be nurtured.
But you don’t need talent to become skillful.
Anyone can build new skills over time. But it requires effort and commitment.
If you are willing to work hard for it, you can become skillful in anything you choose, despite your present skill level.
Lack of skill is the reason people lose careers or get stuck in life. It’s also the reason many people are not successful.
You can become a good writer over time. You can learn to become a better investor. Your sales skills can improve if you want it bad enough and invest in your selling ability.
You can easily become a better speaker, negotiator, communicator, or a great leader. Practice improves your odds of becoming skillful over time.
You don’t need to be talented to pursue anything worthwhile. But if you have the aptitude for a skill, it can be easier to learn it.
There’s always going to be someone more talented than you. On the other hand, skill is work: and it’s totally in your control.
It takes time, it takes effort, and it takes trial and error before you might get it right. Talent may get you noticed initially, but skill will take you to the top.
A talented piano player can quickly improve with practice — lots of practice. Mozart was a talented musician, but it wasn’t enough; he worked hard to improve his skill. He learned to play great music.
“People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to compositions as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times,” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once said.
A successful talent is a skill in action
“Skill is the unified force of experience, intellect and passion in their operation.” — John Ruskin
Behind every successful talent is the consistency of effort.
Talent doesn’t determine how good one can become at anything, though.
Behind every expert or master of any craft, there are usually thousands of hours of repetition practice.
If you want any skill bad enough, find the best tools, resources, and the smartest people and start learning fast. Want to become a better writer? Learn from Stephen King or Seth Godin. Want to improve your investing skills?
Learn from smart investors like Warren Buffett and Ray Dalio. Want to become a successful entrepreneur? Read biographies of the smartest and great entrepreneurs of our time.
The more you learn, the better you get at your craft.
Scott Adams is right, “Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success”.
Skill leads to mastery, and talent can’t take you that far. Just because someone has a natural ability doesn’t mean they’re automatically good at something or even want to be there.
Skill is the most essential attribute in any trade, no matter what it may be.
The world has changed. Skills are changing lives.
Your next career move depends on your level of skill. Learn how to learn: it’s the solid foundation for acquiring skills faster.
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