Motivation

Do Not Expect Others To Recognize Your Talent

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There is a pretty common secret belief of those who are innately talented in some area, which is basically that the red carpet should be rolled out as a matter of course. Their talent is so obvious to them that it goes without saying it should be obvious to everyone else too. If follows that the proper concessions should be made so that their talent has the chance to flourish.

It’s funny, reading that paragraph makes the attitude seem childish and narcissistic, but these people are no more narcissistic than anyone else. They have access to information that others don’t have, personal knowledge of a talent that separates them from the masses, and it’s precisely the narcissistic attitude we all share to one degree or another, the attitude that our subjective reality is one and the same thing as objective reality, that’s to blame for the secret belief that others should readily recognize this talent and then make room for it.

The type of attitude we’re talking about creates a lot of unnecessary anxiety and even outright hostility when the environment doesn’t align with expectations. The thing is that regardless of your natural, innate level of talent, you’ve got to work hard just like everybody else if you want tangible results. This is really the danger of innate talent in the first place, that you might think you don’t need to work for it because you’ve already got it. But there are plenty of people out there who have it too and who are also willing to work tirelessly to develop that talent in order to reach their goals. If you’re not you’ll be left behind, probably to devise some clever rationalization for why things didn’t fall into place. Combine innate talent with dedication and you’ve got a powder keg on your hands, but innate talent alone will probably just end up making you feel bitter as you wonder how all those idiots out there didn’t recognize how great you were.

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