essay about talent and hard work

Essay on Hard Work

500 words essay on  hard work.

Hard work is an essential thing we all need in life. It is impossible to achieve greatness without working hard. In other words, an idle person cannot gain anything if they wish to sit and wait for something else. On the other hand, one who keeps working hard constantly will definitely gain success in life and this is exactly what essay on hard work will elaborate upon.

Importance of Hard Work

Hard work is important and history has proved it time and again. The great Edison used to work for many hours a day and he dozed off on his laboratory table only with his books as his pillow.

Similarly, the prime minister of India, late Pt. Nehru used to work for 17 hours a day and seven days a week. He did not enjoy any holidays. Our great leader, Mahatma Gandhi worked round the clock to win freedom for our country.

Thus, we see that hard work paid off for all these people. One must be constantly vigil to work hard as it can help you achieve your dreams. As we say, man is born to work. Just like steel, he shines in use and rusts in rest.

When we work hard in life, we can achieve anything and overcome any obstacle. Moreover, we can also lead a better life knowing that we have put in our all and given our best to whatever work we are doing.

Key to Success

Hard work is definitely the key to success. What we earn by sweating our brow gives us greater happiness than something we get by a stroke of luck. As humans, we wish to achieve many things in life.

These things need hard work to be able to come true. Poverty is not the curse but idealness is. When we waste our time, time will also waste us. Hard work can help anyone achieve success. Great people were born in cottages but died in palaces.

Thus, it shows how through great work one can get the key to success. When you start working hard, you will notice changes in your life. You will become more disciplined and focused on your work.

Moreover, you will start seeing results within a short time. It is nothing but proof that when you work hard, things like determination, focus, concentration, come automatically to you. As a result, nothing will stop you from achieving success .

Success is not just someone being famous and rich in life. When you work hard and lead a comfortable life filled with love that is also a success. Hard work must not limit to work but also your personal life. When you put in hard work in work and relationships, life will prosper.

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Conclusion of the Essay on Hard Work

If we get the determination and focus, we can all work hard for a better future. It is important to concentrate as it ensures our work is finishing on time and in a better manner. Therefore, by working hard, we can increase our concentration power and open doors to new opportunities.

FAQ of Essay on Hard Work

Question 1: What is the importance of hard work?

Answer 1: Hard work teaches us discipline , dedication and determination. It is certainly important because it is only through hard work that we can achieve the goals of our life. Thus, we all must work hard.

Question 2: Does hard work lead to success?

Answer 2: Yes, hard work, together with the time will definitely lead to success. It is what can help you achieve a better life. Moreover, the harder you work, the more confident you will become in life.

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Talent Matters Even More than People Think

• Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

If anything, it’s still underrated.

Why are some people more successful than others? Leaving aside luck, which equates to confessing that we don’t really know, there are really just two explanations: talent and effort. Talent concerns the abilities, skills, and expertise that determine what a person can do. Effort concerns the degree to which the person deploys their talents.

• Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, co-founder of  deepersignals.com , and an associate at Harvard’s Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. He is the author of  Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (and How to Fix It ) , upon which his  TEDx talk  was based. His latest book is I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique.   Find him at  www.drtomas.com . drtcp

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Why people reward innate talent over hard work

The narrative goes that a large part of perceived success is due to work ethic. But that may not always be the case.

In almost every discipline, success comes from a combination of talent and grit. But if you listen to most famous figures describe their life journeys, you’ll soon hear them waxing lyrical about their hard graft, while strangely downplaying the role of their innate abilities.

Thomas Edison may be the most often quoted, with his claim that “genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”, but many other variations exist. Just consider Octavia Butler’s advice for new writers . “Forget talent. If you have it, fine. Use it. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter. As habit is more dependable than inspiration, continued learning is more dependable than talent.” The Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo also emphasises the blood, sweat and tears that went into his training. “Talent without work is nothing,” he said, when asked about the secrets of his success on the pitch .

Such narratives may be beneficial for celebrated figures who wish to appear humble and grounded. But recent psychological research shows overemphasising the importance of hard work could backfire in many professional situations – thanks to a phenomenon known as the “naturalness bias”. These studies suggest people have greater respect for those with an innate gift than for those who have had to strive for their success.

The naturalness bias is thought to operate below conscious awareness, and the consequences can be deeply unfair. In recruitment, for example, interviewers may prefer a less qualified candidate if they believe their achievements arose from natural talent – compared to a more accomplished candidate who demonstrated grit and determination.

Fortunately, the scientists behind this research have some advice for the ways that we can avoid being ‘punished’ for our hard work.

Unadulterated genius  

In consumer psychology, the term “naturalness bias” is often used to describe our preference for natural over synthetic goods . The author Malcolm Gladwell seems to have been the first to apply the concept to human abilities, during a presentation to the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2002. “On some fundamental level, we believe that the closer something is to its original state, the less altered or adulterated it is, the more desirable it is,” he declared. By that logic, he proposed, someone who had to work hard to achieve success has essentially gone against their “nature”, and their achievements would be respected less.

Gladwell’s argument was largely based on observation rather than experimental evidence, but Chia-Jung Tsay, an associate professor at University College London School of Management, has since put the idea to the test in a series of studies.

Tsay’s initial experiment, conducted while she was at Harvard University, examined people’s perceptions of musical talent . The participants were all trained musicians who were presented with two 20-second clips from a performance of Stravinsky's Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka . Both extracts were played by the Taiwanese pianist Gwhyneth Chen – but the participants were led to believe that they came from recordings made by two different pianists.

With each track, the participants were given a short biographical text that either emphasised the natural talent of the performer, or the hard work that had helped them to develop their art. After listening, they then had to rate the performer’s ability, chances of future success and employability as a professional musician.

In theory, the participants should have rated both extracts the same. (They were, after all, hearing the different parts of the same performance.) Yet Tsay found that the biographical information had a notable influence on their judgements: they gave significantly higher ratings if they had read about the performer’s innate genius, and lower ratings if they had read about the performer’s dedication to their daily practice.

Surprisingly, these judgements directly contradicted the performers’ overtly expressed beliefs about the makings of musical success. When they were directly questioned on what factor was more important for musical achievement, most chose effort over talent. Given this result, Tsay suspects the naturalness bias may be a result of the brain’s non-conscious processing. “We may not be aware of the disconnect,” she says.

Born for greatness

To find out whether the naturalness bias could apply to other domains , besides music, Tsay designed a similar experiment that examined people’s attitudes to entrepreneurial success.

The participants were each given a profile of a budding entrepreneur and a one-minute audio presentation of their business plan. The information was identical in each case, apart from a few sentences describing how they had arrived at their current successes. For half the participants, this biographical information presented the person as a striver who had worked hard; for the other half, the profile depicted a natural with an innate talent.

After reading the profile, the participants then evaluated the entrepreneurs and their business proposals on various scales. Tsay found the same kind of judgements that she had seen in the assessments of musical ability. On average, the participants had greater respect for the natural’s achievements, and rated their business plan more highly. And expertise did little to reduce the prejudice; if anything, the bias was stronger among those with greater entrepreneurial experience, such as those who had already served as founders or investors.

Such biased decision-making can come with a significant cost. When asked to directly compare various candidates, Tsay’s participants were willing to invest in entrepreneurs with poorer intelligence test scores (by 30 IQ points), fewer years of leadership experience, and $31,000 (£24,865) less in accrued capital – simply because they were said to have reached their current success through their natural talent. 

The naturalness bias emerges at a very young age. Working with colleagues at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Tsay found children as young as five show greater respect for those with innate abilities . In this case, the participants were told a story about two people that described how easily they made friends. They instinctively preferred the person who was naturally popular, compared to the person who had worked hard to build their social skills. “The naturalness bias is very generalizable across domains, ages and cultures,” says Tsay.

Mind your mindset

Tsay’s work on the naturalness bias intersects with a large body of psychological research on the ways that our personal beliefs shape our education and professional development.

According to these studies, people with a “fixed mindset” believe that their own abilities are set in stone, while those with the “growth mindset” tend to see their abilities as being malleable. In general, people with the growth mindset are more resilient against setbacks and more likely to persevere towards their goals – resulting in better overall outcomes.

Given this research, many schools and organisations have now started to take part in initiatives that encourage the growth mindset among students and staff.

“Most of the mindset research that's out there looks at what I think and how that shapes the way that I react to different situations and perform as a result,” says Aneeta Rattan, an associate professor in organisational science at London Business School. “What I love about Chia-Jung Tsay’s work is that it really flips this perspective and looks at how we’re evaluating others.” 

Leaders, she suspects, may pay lip service to the growth mindset while still showing an unconscious preference for people who appear to be innate talents. She hopes that managers might now try to take this into account in their decision making. “We need to catch ourselves and catch each other when we fall for this bias.”

Balanced perspectives

On an individual level, the existence of the naturalness bias might influence the way we present ourselves to others, so that our achievements are not unduly overlooked. 

At this year’s annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Tsay’s colleague Clarissa Cortland presented the results of a survey examining the attitudes of 6,000 university alumni working as business leaders. When asked to describe their career journey, around 80% of the respondents focused on their effort and discipline over their innate ability. That figure was even greater when they had to imagine describing that journey to other people. “There’s an instinctive shift to ‘striver descriptions’ when self-presentational motives are high,” said Cortland.

One reason could be that most people wish to avoid seeming arrogant, and believe that focusing on hard work over natural talent can make them seem more grounded. Arrogance is an unattractive attribute and during a job interview, for instance, it may signal that you will be disagreeable with the rest of your team and struggle to follow orders.

Along these lines, research by Christina Brown, an associate professor at Arcadia University in Pennsylvania, US, has shown certain contextual factors can mitigate the bias . While people may prefer natural geniuses for jobs that require a single star performer to shine, Brown found that people tend to prefer strivers for tasks that require cooperation. Most modern careers are going to require a certain level of teamwork – and if we solely emphasised our innate ability, we might come across like a diva who will struggle to collaborate.

The smartest solution, then, may be to give a more nuanced picture of our success without focusing exclusively on one element or the other. At a job interview, for instance, we could make a point of discussing the areas that had needed extra dedication while also listing the innate strengths that had helped us to get ahead. “It’s possible that we have just been emphasising all the hours of effort and education,” says Tsay. “But there are still some things that probably came easier to us, and it’s OK to reveal those balance out the narrative.”

Whether the ratio of inspiration and perspiration is 99 to 1, as Edison suggested, or a 50:50 split, you can acknowledge how both characteristics led to your success. Only then will you win the respect that you deserve.

David Robson is a science writer and author of  The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life , published by Canongate (UK) and Henry Holt (USA). He is  @d_a_robson  on Twitter.

Which is More Important, Talent or Hard Work? [Evaluating Keys to Success]

The debate over the primacy of talent versus hard work is as old as human endeavors itself. In every field of work, sports, and art, the question arises: what propels one to excellence — innate ability or relentless effort? While talent refers to the natural aptitudes and gifts that individuals are born with, hard work represents the dedicated time and effort one puts into developing one’s skills.

Understanding the role talent plays in personal and professional development is critical. Those with natural ability in a particular domain can often grasp concepts rapidly and excel with seemingly less effort. However, talent alone is not always sufficient for achieving success; it can lay the foundation but without the structure built by hard work, it might not yield fruitful results. On the other hand, hard work signifies a commitment to practice, improvement, and perseverance. It suggests that regardless of one’s starting point, continuous effort can bridge gaps in natural ability and lead to mastery over time.

Key Takeaways

• Talent provides a starting advantage, but it’s not the sole factor for success.
• Hard work signifies the commitment to consistently develop one’s skills.
• Success often arises from a combination of both talent and hard work.

The Interplay of Talent and Hard Work

Talent and hard work are often seen as key contributors to success. Talent is the natural aptitude or skill that an individual is born with, while hard work involves the effort and persistence put into developing a skill or completing a task.

Talent can give individuals a head start in certain fields. For example, a person with a natural ear for music may find it easier to learn to play an instrument. Yet, without sustained effort, even the most talented individuals may not reach their full potential.

Hard work, on the other hand, is a dynamic force. It can sharpen skills and lead to mastery. For those with less innate ability, dedication and effort can often level the playing field, enabling them to compete with naturally talented peers.

The fusion of talent and hard work is where the most significant achievements are often found. While talent offers the raw materials, hard work refines and enhances them. A musician might have natural ability but needs to practice regularly to perform at a high level.

In some cases, hard work leads to the development of new talents, as individuals discover capacities they were previously unaware of. It is through persistence and dedication that talents are honed and new skills are forged.

The combination of these elements suggests that neither talent nor hard work alone is sufficient. They are intertwined, and their interplay is what often leads to exceptional accomplishments.

Understanding Talent

Talent plays a critical role in shaping an individual’s potential for success. It is a complex interplay of innate abilities and learned skills that can significantly influence one’s achievements.

Definition of Talent

Talent refers to a natural aptitude or an inherent ability that an individual exhibits in a particular field, often without prior education or training. It is an innate talent that sets certain individuals apart from others. Natural talent can be thought of as the raw material upon which skills are developed.

• IQ and EQ : Reflect cognitive and emotional talents, respectively.
• Innate Talent : An inherent gift in specific domains like arts or mathematics.

The Role of Talent in Success

In the journey to success, talent often provides a head start. Achievers like Michael Jordan and Serena Williams have demonstrated that talent, when paired with hard work, can lead to exceptional accomplishments. However, talent alone does not guarantee success; it must be nurtured through continuous effort and dedication.

• Famous Figures : Examples include pianists showing profound musical talents at young ages.
• Natural Ability : Serves as the foundation for acquiring and mastering skills.

Natural Talent vs. Learned Skills

Distinguishing between natural talent and skills developed over time is vital for understanding success. Some singers, for instance, are gifted with a natural vocal range, yet vocal mastery emerges with practice.

• Natural Talent : Often evident in early childhood, exemplifying a predisposition towards certain activities.
• Learned Skills : Developed through training; reflects the expertise one gains over time.

The Value of Hard Work

Hard work is often touted as a cornerstone of success, and this section examines its role in achieving professional goals, developing beneficial habits, and setting the foundation for a successful career.

Defining Hard Work and Effort

Hard work is the dedicated application of effort towards a goal. It involves not only the time and energy invested but also the perseverance and dedication one demonstrates in the face of challenges. Effort is the degree of force applied to a task and is often a clear measure of determination and a growth mindset . These elements combine to lay a pathway for personal and professional development.

Hard Work as a Predictor of Success

While talent may offer an initial advantage, it is hard work that often predicts long-term success. A review of biographical data of successful individuals across various fields indicates a strong correlation between their practice , training , and overall achievements. Quantitative studies in vocational psychology suggest that individuals who exhibit a strong work ethic are more likely to experience career advancement .

• Perseverance: Increases the likelihood of overcoming obstacles.
• Consistency: Results in cumulative gains over time.

Developing a Strong Work Ethic

Cultivating a strong work ethic is a process that involves habit formation and continuous self-improvement. It reflects an individual’s commitment to their career and is characterized by attributes like reliability and professionalism . Here are essential strategies for developing such an ethic:

• Set clear goals.
• Establish routines that encourage dedication and habit formation.
• Engage in deliberate practice to refine skills.
• Reflect on progress and adjust efforts as needed.

Individuals who incorporate these approaches into their training and career development are more likely to hone their skills effectively and achieve a higher level of success.

Talent vs. Hard Work in Professional Growth

The debate between the inherent value of talent and the efficacy of hard work in professional growth continues to influence career trajectories. This section examines their impact on career advancement, recruitment practices, and the role of grit in career success.

Impact on Career Advancement

Career advancement often hinges on a combination of an individual’s talent and their willingness to work hard. Extensive studies have shown that while talent provides an initial advantage due to innate abilities, it is sustained focus and training that lead to long-term success . Employees who actively seek out experience and commit to continuous learning are more likely to be recognized for promotions .

Recruitment and Talent Selection

Recruitment processes typically aim to identify the candidate who represents the best fit for a job, which includes evaluating both talent and evidence of hard work . An interviewer may favor a less qualified candidate if they demonstrate potential for growth and a strong work ethic over a more accomplished candidate who seems complacent. Resumes that show a history of professional development and grit tend to stand out, increasing the chances to hire .

The Importance of Grit and Determination in One’s Career

The concepts of grit and determination have become integral to understanding career perseverance. They refer to the resilience and focus individuals have when facing setbacks . Successful figures in the workplace often attribute their success to persistency and the ability to overcome challenges, regardless of the talent they started with. These individuals set a clear goal and remain dedicated to achieving it, which exemplifies their grit in their career .

Cultural Perspectives on Talent and Work

Different cultures have distinct attitudes towards talent and hard work, impacting notions of success and merit within various societies.

Naturalness Bias and Society

Naturalness bias is a psychological tendency where individuals ascribe greater value to inborn talents over acquired skills. Psychological research indicates that certain societies may prefer individuals who exhibit natural talent, perceiving them as more gifted or destined for success. For example, in arts and sports, a prodigy or a naturally gifted athlete is often celebrated more enthusiastically than those who have achieved similar levels through intensive training.

• Example in Professional Situations : In the workplace, an employee may be perceived as more competent if their skills are seen as innate rather than developed through diligent effort.

Meritocracy and the Valuation of Hard Work

Meritocracy is a cultural concept where hard work and effort are seen as the pathways to success. Societies that value meritocracy tend to reward individuals based on their accomplishments and perseverance. The idea that one can “work their way up” is ingrained in the social fabric of many cultures, reinforcing the valuation of hard work.

• Appraisal in Professional Scenarios : Merit-based promotions acknowledge the importance of consistent effort, and in such environments, dedication is regarded as a vital component of professional success.

Redefining Success in Terms of Effort and Talent

Societal definitions of success often consider both effort and talent. A blend of talent and grit is increasingly recognized as a powerful predictor of long-term achievement. The narrative of success is broadening to appreciate the combination of an individual’s innate abilities and their capacity to apply themselves diligently.

• Inspiration and Aspiration : Stories of individuals who have risen to prominence through a mix of inherent talent and unwavering effort can inspire others to pursue their goals with a similar balance.

By examining these cultural perspectives, it becomes apparent that both talent and hard work are valued, albeit differently across societies. Understanding and navigating these perspectives is key in both personal and professional realms, as individuals aim to align their paths with cultural definitions of success.

Practical Implications

Determining the weight of talent and hard work in achieving success has practical implications across various spheres of life. This examination helps individuals and organizations optimize their growth strategies.

Incorporating Both Talent and Hard Work

It is essential to understand how talent and hard work complement each other. Individuals often enter fields where they show inherent talent, but without hard work and continuous development , talent alone may not lead to significant accomplishments. Organizations, on their part, can focus on identifying talents and invest in training programs to refine these skills.

• Personal Life : A mix of talent and consistent effort can improve one’s personal growth and wellness.
• Professional Situations : Employers can create balanced teams where naturally skilled members are encouraged to practice and refine their capabilities.

Strategies to Enhance Both Areas

Developing a strategy to maximize the potential of talent and hard work can yield remarkable outcomes. One could focus on strengths while also implementing a rigorous routine to develop weak areas.

• Practice : Daily routines aimed at enhancing one’s craft can dramatically increase proficiency.
• Training and Study : Structured learning and upskilling programs are fundamental for individuals to not just rely on their natural abilities but to also stay relevant and competitive.

Case Studies of Combining Talent and Persistence

Real-world examples underscore the symbiosis between talent and hard work in achieving success.

• Oprah Winfrey : Started from poverty, she utilized her talent for communication and, through hard work, became one of the most influential personalities globally.
• Michael Jordan : Recognized for his basketball skills, he was noted for his intense training ethic, often being the first to practice and the last to leave.
• Serena Williams : Despite her natural affinity for tennis, Williams’s life story highlights the grueling training and focus required to dominate the sport.

Both talent and hard work play significant roles in achieving success. Talent acts as a natural accelerator that propels individuals to grasp concepts or skills at an above-average pace. On the other hand, hard work is the steadfast application of effort over time, often turning potential into expertise. Success stories frequently feature a blend of the two, with hard work augmenting innate abilities.

In terms of sustainability, hard work tends to have the edge. It fosters discipline and resilience, which are crucial for long-term achievement. Individuals who rely solely on talent might find themselves outpaced by those willing to put in consistent effort.

• Talent can be seen as raw potential.
• Hard Work equates to the process of refining that potential.

The impact of hard work often becomes most visible when talent reaches its limits. Persistence in the face of challenges is a common hallmark among high achievers. They typically maintain a growth mindset, viewing setbacks as opportunities to learn and improve.

In conclusion, while talent provides a valuable starting point, it is the cultivation of one’s abilities through hard work that truly determines success. The most successful individuals usually exhibit a combination of both, leveraging their natural strengths while committing to ongoing self-improvement.

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The New York Times

The learning network | which is more important: talent or hard work.

Which Is More Important: Talent or Hard Work?

Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.

• See all Student Opinion »

We’ve all heard that hard work is the key to success. But a recent study found that the “profoundly gifted” still have an edge over peers who have less natural talent but are perhaps more dedicated to improving their skills. Have you experienced the power of talent over hard work? Or have you found that success comes to the person willing to put in the most time and effort to achieve it?

In the Sunday Review piece “Sorry, Strivers: Talent Matters,” David Z. Hambrick and Elizabeth J. Meinz describe this study, along with their own research findings that support the idea that talent, not dedication, is the ultimate predictor of success:

Exhibit A is a landmark study of intellectually precocious youths directed by the Vanderbilt University researchers David Lubinski and Camilla Benbow. They and their colleagues tracked the educational and occupational accomplishments of more than 2,000 people who as part of a youth talent search scored in the top 1 percent on the SAT by the age of 13. (Scores on the SAT correlate so highly with I.Q. that the psychologist Howard Gardner described it as a “thinly disguised” intelligence test.) The remarkable finding of their study is that, compared with the participants who were “only” in the 99.1 percentile for intellectual ability at age 12, those who were in the 99.9 percentile — the profoundly gifted — were between three and five times more likely to go on to earn a doctorate, secure a patent, publish an article in a scientific journal or publish a literary work. A high level of intellectual ability gives you an enormous real-world advantage. In our own recent research, we have discovered that “working memory capacity,” a core component of intellectual ability, predicts success in a wide variety of complex activities. In one study, we assessed the practice habits of pianists and then gauged their working memory capacity, which is measured by having a person try to remember information (like a list of random digits) while performing another task. We then had the pianists sight read pieces of music without preparation. Not surprisingly, there was a strong positive correlation between practice habits and sight-reading performance. In fact, the total amount of practice the pianists had accumulated in their piano careers accounted for nearly half of the performance differences across participants. But working memory capacity made a statistically significant contribution as well (about 7 percent, a medium-size effect). In other words, if you took two pianists with the same amount of practice, but different levels of working memory capacity, it’s likely that the one higher in working memory capacity would have performed considerably better on the sight-reading task. It would be nice if intellectual ability and the capacities that underlie it were important for success only up to a point. In fact, it would be nice if they weren’t important at all, because research shows that those factors are highly stable across an individual’s life span. But wishing doesn’t make it so. None of this is to deny the power of practice. Nor is it to say that it’s impossible for a person with an average I.Q. to, say, earn a Ph.D. in physics. It’s just unlikely, relatively speaking. Sometimes the story that science tells us isn’t the story we want to hear.

Students: Tell us how you have seen the talent/dedication equation play out in academic accomplishments, sports, performance or any other forum in which individuals’ efforts are compared. Did the person with the most real or perceived “natural talent” also work the hardest? How did a person of average ability improve over time? Did the improvement make him or her “the best” or did those most naturally gifted still prevail? What do you think of the idea that “practice makes perfect”?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.

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I think talent is important but by far hard work is more important. Because with hard work some day you could have more talent than most people. The way you improve over time is your hard work because your consistent. The idea of practice makes perfect is that the more you practice the better you get.

i think that hard work is more important than talent because without hard work, people wouldn’t have any talent

Hard work and dedication is way more important talent. Even if you have talent and all, it doesn’t guarantee you that you’ll have a good life. A genius is 99% perspiration and 1% talent. Everything comes from hard work and dedication. If you never swam or played a sport before, and if you decide to train really hard for a couple months, guess what. You’ll be able to swim as well as your friend. I think that hard work more important because if you work hard, then you’ll make talent. Talent is something you have to earn by hard work.

i think that hard work and talent are both great for students

Personally I think it is an equal because if you don’t try even if you have natural skill its not going to show and if you try your hardest you can be as good as the people with that talent

I believe that dedication prevails over talent for you may be good at something but not good at learning it and want to give up. But through dedication you can learn almost anything you put your mind to. Like how I am good at math and want to learn as much as possible but I would also be good at other things but not like them as much causing me to try to give up. I believe the statement “Practice makes perfect” because it does.

I think that it is true that people who are talented in a subject they don’t have to work as hard as people who are not talented. With me its spelling i have to work harder then some to spell things out and when I’m writing on the bored at school i have to think really hard and sound things out so i spell it right and i still mess up, and the people in my class can spell perfect they don’t need to sound words out or think really hard on what there spelling and they don’t try as hard as me to get the right spelling, it can be frustrating but they are just talented and i just have to work harder.

Hard-work I agree talent is very important especially in creativities careers like artistic, paint, etc, but it isn’t as important as hard working to success. Lots of people without talent can success working hard. Considering a business life like a marathon and the gold is to arrive to the end, you most work hard to get to the end, so hard work is more important

I believe that talent and hard work are equally important, because when we have talent we need work for perfecting and get better result. On the other hand When we work hard for something the effort is more intense. We see a better result in the goal is more pleasant.

Well, I think that talent is something natural, it’s a gift that you have since when you were born. When you realize that you are good at something you’ll see that thing is your talent. If you invest on it, you’ll be investing in your future, because there’s nothing better than do what you love to. However, without hard work, as I said before ‘investing’, you may have a trouble future, because you are not the only one with that talent. Maybe someone else have it too. And if you don’t work hard on it, to improve your skill, someone else can do it, and took your place. We see in Brazil a lot of football talents, but what we don’t see is the way that they had to go through, the intense trainning they had to get where they are. The point is that the two are balanced, if you get talent and work hard on it, you might turn into a specialist. And If you work hard you might get a talent, perseverance, maybe, but it still a talent, few people have it today.

I believe that when you got a talent in something it’s much easier to do your job. Hard work if you put dedication you complete it, but it going to take more time because you are forcing yourself even thought you don’t like it. The more you practice any activity you will get better and perfect.

I think we need both. Hard work and talent are two things that need to be together. Even when we have the talent that is not enough, we have to work hard to develop our talent. In my opinion sometimes we have so much talent, but we do not work hard to expand it.

I think bout of talent and hard work are very important. Because if someone has talent but he/she does not work hard he/she will not success. Work hard that will make you talent and even you have talent you have to work hard.

I agree that talent can be very important in something required creativity. For example playing piano, music art etc. but to be just talent is not enough for success. If you have a lot of talent you`re going to need at least hard working to get success this is some example for someone who is talent and not hard working: you have a business and you want it to be successful so what you prefer to do? To make it look nice and to create something or to work hard. My answer is 50% hard working and 50% talents if I want go ahead in many thing.

I agree with the idea that “practice makes perfect” because for example people can learn how to paint, to play an instrument, to cook but if they do not practice, is like they do not know. Sometimes persons don not have the opportunity to learn a new talent at school but when they work, they can be much better than other who expend a lot time just memorizing theory.

My feeling about this article is that God is creator of all, for that reason he created us with different talent each one. Even thought we have our talent, we must work so hard to show what big is it and what we can do. Each head is one world and many of us believe that we haven’t work for our talent not knowing that work so hard is our way to grow in the life because fail to understand the practice makes perfect however other try to improve their skill spend 80% of their time discovering what talent they have that they don’t knows. Definitely for me is important to do both those things because everyone have talent should work in it and who work hard can find what talent they have.

I think hard work is more important than talent because working hard we can get everything that we want. Practice makes the person get more experience, nobody is born knowing, and everything that we have we learn it in life, obviously dedicated to the spirit that drives we require much effort.

That I think all purposes of life requires hard work, dedication and hard knowledge, but every effort achieve our goal, will base on the strong and hard fight job will consequirlo.ese rewarded for effort and hard dedication and ability. Of Thus our goals will be achieved by hard work and dedication by obctenerlo

The thing is that talent is not enough and that people who think that be a genius is a matter of how we born are fooled because the secret to reaching the top lies in the hours of practice. As evidenced by the psychologist Anders Ericsson in an experiment conducted in 1991. Ericsson concluded that once we have demonstrated sufficient capacity to enter into a top music academy. The difference between a great performer of another mediocre is the dedicated effort each practice. And more importantly, the musicians there are at the top do not work a little bit more … they work a lot more. Study after study has shown that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to achieve world-class expertise in any field. So you know if you want to be: musician, writer, player, etc. It’s easy just earn your 10 thousand hours of practice. Can you do it?

In my opinion, I think that with dedication and hard work, we can get success in all the different fields do not matter if those are academics or sports. Even though sometime, the talent surpasses the dedication. For these people with natural talent the things are easier and they do not work as harder as dedicated people. However, people with average ability could improve with practice .I believe that “practice makes perfect” because when with practice we can fix all our mistakes and comprehend better how these things gone. With practice, we improve our abilities that at the end, those activities become easier and natural for us that could become our talent.

Innate tale I agree to the hard work is very important, especially in science careers as accountants, engineers, etc., but not as important as talent for success. There are many people without work hard can succeed with her talent. Considering a business life as a marathon and silver is to reach the goal. You better work hard where you have talent if you want to success.

I think this article describes how they have done studies of people who have abilities to memorize and it was shown that more talent can achieve success. besides, I think that everyone has your talent but for some people it is easier to achieve their goals because it is natural for them. I can add that hard work and talent go together because a person who works hard and with dedication to be able to also achieve their goals. Logically they must have more effort and sacrifices that people are born with the talent to do something either in sport, in the studio or something in particular.

I think that when a person has talent also need implement work well because I understand that talent is a gift that you have but also with the work you can accomplish many things and sometimes even more than I wanted to have that talent does not know how to develop. When a students or any person wants to achieve something just need work hard on what you want and focus is the goal and see what can be achieved by merely having worked on their goals. The talent is important but the work can be more important because people have the ability to do anything as long as we put our effort.

i think the talent is not the product of the success, in my opinion if you are a genius you have more oportunity of acchive the success.

To achieve individual’s goal and be successful, dedication is indeed more important than intellectual ability. Being dedicated and hard-working means one is deeply passionate about what he is struggling for and thus his achievement is immensely more valuable.

For example, I wanted to be a sagacious and thoughtful  writer although I am not a native English speaker and obviously not a talented one I. My very first essays were frivolous and diffuse. I began practicing harder by reading articles from innumerable resources and writing essays and journals intensely. As a result, my outstanding English score and the laudatory comments on my work are the greatest accolades I can receive.

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Which is More Important: Hard Work or Talent?

Are you, like so many others, looking for the key to being successful? Many people ponder the contributions of natural talent vs hard work in this regard.

In truth, both talent and hard work are major contributing factors to the success of a person. Talent is the natural ability to perform exceptionally in a particular field, whereas hard work is what keeps personal and business growth alive and thriving.

Even if highly talented people have a head start, hard work is more important than talent. Why? Hardworking people would likely surpass naturally gifted individuals when it comes down to perseverance.

In this article, we’ll highlight some fundamental facts regarding talent and hard work so you can better understand what it takes to achieve greatness.

Facts About Natural Talent and Hard Work

Innate talent is a gift for a particular skill.

Natural talents are innate gifts that can help a person achieve success in particular activities. For example, consider a person who wants to become a singer. In this instance, having an aptitude for singing would further their chances of realizing their dream.

In reality, however, many individuals with natural-born talents fail to execute them optimally.

In these cases, hardworking people, who don’t have the natural ability to execute an activity to the same extent, might be better able to deliver. In other words, hardworking individuals have a good chance at beating talented individuals at their own game simply through their continued efforts. This highlights the ongoing debate of talent or hard work.

It also goes without saying that hardworking individuals can develop their skills through determined practice. So, when a gifted person makes an effort to hone their natural skills, you almost certainly have a recipe for success.

Hard Work is a Form of Talent

Generally, people believe talent is more important than hard work for achieving success, but nobody becomes successful overnight. Hard work may be an underrated endeavor, but it is ultimately what gets a person across the finish line.

And having the determination to work hard in the face of difficulty is a form of natural talent.

In other words, working hard is not easy when one obstacle after another presents itself, but having the ability to persevere in spite of these can give you a significant advantage.

Hard Work Can Develop Natural Talent

If you are a naturally talented person, but you don’t have the ability to sustain hard work, your talent may prove useless because it will not be used to its full potential. In other words, hard work in conjunction with natural abilities will yield much better results than innate talent on its own.

Thus, it can be argued that hard work is necessary for developing an individual’s talents, highlighting why hardwork is more important than talent. It can even be argued that, even if the individual has no innate talent to begin with, hard work is ultimately the factor that leads to success.

Hard Work Creates More Opportunities for Success

It can be said that talent is a matchstick while hard work fuels the fire. Put simply, your natural skills are vital for getting any project or activity off the ground and in the right direction, but hard work makes you much more likely to see things through and succeed.

In many cases, someone may not be considered naturally gifted in what they do. Yet, they achieve success to a greater extent than many talented individuals simply because they have the fuel to keep the fire burning.

Talent is Wasted in the Absence of Hard Work

It may be considered ironic when talented individuals fail to achieve their goals even though they have all the natural skills they need to succeed at their disposal.

But the fact is, many gifted people misuse or neglect their gifts by not applying the effort needed to develop them and succeed.

How many business people, musicians, sportspersons, etc., have faded from the headlines simply because they were unwilling to work harder to develop their talents and use them to their advantage?

In light of this, it can be said that, in the absence of hard work, a talent may lose its edge over time and not be sufficient to keep up with a changing world.

Hard Work Develops New Talents

People often praise talent above labor, but then miss the point of what makes a successful person unique.

Hardworking people typically have the ability to develop new talents and skills due to their determination to reach their goals.

A developed talent can still be considered an innate gift because it is the result of a natural ability.

Both Talent and Hard Work Are Essential to Thrive

It cannot be said that hard work beats talent or the other way around. Both talent and hard work play pivotal roles in comprehensive and continuous development.

Working hard and utilizing natural talents are equally important to reach the top. Undermining either of the two means all of your efforts will be in vain.

The Argument That Hard Work Beats Talent

Hard work is essentially the preparation and training that allows you to intensify and fine-tune your natural abilities.

Talent is the enigmatic factor that can be used to your advantage, but, on its own, is not sufficient to succeed.

Consider the story of the tortoise and the hare. The hare has the natural ability to win the race effortlessly, but its lack of perseverance causes it to lose.

Simple as this example may be, instances of this story’s message can be seen in virtually every area of life today, from the business world to the sports industry.

According to a study by Clemens Tesch-Romer, Ralf Th. Krampe and K. Anderson Ericsson, the efficiency of deliberate practice is indispensable.

This study definitively proved that meticulous work and deliberation are crucial to being successful in any undertaking.

Simply put, although talent increases the likelihood of succeeding, it is not worth much without a steadfast approach.

To conclude this age-old “hard work vs talent” debate, it is clear that putting in the effort is essential to becoming an accomplished individual, and that talent alone is not enough to succeed.

In other words, it cannot be said that hard work is more important than talent or vice versa. No person should solely rely on their talents to get them where they aspire to be. Instead, continuous hard work and endurance is the key to pursuing any goal, be it personal, business, or sports-related.

Whether you are a talented individual or a hard worker, it’s important to be discovered by the right people. That’s where a headhunter can be incredibly valuable in connecting you with the right opportunities that match your skills and experience.

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Hard Work vs. Talent: The Eternal Debate

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” — Albert Einstein, German-American physicist. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” — Michael Jordan, American pro basketball player. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” — Stephen King, American writer.

One of the cornerstones of American culture is the concept of human equality: the notion that while some of us may be born into better circumstances than others, we all have equal rights as human beings to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We’ve enshrined that status in the very documents that declare and outline our system of government.

But as equal as we may be in the eyes of the law, it would be a mistake to assume or assert we’re all the same . We all have things that come more easily for us than they do for other people, even the very first time we try them. Like it or not, we can’t doubt the existence of the elusive quality we call talent .

Maybe you find it easy to play the clarinet, or chess makes intuitive sense to you. Dealing with people may be a snap; or perhaps you’ve got an instinctive flair for time management skills. Talents pop up for everything in every corner of life. You can learn a skill or get better at something, but it appears you either possess a talent, or you don’t, with no in between. Why?

Like most of the big “Whys” in our world, the answer to that one remains uncertain. There may be a genetic component to it. Many people have a “talent” for rolling their tongues, while others lacking a certain gene can’t roll their tongues at all…no matter how hard they try.

Recently, the New York Times reported that all else being equal, those with innate talents—especially in terms of intelligence—tend to do better in life than their less-talented colleagues. That makes sense…but so do the studies that suggest that in the long run, hard work and constant practice can overcome a lack of natural talent, which can often take people farther and higher than talent alone. Like the nature vs. nurture debate, this one will no doubt drag on for decades before we reach a consensus—if that ever happens at all.

It probably won’t, because let’s be blunt here: when it comes to human intellect and behavior, pat answers rarely exist beyond the realm of children’s stories. Perhaps “practice makes perfect” comes closest to reality. Research by psychologist Anders Ericsson (popularized by writer Malcolm Gladwell) estimates it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at anything. This applies most obviously to music and sports, but it also extends to mundane activities like business skills, learning to write well, driving, even housework. We just don’t see these sorts of things celebrated they way we do Yo Ya Ma’s cello playing or Michael Jordan’s basketball skills.

For every Mozart who excelled as a child prodigy, we have an Albert Einstein, who did only reasonably well at math in school (the popular misconception that he failed is a myth) but later built himself into the world’s top physicist. Better yet, consider Tiger Woods, who started playing golf at the age of 18 months before going on to become a superstar in the sport starting at age 18. Does Woods have talent? Indubitably. Did almost two decades of constant practice hone his talent to a keen edge? Absolutely.

If talent trumped hard work, then would the most famous basketball player in history have started out on his junior varsity high school team? Well, he did. Michael Jordan’s coach didn’t even think he deserved to be in his school’s top 10 players. Jordan undeniably has talent; but combining it with hard work, and pushing himself well beyond the required workouts, got him into the Hall of Fame, not just talent.

When it comes to success, I believe three qualities—hard work, persistence, and desire—hold greater value than sheer talent. Just about anyone of normal intelligence can learn to accomplish any human activity or behavior competently—IF that person practices enough, day in and day out. Sometimes, talent can actually hinder accomplishment. If you tell someone over and over they have a talent for something, they may just decide they don’t have to work hard to succeed. Needless to say, we don’t hear much about those people, do we?

You can make it without innate talent if you work hard—no doubt about it. Conversely, you’re less likely to succeed by depending on talent alone. Those of us who make the big time usually do so because we combine talent with hard work and determination.

The lesson here? Talent does give you an edge—you can’t deny that. But hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

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Really enjoyed the article. I’ve always been a bit jealous of those with natural talent. Seems as though most of us require the 10,000 hours of practice or more!

Even the most talented people would do well to put in that practice time!

You right!!!!!!! Talented people need to work hard in order to actually use the talent.

I have also found highly talented people failing because of a lack of discipline and hard work. As a note: Einstein was in fact a very talented math student. Significantly above average for his peers….however….I still agree with the message. Talent does not mean easy.

Talent always always has an edge… Obviously, talent is nothing without hard work. If you dont apply it, you won’t get any returns. But if you do that, hard workers would find it impossible to catch up. This depends on the field of work too. You can become a good doctor by hard work. But you can’t be a Messi or a Michael Schumacher or a great scientist or a great entrepreneur or a great manager with hard work alone. Edison was a great scientist. He probably depended on hard work. But on the other hsnd, Tesla was an exceptional talent. And his theory that AC is better than DC did pass the test of time. Tesla never got the attention he deserved. But if you go through the books, you’ll know who is better. Talent matters. Do a self analysis and understand the field in which your talent lies. 🙂

I can’t argue with your examples, but those are extraordinary savants. What about the “normal” people like us? For example, there are speakers out there who are MUCH better platform presenters than I am. But they aren’t nearly as successful (not that I’m a celebrity, but I do well for myself), because they don’t put their nose to the grindstone like I do every day. Talent will only get you so far, and then hard work takes over where talent can’t. It’s similar to strategy execution. An organization with a brilliant strategy, executed in a mediocre fashion, won’t do as well as an organization with a mediocre strategy, brilliantly executed.

I don’t have any 🙁

Unfortunately, this study is already old. A new study said the opposite. Talenmt is more important than hard work. Hard work is useful just for talented people. People that have no talent, can’t reach not even decent skills, it doesn’t matter what.

Great article, but the Michael Jordan argument is flawed. His coach put him on the J/V team so he could receive more play time. He was good enough to play on the varsity team but would have to split time with other players. Michael Jordan being the arrogant person that he is (perhaps one of the few that is entitled to) took it as an affront and misconstrues the story on a regular basis to make his come up a rags to riches story.

I think I’m going to use this information to talk to our photo club members. I’ve noticed that there are many who oooh! and ahhh! over other members’ photos but never send any of theirs in for critique. I’ve learned more from other’s critiquing my photography than from all the compliments I’ve received.

Lynda, I agree! I’d much rather receive a constructive comment with a great idea on how I can improve my presentations, versus perfect scores without any input. Good for you!

So simple, you can have all the talent in the world but if your attitude stinks your not going anywhere fast. You might be lucky and break through with your talent but your attitude will make you sink. Train hard = fight easy, Train easy = fight hard.

[…] Don’t let it happen to you. Open your mind, limber up, and set out to win the productivity race. […]

[…] hard work is the way to go when talent is lacking. It seems like it’s the only way to go. Like this article says, talent gives an edge, but, and this quote I swear appears […]

[…] Stack, L. (2012). Hard Work vs. Talent: The Eternal Debate. Retrieved May 27, 2015 from https://theproductivitypro.com/blog/2012/08/hard-work-vs-talent-the-eternal-debate/ […]

[…] https://theproductivitypro.com/blog/2012/08/hard-work-vs-talent-the-eternal-debate/ […]

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Essay on Hard Work is the Key to Success

Students are often asked to write an essay on Hard Work is the Key to Success in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Hard Work is the Key to Success

Understanding success.

Success means achieving our goals and dreams. It is not always about money or fame, but it’s about accomplishing something important to us.

The Role of Hard Work

Hard work is the key to success. It is the effort we put into our tasks that helps us achieve our goals. Without hard work, success is impossible.

Hard Work vs Luck

Some people believe in luck, but luck alone cannot guarantee success. It is hard work, dedication, and perseverance that pave the way to success.

In conclusion, hard work is the most important ingredient for success. So, always work hard and never give up on your dreams.

250 Words Essay on Hard Work is the Key to Success

Introduction.

Success is a multifaceted concept that has been defined in numerous ways. However, one universal truth that stands out is the significant role hard work plays in achieving success. It is the foundation upon which all great achievements are built.

The Power of Diligence

Hard work, often referred to as diligence, is the willingness to invest time, energy, and resources into a task until the desired result is achieved. It is a testament to one’s resilience and dedication, qualities that are integral to success. The world’s most successful people, from inventors to entrepreneurs, have all demonstrated an unrivaled commitment to their craft, often working tirelessly for years before seeing any tangible results.

Hard Work versus Talent

The debate between talent and hard work is a long-standing one. While talent can provide an initial advantage, it is hard work that refines and amplifies it. Talent without hard work is like a car without fuel; it may look impressive, but it will not go far. Therefore, hard work is not just the key to success, but also the fuel that propels talent.

In conclusion, hard work is the cornerstone of success. It is the unwavering commitment to a goal, the willingness to persevere through challenges, and the resilience to keep going even when the odds are stacked against you. True success is not merely about being the best, but about being better than you were yesterday, and that is something only hard work can achieve.

500 Words Essay on Hard Work is the Key to Success

Success is the ultimate goal that everyone seeks, but not all attain it. The reason behind this is not the lack of luck, but the absence of a vital ingredient – hard work. It is the cornerstone of all achievements and the key to unlocking the doors of success.

The Essence of Hard Work

Hard work vs. luck.

There’s a common misconception that luck plays a significant role in achieving success. While luck might occasionally contribute to success, it is not a reliable or sustainable factor. On the contrary, hard work is a constant that, when applied, invariably leads to success. It is the only element over which we have complete control, and hence, it is the most trustworthy path to follow.

Success Stories Rooted in Hard Work

The world is filled with stories of successful individuals who have reached the pinnacle of their fields through relentless hard work. Thomas Edison, the renowned inventor, once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” His life is a testament to this statement. Similarly, the journey of Elon Musk from a penniless immigrant to a tech mogul was not a stroke of luck but a result of his unwavering dedication and hard work.

Hard Work as a Learning Process

In conclusion, hard work is the key to success. It is the most reliable and significant factor that contributes to achieving one’s goals. It is a universal truth that transcends boundaries of age, gender, and profession. The path to success may be arduous and filled with obstacles, but with hard work, it becomes a journey worth undertaking. It is the hard work that turns dreams into reality, making it the real game-changer in the pursuit of success.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Talent vs Hard Work: What Is More Important for Success?

December 21, 2021

What do you believe is more important: talent or hard work?

If you believe that talent is important, you may not pursue your dreams because you don’t believe that you got what it takes.

But is it enough to just work hard?

In this article, we will take a look at talent and hard work. And we will try to answer the question: is hard work more important than talent?

Why is talent important for success?

Everyone has some talents.

But how important is it for success?

Well, that depends…

Take a look at Wolfgang Mozart . He composed his first musical masterpiece at the age of 5. And at the age of 7, he went on his first tours to perform his abilities for the world.

Clearly, talent plays a tiny role here.

But could he achieve the same success if it only came down to hard work?

It’s a difficult question to answer.

What we do know for sure is that talent certainly plays a key role in achieving success fast. And if you want to become the very best in your field, talent gives you a head start for sure.

But does that mean you can’t achieve success without talent?

How important is hard work?

Let’s take a look at Kobe Bryant . He scored 0 points over the Summer Basketball League when he was 12 years old. 

Not quite the kid you expect to become a basketball star.

Yet, Kobe Bryant became one of the greats. He is in the top 5 of the NBA’s all-time scoring list, passing the great Michael Jordan.

So how did he do it?

When he scored 0 points in the summer league, Kobe felt that he embarrassed his dad. But while most people would give up, Kobe turned his emotion into his biggest driver.

Kobe became obsessed with hard work .

When you somewhat know the story of Kobe Bryant, you’ll attribute his success to a set of skills that have nothing to do with talent – and everything to do with hard work.

In other words, you can become super successful without talent.

But what is more important: talent or hard work?

In a perfect world, everyone who has the ambition would work relentlessly and easily overcome challenges. If that were the case, talent would beat hard work every time.

But we don’t live in a perfect world.

Just because talent gives you an edge at first, success won’t be handed to you. Instead, you still need to work incredibly hard to achieve what you want.

So if you lack talent, you can outwork talented people. You just need to work a little harder on yourself and your craft than those who are talented to achieve greatness. 

Of course, that’s not an easy task.

But certainly not impossible.

Talent helps you on the way, but without hard work, you will simply be outworked. So whether you have talent or not, you will always need to work hard.

Besides, talent is something you either do or do not have. But work ethic is a habit you can develop, which will bring you much further in life.

That’s why hard work always beats talent.

The synergy between hard work and talent

Here’s an interesting final thought…

If you like what you do, chances are that you are somewhat talented in that area. Usually, we gravitate towards areas that lie within our strength.

And if you don’t like what you do, chances are that you won’t work hard enough to succeed. It will be quite the challenge to stay consistent and persevere if you lack joy.

Either way, don’t be obsessed with whether you have talent or not…

Instead, become obsessed with pursuing a path you love and then work hard to achieve your success. That’s how you will outwork those who rely on talent.

Here’s the conclusion:

Talent can give you a head-start , but hard work beats talent when it comes to success.

What’s next?

While talent can provide an initial advantage, hard work surpasses talent every time in achieving long-term success.

Key takeaways:

• Both talent and hard work play a role in success. Talent provides initial advantages (consider child prodigies) whereas hard work can compensate for a lack of early talent (consider people like Kobe Bryant).
• The synergy between liking what you do and your talent enhances motivation and perseverance, while lacking joy in your pursuit can hinder success.
• Slight talent and work go hand in hand. You experience more joy when you work within your personal strengths . And you’re more likely to work hard at something you somewhat enjoy doing. So if you find something you enjoy , don’t let a lack of talent hold you back.

Dive deeper into these topics with these great resources:

• Best personality tests to uncover your unique advantages .
• Book: Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin
• Book: Grit by Angela Duckworth
• Course: Complete Time Management Course Raise Personal Productivity on Udemy
• Tool: Goals on Track is a goal-setting and task-management system. I use this tool to gain clarity and take consistent action towards my goals.

Take action: Set life goals and prioritize the one that attracts you the most (you can have a few). Then, use a goal-setting planner to set daily goals and block time to work on your craft or develop skills and habits to achieve your goal. 

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Comparing Talent And Hard Work

It is so easy to describe people as being talented. Just look at any headline praising a piece of artwork, music, or other great feat, and you are likely to see the word “talented,” “gifted,” or a variant of these being thrown around.

In the case of musician and songwriters, one is said to be talented if they have produced work that gets some attention, especially on the charts or radio airwaves. Labels such as iconic, legendary, infamous, and other similar terms are quickly slapped onto such individuals, further elevating them to superhuman status in society.

But is being talented a true marker of success? In the process of highlighting the seemingly in-born “natural” gifts of achievers, the virtues of hard work can get lost in the mix. The result is that many aspiring “talents” believe they only need to rely on their innate abilities in order to produce notable works. Inevitably, this can lead to disappointment, frustration, and even mental health issues when the reality hits home that talent alone is not enough.

Hard work vs talent

The common saying, “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard” is one of the most profound statements ever made in this regard. If you are not convinced, you can read up on the life stories of some of the most remarkable people in history. Celebrities and personalities such as Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, and Jack Ma, were all told they were not good enough to be successful in their fields, at one point or another. 

In the music industry, Bruno Mars was initially told he sucked at being a musician before he started writing songs for other artists and then kicked off his impressive career. As a child, Shakira was ridiculed for her singing style by her teacher and classmates. Elvis Presley was frowned upon and advised he wasn't going anywhere fast in music. Even the Beatles were told they did not have the necessary talent to make a dent in the music industry. All these acts were able to rise above the criticisms of their talent (or lack thereof) and become great in their own rights.

It becomes necessary, therefore, to clear the air about these societal misconceptions. Let’s compare talent and hard work and how each applies in the grand scheme of life.

Hard work is necessary for success, talent isn’t

One is often led to believe that being naturally gifted is the ultimate prerequisite for success in any field. But almost every notable example of a big achievement involves some degree of putting in some amount of work. In athletics, for example, standout athletes such as Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, and Serena Williams are often hailed for their natural abilities. However, closer analysis of their careers shows that these master athletes spent huge chunks of their lives practicing relentlessly. In addition, they had people behind them who pushed them harder than most of their competitors. 

Truth be told, most athletes were born with natural talents. By the time they enter competitive scenarios, the playing field is pretty much level among competitors in the same categories. The immense success of the few who turn out to be champions was often only possible because these people also put in just a bit more time and dedication. Their training ensured they could go just a bit further and have that wee bit extra stamina, which ensured they were still able to deliver the goods even when their “gifts” failed to kick in.

As it relates to the music industry, there are tons of examples of people who weren’t/aren’t necessarily the best singers, songwriters, or performers, but have still managed to carve out impressive careers. Some of these people have surpassed peers who were considered more technically brilliant and with more natural "gifts."

EQ is more important to success than IQ

A popular recruitment practice used in many industries is to have job candidates do IQ tests to determine how naturally gifted they are in their respective fields. But in recent times, emphasis has been placed on emotional intelligence (EQ) as being more important to business growth than intellectual intelligence (IQ). Increasingly, firms are looking for leaders with high EQ to manage critical areas of business in order to get the most out of work teams. 

That's because several studies have revealed that things like productivity, empathy, and effective communication are mostly tied to emotional cues rather than "brain smarts," so to speak. It also turns out that employees who rank higher on the EQ scale tend to work harder, are more focused, and often even earn more than their peers who are higher up the ladder in terms of IQ. 

The same thing has played out in the music industry over the years. As mentioned in the previous point, there are tons of musicians who have managed to become super successful despite not being the most talented. In many cases, these acts are more in touch with their emotions and have applied their EQ to their ability to connect with music listeners through their music and forge strategic relationships in the music business, resulting in stronger fan bases and greater opportunities for their audiences to consume their creations.

Talent needs to be honed in order to be useful

Having talent is simply not enough unless it is improved upon. Aside from working hard, talent can only become useful if the owner of that talent does what is necessary to expand it. If your talent is just being good at playing the guitar, for instance, that ability can only get you so far because there are many other people who also know their way around the instrument. 

How will you set yourself apart from the crowd and put yourself in line to be chosen for gigs? You would do so by finding ways to expand your guitar-playing capabilities, whether that means learning new finger tricks, perfecting a particular strumming technique, or mastering different types of guitars. The same goes for a talented songwriter who wants to get better at writing songs rather than just be a "talented" songwriter. 

All these require taking music lessons, watching tutorials, taking inspiration from other greats in your field and, of course, many hours of practice (which goes back to hard work). Either way, people who have a high degree of talent and go on to be successful were only able to do so by further honing that talent rather than being comfortable with just being talented.

Let's be clear - nothing is wrong with having natural abilities. After all, everyone is born to be good at something, even if you have not figured out your own gift as yet. However, finding success at any level, and in any field, requires way more than talent. The relationships you create with people and habits you develop also play a role in your ability to grow your career, especially in fields such as music. But, ultimately, working hard is the main determining factor as to how far you can go and the legacy you leave behind.

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Talent Or Hard Work # Essay For IELTS

It is often believed that some people are born with talents, for example in sport or music. However, it is sometimes claimed that anyone could be taught to become a good sportsman or musician. Discuss both views and give your opinions.

Hard work wins if talent does not works hard. The importance of talent and hard work has been put into debate several times before. Although some people believe that anyone can be taught anything with continued practice, there are even opposing views, which believe that it is very important to have some innate capabilities before you can nurture on them. I believe that although anyone can acquire a skill, but if the natural talent of an individual is worked on, they reach a higher level of success.

A child is like a clay, the way you mould it ,the shape it takes. If the child from the beginning is taught a particular sport, for example, basketball, chances are high that the time, he/she reaches youth, he/she will be excellent in the game. The best example of such a practice is our education system, wherein all students are taught sports, music, academics etc.

However, as is often seen, in a class of ten who are taught a particular sport or music, there is someone who does it extremely well, although he or she practices the same. They need not to learn the basic rules to apply them, somehow they know it before hand. For example, in my bharatnatyam class, there were many who did the steps technically correct, but there were even some, who need not to learn all the techniques to do them correctly. If such an individual learns all the techniques, he/she will do it far better. Even more, you can teach how to sing, but you rarely can change the voice.

Overall, I am of the view that anyone can be taught anything but to reach the highest level of excellence in fields like sport or music, it is important to have some innate talent. However, if an individual does not works on their talents, the person working hard on it will surely succeed.

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Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn't Work Hard

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to have practiced a lot to be trying very hard. ] Bill Gates, for example, was among the smartest people in business in his era, but he was also among the hardest working. "I never took a day off in my twenties," he said. "Not one." It was similar with Lionel Messi. He had great natural ability, but when his youth coaches talk about him, what they remember is not his talent but his dedication and his desire to win. P. G. Wodehouse would probably get my vote for best English writer of the 20th century, if I had to choose. Certainly no one ever made it look easier. But no one ever worked harder. At 74, he wrote Sounds a bit extreme, you think. And yet Bill Gates sounds even more extreme. Not one day off in ten years? These two had about as much natural ability as anyone could have, and yet they also worked about as hard as anyone could work. You need both. That seems so obvious, and yet in practice we find it slightly hard to grasp. There's a faint xor between talent and hard work. It comes partly from popular culture, where it seems to run very deep, and partly from the fact that the outliers are so rare. If great talent and great drive are both rare, then people with both are rare squared. Most people you meet who have a lot of one will have less of the other. But you'll need both if you want to be an outlier yourself. And since you can't really change how much natural talent you have, in practice doing great work, insofar as you can, reduces to working very hard. It's straightforward to work hard if you have clearly defined, externally imposed goals, as you do in school. There is some technique to it: you have to learn not to lie to yourself, not to procrastinate (which is a form of lying to yourself), not to get distracted, and not to give up when things go wrong. But this level of discipline seems to be within the reach of quite young children, if they want it. What I've learned since I was a kid is how to work toward goals that are neither clearly defined nor externally imposed. You'll probably have to learn both if you want to do really great things. The most basic level of which is simply to feel you should be working without anyone telling you to. Now, when I'm not working hard, alarm bells go off. I can't be sure I'm getting anywhere when I'm working hard, but I can be sure I'm getting nowhere when I'm not, and it feels awful. ] There wasn't a single point when I learned this. Like most little kids, I enjoyed the feeling of achievement when I learned or did something new. As I grew older, this morphed into a feeling of disgust when I wasn't achieving anything. The one precisely dateable landmark I have is when I stopped watching TV, at age 13. Several people I've talked to remember getting serious about work around this age. When I asked Patrick Collison when he started to find idleness distasteful, he said Perhaps something changes at adolescence. That would make sense. Strangely enough, the biggest obstacle to getting serious about work was probably school, which made work (what they called work) seem boring and pointless. I had to learn what real work was before I could wholeheartedly desire to do it. That took a while, because even in college a lot of the work is pointless; there are entire departments that are pointless. But as I learned the shape of real work, I found that my desire to do it slotted into it as if they'd been made for each other. I suspect most people have to learn what work is before they can love it. Hardy wrote eloquently about this in : for mathematics, and such notions as I may have had of the career of a mathematician were far from noble. I thought of mathematics in terms of examinations and scholarships: I wanted to beat other boys, and this seemed to be the way in which I could do so most decisively. He didn't learn what math was really about till part way through college, when he read Jordan's . There are two separate kinds of fakeness you need to learn to discount in order to understand what real work is. One is the kind Hardy encountered in school. Subjects get distorted when they're adapted to be taught to kids — often so distorted that they're nothing like the work done by actual practitioners. ] The other kind of fakeness is intrinsic to certain types of work. Some types of work are inherently bogus, or at best mere busywork. There's a kind of solidity to real work. It's not all writing the , but it all feels necessary. That's a vague criterion, but it's deliberately vague, because it has to cover a lot of different types. ] Once you know the shape of real work, you have to learn how many hours a day to spend on it. You can't solve this problem by simply working every waking hour, because in many kinds of work there's a point beyond which the quality of the result will start to decline. That limit varies depending on the type of work and the person. I've done several different kinds of work, and the limits were different for each. My limit for the harder types of writing or programming is about five hours a day. Whereas when I was running a startup, I could work all the time. At least for the three years I did it; if I'd kept going much longer, I'd probably have needed to take occasional vacations. ] The only way to find the limit is by crossing it. Cultivate a sensitivity to the quality of the work you're doing, and then you'll notice if it decreases because you're working too hard. Honesty is critical here, in both directions: you have to notice when you're being lazy, but also when you're working too hard. And if you think there's something admirable about working too hard, get that idea out of your head. You're not merely getting worse results, but getting them because you're showing off — if not to other people, then to yourself. ] Finding the limit of working hard is a constant, ongoing process, not something you do just once. Both the difficulty of the work and your ability to do it can vary hour to hour, so you need to be constantly judging both how hard you're trying and how well you're doing. Trying hard doesn't mean constantly pushing yourself to work, though. There may be some people who do, but I think my experience is fairly typical, and I only have to push myself occasionally when I'm starting a project or when I encounter some sort of check. That's when I'm in danger of procrastinating. But once I get rolling, I tend to keep going. What keeps me going depends on the type of work. When I was working on Viaweb, I was driven by fear of failure. I barely procrastinated at all then, because there was always something that needed doing, and if I could put more distance between me and the pursuing beast by doing it, why wait? ] Whereas what drives me now, writing essays, is the flaws in them. Between essays I fuss for a few days, like a dog circling while it decides exactly where to lie down. But once I get started on one, I don't have to push myself to work, because there's always some error or omission already pushing me. I do make some amount of effort to focus on important topics. Many problems have a hard core at the center, surrounded by easier stuff at the edges. Working hard means aiming toward the center to the extent you can. Some days you may not be able to; some days you'll only be able to work on the easier, peripheral stuff. But you should always be aiming as close to the center as you can without stalling. The bigger question of what to do with your life is one of these problems with a hard core. There are important problems at the center, which tend to be hard, and less important, easier ones at the edges. So as well as the small, daily adjustments involved in working on a specific problem, you'll occasionally have to make big, lifetime-scale adjustments about which type of work to do. And the rule is the same: working hard means aiming toward the center — toward the most ambitious problems. By center, though, I mean the actual center, not merely the current consensus about the center. The consensus about which problems are most important is often mistaken, both in general and within specific fields. If you disagree with it, and you're right, that could represent a valuable opportunity to do something new. The more ambitious types of work will usually be harder, but although you should not be in denial about this, neither should you treat difficulty as an infallible guide in deciding what to do. If you discover some ambitious type of work that's a bargain in the sense of being easier for you than other people, either because of the abilities you happen to have, or because of some new way you've found to approach it, or simply because you're more excited about it, by all means work on that. Some of the best work is done by people who find an easy way to do something hard. As well as learning the shape of real work, you need to figure out which kind you're suited for. And that doesn't just mean figuring out which kind your natural abilities match the best; it doesn't mean that if you're 7 feet tall, you have to play basketball. What you're suited for depends not just on your talents but perhaps even more on your interests. A in a topic makes people work harder than any amount of discipline can. It can be harder to discover your interests than your talents. There are fewer types of talent than interest, and they start to be judged early in childhood, whereas interest in a topic is a subtle thing that may not mature till your twenties, or even later. The topic may not even exist earlier. Plus there are some powerful sources of error you need to learn to discount. Are you really interested in x, or do you want to work on it because you'll make a lot of money, or because other people will be impressed with you, or because your parents want you to? ] The difficulty of figuring out what to work on varies enormously from one person to another. That's one of the most important things I've learned about work since I was a kid. As a kid, you get the impression that everyone has a calling, and all they have to do is figure out what it is. That's how it works in movies, and in the streamlined biographies fed to kids. Sometimes it works that way in real life. Some people figure out what to do as children and just do it, like Mozart. But others, like Newton, turn restlessly from one kind of work to another. Maybe in retrospect we can identify one as their calling — we can wish Newton spent more time on math and physics and less on alchemy and theology — but this is an induced by hindsight bias. There was no voice calling to him that he could have heard. So while some people's lives converge fast, there will be others whose lives never converge. And for these people, figuring out what to work on is not so much a prelude to working hard as an ongoing part of it, like one of a set of simultaneous equations. For these people, the process I described earlier has a third component: along with measuring both how hard you're working and how well you're doing, you have to think about whether you should keep working in this field or switch to another. If you're working hard but not getting good enough results, you should switch. It sounds simple expressed that way, but in practice it's very difficult. You shouldn't give up on the first day just because you work hard and don't get anywhere. You need to give yourself time to get going. But how much time? And what should you do if work that was going well stops going well? How much time do you give yourself then? ] What even counts as good results? That can be really hard to decide. If you're exploring an area few others have worked in, you may not even know what good results look like. History is full of examples of people who misjudged the importance of what they were working on. The best test of whether it's worthwhile to work on something is whether you find it interesting. That may sound like a dangerously subjective measure, but it's probably the most accurate one you're going to get. You're the one working on the stuff. Who's in a better position than you to judge whether it's important, and what's a better predictor of its importance than whether it's interesting? For this test to work, though, you have to be honest with yourself. Indeed, that's the most striking thing about the whole question of working hard: how at each point it depends on being honest with yourself. Working hard is not just a dial you turn up to 11. It's a complicated, dynamic system that has to be tuned just right at each point. You have to understand the shape of real work, see clearly what kind you're best suited for, aim as close to the true core of it as you can, accurately judge at each moment both what you're capable of and how you're doing, and put in as many hours each day as you can without harming the quality of the result. This network is too complicated to trick. But if you're consistently honest and clear-sighted, it will automatically assume an optimal shape, and you'll be productive in a way few people are. [ ] In "The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius" I said the three ingredients in great work were natural ability, determination, and interest. That's the formula in the preceding stage; determination and interest yield practice and effort. [ ] I mean this at a resolution of days, not hours. You'll often get somewhere while not working in the sense that the solution to a problem comes to you while taking a , or even in your sleep, but only because you were working hard on it the day before. It's good to go on vacation occasionally, but when I go on vacation, I like to learn new things. I wouldn't like just sitting on a beach. [ ] The thing kids do in school that's most like the real version is sports. Admittedly because many sports originated as games played in schools. But in this one area, at least, kids are doing exactly what adults do. In the average American high school, you have a choice of pretending to do something serious, or seriously doing something pretend. Arguably the latter is no worse. [ ] Knowing what you want to work on doesn't mean you'll be able to. Most people have to spend a lot of their time working on things they don't want to, especially early on. But if you know what you want to do, you at least know what direction to nudge your life in. [ ] The lower time limits for intense work suggest a solution to the problem of having less time to work after you have kids: switch to harder problems. In effect I did that, though not deliberately. [ ] Some cultures have a tradition of performative hard work. I don't love this idea, because (a) it makes a parody of something important and (b) it causes people to wear themselves out doing things that don't matter. I don't know enough to say for sure whether it's net good or bad, but my guess is bad. [ ] One of the reasons people work so hard on startups is that startups can fail, and when they do, that failure tends to be both decisive and conspicuous. [ ] It's ok to work on something to make a lot of money. You need to solve the money problem somehow, and there's nothing wrong with doing that efficiently by trying to make a lot at once. I suppose it would even be ok to be interested in money for its own sake; whatever floats your boat. Just so long as you're conscious of your motivations. The thing to avoid is letting the need for money warp your ideas about what kind of work you find most interesting. [ ] Many people face this question on a smaller scale with individual projects. But it's easier both to recognize and to accept a dead end in a single project than to abandon some type of work entirely. The more determined you are, the harder it gets. Like a Spanish Flu victim, you're fighting your own immune system: Instead of giving up, you tell yourself, I should just try harder. And who can say you're not right? to Trevor Blackwell, John Carmack, John Collison, Patrick Collison, Robert Morris, Geoff Ralston, and Harj Taggar for reading drafts of this. 190 IMAGES Is Talent or Hard Work More Important? Comparison of Hard Work and Talent Success is Achieved by Hard Work not Just Talent Comparison of Hard Work and Talent Sport: Hard Work Vs Talent Comparison of Hard Work and Talent VIDEO Talent Without Work Is Nothing Stop Waiting for Talent! Hard Work Beats Talent! #Shorts #Talent beaten hard work Amazing Talent/Hard Work #hardwork #youtubeshorts No Secrets, only talent+Hard Work #art #impressionism #artist Hard work Can Beat Talent COMMENTS Essay On Hard Work for Students and Children Hard work is an essential thing we all need in life. It is impossible to achieve greatness without working hard. On the other hand, one who keeps working hard constantly will definitely gain success in life and this is exactly what essay on hard work will elaborate upon. Talent Matters Even More than People Think Talent Matters Even More than People Think. Why are some people more successful than others? Leaving aside luck, which equates to confessing that we don't really know, there are really just two ... Working Hard: The Key to Success: [Essay Example], 713 words Working hard is often considered a crucial factor in achieving success in various aspects of life, including academic, professional, and personal endeavors. While some may argue that talent or luck play a significant role in one's accomplishments, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that hard work is the most reliable and effective path to success. This essay will explore the importance of ... The Role of Talent and Hard Work in Reaching Success Undoubtedly, hard work is more important than talent at every sphere of life with a goal termed, "success." It is on the track of success that hard work importance cannot be over emphasized. Above and beyond this, this essay seeks to point out, as an attestation in such ambit of reality and every day experience, the importance of hard work. Is talent or hard work more important? Why people reward innate talent over hard work. The narrative goes that a large part of perceived success is due to work ethic. But that may not always be the case. In almost every discipline ... Essay on Talent The Importance of Talent Talent is vital because it can lead to great success. Talented people often excel in their fields, like sports, arts, or academics. However, talent alone isn't enough; it needs practice and hard work. Which is More Important, Talent or Hard Work? [Evaluating Keys to Success] The Interplay of Talent and Hard Work. Talent and hard work are often seen as key contributors to success. Talent is the natural aptitude or skill that an individual is born with, while hard work involves the effort and persistence put into developing a skill or completing a task. Talent can give individuals a head start in certain fields. Which Is More Important: Talent or Hard Work? I believe that talent and hard work are equally important, because when we have talent we need work for perfecting and get better result. On the other hand When we work hard for something the effort is more intense. We see a better result in the goal is more pleasant. Alexandre November 21, 2011 · 10:33 am. Which is More Important: Hard Work or Talent? In truth, both talent and hard work are major contributing factors to the success of a person. Talent is the natural ability to perform exceptionally in a particular field, whereas hard work is what keeps personal and business growth alive and thriving. Even if highly talented people have a head start, hard work is more important than talent. Hard Work vs. Talent: The Eternal Debate When it comes to success, I believe three qualities—hard work, persistence, and desire—hold greater value than sheer talent. Just about anyone of normal intelligence can learn to accomplish any human activity or behavior competently—IF that person practices enough, day in and day out. Sometimes, talent can actually hinder accomplishment. Essay on Importance of Hard Work High-quality essay on the topic of "Importance of Hard Work" for students in schools and colleges. Success: Hard Work or Luck: [Essay Example], 849 words Success: Hard Work Or Luck. The pursuit of success is a timeless endeavor that has intrigued philosophers, scholars, and individuals alike for centuries. One of the perennial debates surrounding success revolves around the roles of hard work and luck in achieving one's goals. Is success primarily a result of relentless hard work and dedication ... Essay on Hard Work is the Key to Success An insightful essay for students on why hard work is crucial for success, suitable for school and college assignments. Talent vs Hard Work: What Is More Important for Success? Talent provides initial advantages (consider child prodigies) whereas hard work can compensate for a lack of early talent (consider people like Kobe Bryant). The synergy between liking what you do and your talent enhances motivation and perseverance, while lacking joy in your pursuit can hinder success. Slight talent and work go hand in hand. Comparing Talent And Hard Work The common saying, "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard" is one of the most profound statements ever made in this regard. If you are not convinced, you can read up on the life stories of some of the most remarkable people in history. Celebrities and personalities such as Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, and ... Talent Or Hard Work # Essay For IELTS Talent Or Hard Work is an essay on whether it is important to have talent or things can be learnt. Is hard work more crucial for success than talent? Your essay effectively highlights the interdependence of hard work and talent, which is a sophisticated understanding of the topic. Do you believe hard work is more important than talent for achieving The perennial debate of hard work versus talent is one that has intrigued scholars and laypeople alike. While some staunchly advocate for the supremacy of hard work, I hold the conviction that both hard work and talent are indispensable and mutually reinforcing | Band: 7 Talent vs Hardwork Essay Example For FREE Check out this FREE essay on Talent vs Hardwork ️ and use it to write your own unique paper. New York Essays - database with more than 65.000 college essays for A+ grades How Hard Work Beats Talent When It Comes To Success How Hard Work Beats Talent When It Comes To Success. Colin Powell once said "A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.". No one has ever achieved their dream through wishing upon it, although many have tried. To ever achieve you're aspersions you must put your all into it. Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn't Work Hard Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard is a phrase that encapsulates the essence of achieving success through dedication and perseverance. This essay delves into the significance of this statement, exploring how the combination of relentless effort and determination can often lead to triumph, even in the face of innate talent. By examining the stories of individuals who have ... How to Work Hard And since you can't really change how much natural talent you have, in practice doing great work, insofar as you can, reduces to working very hard. It's straightforward to work hard if you have clearly defined, externally imposed goals, as you do in school. assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis