Why the untalented stay untalented
There's a strange thing about untalented people. They seem to not have many skills. But even the untalented have one supreme skill that we're overlooking. It's a skill that keeps them untalented.
One of the greatest Olympic swimmers of all time is Michael Phelps—and Joseph Schooling knew that fact.
Schooling was also painfully aware of how Phelps seemed to be almost perfect for swimming.
For starters, Phelps has a long torso and very short legs. The lack of proportion provides a significant advantage for swimmers as the upper body is more muscular and the legs produce less drag. And surely you've heard of the albatross-like wingspan.
Your wingspan is approximately the same as your height. Not Phelps!
His is three inches longer, which means your arms can reach farther and makes a huge difference when winning is measured in milliseconds. As if that were not enough, Phelps has a dolphin kick thanks to his ankles—which happen to be double-jointed. It means they bend 15% more than his rivals. Add his feet—which are size-14 and what you have are the equivalent of flippers.
The superlatives don't stop there.
Phelps also has double-jointed elbows, large hands, produces less lactic acid than most swimmers, has twice the average lung capacity of most humans, an outstanding coach and on, and on, and on it goes. To say that Phelps has a seemingly unfair advantage is a bit of an understatement. He has dominated, freestyle, breaststroke, individual and relay events.
His favourite, however, is the butterfly stroke.
If you were Joseph Schooling, what event would you pick to beat Phelps? Schooling standing at just 1.84 m in comparison to Phelps' 1.93 m, chooses the butterfly.
The butterfly?
What do most untalented people do, instead? They decide to use the same tired excuses. "I'm not talented," they say. "They're born with natural gifts", they say. "I could swim all day long, all week long, all year long and never be close to Phelps," they say.
Except they don't
They don't spend a day, a week, let alone a year or many years to get up to the level that's needed. Instead, what they become world champions at, is making excuses. While others pick up a camera, take hundreds, even thousands of pictures, these untalented photographers take three in a week—maybe. While artists go about honing their craft, speakers tidy up their pace and rhythm, these so-called "untalented" people talk about how hopeless they are, and how all the practice in the world won't make them superstars.
And let us for one moment, assume that you won't be a superstar.
We can safely assume that Phelps isn't great at Mongolian yak riding or Japanese archery. He probably isn't that great at making Indian food either. But the difference between Phelps, Schooling and almost all those who get talented, is that they don't care about the excuses. What they're focused on is the task in front of them, and they do what it takes to get to fluency. If fluency leads them to mastery, that's fine, but if they don't become brilliant at making a "rogan josh", they'll still be streets of the complainers.
A gold medal is a nice-to-have
However, for every gold medal, there are hundreds of others who win no award at all. They too work very hard. They may not reach the pinnacle of their field, but they're way faster, and better than most. And that's because they don't believe in staying untalented.
There are hundreds of skills to choose from that don't require Olympic level dedication.
Woodwork, gardening, yoga, art, coding: you name it, and it's there for you to pick on. In less than six months, you could go from not knowing a thing about the subject matter, to becoming outstanding. Give it a year or two more and (with the right teacher) you could reach a level of fluency that's impossible for you to imagine right now.
The untalented aren't entirely untalented. They choose to be that way.
P.S. Schooling beat Phelps in the butterfly, at the Rio Olympics in 2016. He won Singapore's first-ever Olympic medal in swimming. His winning time of 50.39 seconds is also a national, Southeast Asian, Asian and Olympic record.
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