I have no talents.
Out of context: Reply #13
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- BaskerviIle0
I have some skills.
I learned to draw and paint as a kid, spent hours and hours drawing in my own little world until my knees ached from sitting on the floor in the same position for too long. I went to school, learned more, then art school. I reckon I've put in my 10,000 hours by now:
http://www.wisdomgroup.com/blog/…I've also done the same to a slightly lesser extent with music too, both a lot of personal hours spent studying theory and practicing, extra curricular classes, summer schools etc.
I think if you want real skills you have to devote most of your life to them. I don't believe in innate talent, I think everything is learned.
If someone calls me talented, I find it almost insulting because it negates the thousands of hours I've spent practicing and learning my craft. When people say "I wish I could draw as well as you" I think, well you could/can you just need to be prepared to sacrifice other things and devote yourself to it.
Same goes for other things, eg fitness. Sure everyone wants to be super fit and be in great shape, but the hours one needs to devote to exercise, gym, sports, diet etc are a barrier for most people.Skill is really just a measure of how motivated you are to devote time to something.
The craftspeople you talk about that used to exist devoted their lives to that craft. Now we all have a more varied range of activities.
If I've become good at anything, it's because I was a borderline obsessive kid that spent a lot of time drawing and continued ever since. I've been drawing/painting seriously since I was 6, that's 25 years of work.
I think we're lucky in the creative industries since a lot of us have managed to make our passion into our job, or at least something related to our passion.