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Talents and efforts

Posted August. 25, 2016 06:55,   

Updated August. 25, 2016 07:28

한국어

Are people successful because of their talents or their efforts? There are many theories on the question. Journalist Malcolm Gladwell wrote about the 10,000 hour rule in his bestseller "Outlier" in 2008, triggering debates around the world. In this book, he said that steady efforts make a master, not gifts. The claim, however, was challenged by a different theory in 2014. According to a research by Michigan State University on chess players and musicians, the 10,000 hour rule was only applied to 34 percent of chess players and 29.9 percent of musicians, respectively. The result indicated that a great success is made by various factors such as practice, personality and age.

Rio gold medalist Park Sang-young has become a national star with his positive message "I can do it," but he called himself "untalented." "I liked sports even in my childhood but I was never good at anything," the 20-year-old epée fencer said. "My achievement is made of 98-99 percent efforts and 1-2 percent talent." Is it then his innate stamina that made him a gold medalist? Not at all. In physical fitness tests, he was always the lowest. How did he overcome such difficulties that would break most people?

Since he started fencing at 14, Park had practiced fencing every day, sleeping only six hours a day, for three years. Such intense efforts were possible because he liked and enjoyed fencing. Confucius said, "Those who know it are not as good at it as those who like it, and those who like it are not as good at it as those who enjoy it." The young fencer found joy in immersing himself in searching for what he is good at. "When you say that something is impossible, you are only limiting yourself," Park said. "Even if you fail, there is always next time. Let us not put a limit on our potentials."

You do not have to choose only one between talents and efforts. There is no guarantee that efforts will make you the best and that talents will bring you something without efforts. That is what people learn as they get older. You do not need theories to know that fact. Although young people tend to believe that only talented people can make great achievements, I do not intend to give them a false hope that people can achieve everything that they want if they work hard. I just want them to remember this: Diligence is also one side of talents.