“Am I talented?” is the Wrong Question to Ask. Forget About Talent. 1 Simple Tip to Succeed!

Whether you’ve been an avid follower of Britain’s Got Talent or have been told about that cousin of your’s who’s so talented: the notion of talent is everywhere. Are you asking yourself all the time: am I talented?

Stop that! Science rebukes this notion clearly: talent is not a thing. Putting some rare fringe cases (usually related to severe cognitive damage/mental illnesses) aside, intrinsic talent is not something gifted students have or something you should dwell on.

What’s the idea behind talent then? For most people, talent simply means that someone is good at doing something – be it doing calculus in your head, scoring goal after goal in your football games, or drawing cool comics.

Talent is Overrated!

Is any of this based on an inane ability to do a certain task particularly well? Chances are, it’s not. In his book, Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else (Amazon UK), Geoff Colvin has convincingly shown how world-class performance is primarily based upon extensive deliberate practice and luck, not genes or talent.

Colvin goes into much detail about the fields of music, math, and sport, but his findings are universal and very much apply to academic considerations as well. He argues that the fundamental factor for success is not some intangible notion of talent but the time and effort you have invested in mastering a specific skill.

We will be reviewing his book in more detail shortly, but for now please note that your success does not rely on mastering solely one specific skill but that you still require a support network of related skills. For instance, if your goal is to become a professional football player, it is not sufficient to just pass very well. You will also need to have the necessary body physique and ability to read the game to succeed.

Accordingly, being a top student requires a range of skills as well: it is not sufficient to understand complex theories or methods, you will also need to be able to present your thoughts well and be able to distinguish the important from the unimportant.

Another example? If you are studying accountancy and really want to crush it, it is not sufficient to memorise e.g. tax regulations. You will also require what sounds outdated and old-fashioned: be good at advanced calculus. You will be surprised how many graduated remain stuck in their graduate role – if they can get a job at all – simply because they cannot follow their superior’s mental arithmetics and appear to be neither very interested nor very capable in meetings or discussions.

What about a High IQ?

Now, “am I talented?” is a question that, for many, relates to intelligence, and therefore IQ. What is it? Here are Smart Students we like the following very basic definition if IQ: it assesses how quickly you can learn/comprehend things. Putting it in a more scientific way: a (very) high IQ shows a strong negative correlation with the amount of time needed to understand complex concepts. As such, a high IQ clearly helps in improving all sorts of skills.

However, actual scientific evidence to support the necessity of a high IQ to be a top performer is scarce. As long as you have a reasonable IQ (let’s say, average or slightly above average), IQ is not going to be your limiting factor. Colvin thus also suggests that the IQ is overrated.

How to Get Ahead Then?

Easy. Or, in fact, not easy. Nothing beats hard work. You know the stereotype about the valedictorian at school or students at elite universities: either they are very intelligent and are able to breeze through school and university with little effort, or they are really hard working.

However, the more you advance in your studies, the more hard-working students get ahead. Intelligence is a great door opener, but without hard work you will most likely fall behind over time. Grasping concepts is helpful but is not sufficient to really get to know the ins and outs of your subject area.

Similarly, employers value intelligent employees, but they will cherish discipline and hard work much more. Companies want graduate students that get the job done, not ones that make snarky remarks about existing processes.

Do This Right now:

Regardless of whether you have been told how talented you are all your life or asking yourself “am I talented?” regularly: forget about the concept of talent. Think about your subject and chosen career goal and the relevant skills and mindset you require to succeed.

Then pick one of these and come up with a plan to deliberately improve this particular skill or mindset. We share extensive instructions on how to deliberately improve giving presentations here: Deliberate Practice: Improve Your Presentation Skills in 8 Steps!

Please do keep in mind that this takes effort and time. Malcolm Gladwell has famously claimed in his book Outliers: The Story of Success (Amazon UK) that top performers have to practice a skill for about 10,000 hours to master it. We disagree with this (and will shortly write an article about that), but at the very core his claim remains true: don’t rely on talent or whatever you want to call it or even your high intelligence: put in the work, practice smartly by using deliberate practice methods, and you will do well!

Questions? Need Advice?

If you want to put the above into action but struggle to figure out how, please do get in touch via our form. We do provide coaching services on an individual basis to help you succeed at university and beyond.