Talent is Overrated

Lesson 1. The Myth Busters

Before we begin, we need to eliminate two myths that most people believe are the prerequisites for success:

1. The experience trap: Contrary to popular belief, the number of years you have spent on a particular job is not what determines your success at it. Your experience at something is not the only determinant of your performance, neither does it define your capabilities. People spend lifetimes working for companies or at jobs that they hardly enjoy. You can work for years at a place but until you actually enjoy what you do, you will still be average at it.

1. You have to be extraordinary to succeed: Most people believe that successful people are born geniuses. They were granted extra talent by some supernatural agent, even before they were born. Believing so will only provide all the necessary excuses you will ever need to never even start dreaming of such success, let alone working for it. Most people excuse their shortcomings and failures by saying that it is not in them to be extraordinary. 

Once we rid ourselves of these myths, we will be ready to walk our path to glorious success.

Lesson 2. Why do you need to perform well?

The standards are continuously rising in every field, with each passing year. This leads to a demand for people who are great performers and exceptionally good at what they do. Records are being broken every year in sports, for example. There is always somebody trying to be better than the current best and in an era of competitiveness, there is no place for mediocre people. 

Although many people argue that scarcity in resources leads to inventions and greatness, the human ability still remains the scarcest resource. Therefore, there is an ever-increasing demand for human abilities. 

Vincent Peale supports this claim with a significant example. Microsoft has used $30billion dollars of financial resources to generate about $221billion of shareholder wealth. On the other hand, Procter & Gamble used $83 billion and has generated $126billion. Bill Gates feels that Microsoft as a company will be absolutely insignificant even if you take the only twenty of their smartest people. The two leading companies, Microsoft and Google, are known to rely heavily on human capital. If you want to be among these people whose presence in the company either makes or breaks it, you have to be exceptional. 

An increasing dearth of creativity and subsequent demand for it needs people to keep coming up with something new. This requires