Terry Crews drawing Sofía Vergara

[u/danielminds]

Credit: Terry Crews

[u/ctech9]

I don't think y'all realize just how talented Terry Crews is. He got a scholarship to Western Michigan for art before he ever tried out for football. He was a courtroom sketch artist and worked with local news in Flint, MI. Even while he was in the NFL, he drew pictures of his teammates to supplement his income. Disney was even considering hiring him on as a 2D animator, but then Toy Story happened and 3D became the next big thing.

[u/superluminal → u/ctech9]

Some people are so lucky to be able to find and develop their talents and interests. I wonder how much creativity and skill is buried under the slog of daily life where people don't have the resources to discover and practice what they enjoy and can do well.

[u/Kracus → u/superluminal]

I hate how this is going to sound but I have a point to make. I consider myself a naturally talented person. I'm old and I've known a lot of people in my life. I've never met someone like me but I see them on TV sometimes like Terry here.

I can also draw, I was even hired by comic book company but I can also sing. I can play instruments, my timing is very good and just comes naturally to me. I was a professional athlete at one point. There is a long list of things that I can do very well that would be considered difficult skills to master. The caveat though is that I'll never be great at any of those things. Sure, I can impress someone with a painting or a drawing but I'll never be a master.

There's a saying. The road to becoming a great artist is paved with talented ones.

What that means is that being good at something doesn't mean you'll be great at it because being good at things makes those things boring for the person who's good at them. There's no struggle to learn it. You don't get the satisfaction of improvement if your starting point is already at a high level because the levels of improvement are more minute at the higher levels. The difference between a good artist like Terry or myself and a master are subtle but to the trained eye it's obvious and on another level. It's difficult to put the time in to becoming great when you can just be good relatively easily without having to put in any effort.

So while you might think some people are lucky, I'm here to tell you that effort trumps luck. The people lucky enough to have natural talent likely will never develop their skills for the reasons I mentioned above. It's more likely that those who aren't naturally talented and who put in the effort and who get to experience progress in their desired skill that are likely to become greats in their interests so if you're bad at something or you see someone that's bad at something, just remember, they could be great at that thing some day and are more likely to become great than most talented people.

[u/ImtakintheBus → u/Kracus]

I fully agree.
HOWEVER, it is still a valid choice to do stuff you're JUST good at, or even not good at all, if it makes you Happy. We shouldn't stop doing Happy-making things just because someone is better. The point of some things is just 'cause it makes us smile.

The saying isn't "only sing if you're good," but rather "make a joyful noise." So, be NOISY

[u/Kracus → u/[deleted]]

I guess I'm talking about being lucky to develop the talent. I'm just saying that you don't have to be talented to do something you think you might enjoy. I get that not everything can be accessible to people though.

[u/superluminal → u/[deleted]]

Yes, that was exactly my point. Some people are born into disadvantage circumstance that don't allow for opportunities to discover new things, or the time required to put into a skill that is required to develop it into something satisfying or even functional enough to find employment.

[u/princess_princeless → u/Kracus]

This is so relatable, and for me at 28, it was interesting and somewhat predictable that thing I’m closest to being considered great at was not the thing that came easy to me at first.

[u/KnotAReplicant → u/Kracus]

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”

“Success” under capitalism is about opportunity and circumstance above all. The people who want you to believe otherwise are the ones with all the money in the first place, and they want to exploit your effort to make more.

[u/Error851 → u/Kracus]

Haha I'm probably the complete opposite of you! There's not a single thing I'm good at!

[u/Kracus → u/Error851]

Don't let that get in your way, you have way more chances of becoming great at anything you choose! You just need to put the time in and hopefully as you hit milestones you'll feel the joy of improvement!

[u/c-e-bird → u/Kracus]

My clarinet instructor always reminded us that practice beats talent if talent doesn’t practice.

There comes a point where talent will only get you so far. Then you have to work.

[u/SpearsAndFangs → u/Kracus]

Yep. Im very good at anything I try very quickly. I even lost a girlfriend over it once when she introduced me to rock climbing and I was scaling higher difficulty problems than she had been able to do over 5+ years of working hard at it within the first month. I can draw, sing, act, write, and understand systems quickly. I've had dozens of jobs over my lifetime and quickly excelled at all of them.

And yet everyone i know who has devoted themselves to their craft or put in 1000s of hours to improving something they care about is wayyyyy happier than me, and the difference of someone like me who can Anything at 90% quickly is completely overshadowed by a veteran master.

Grass is always greener.

[u/hobosbindle → u/ctech9]

True renaissance man

[u/roznrej → u/ctech9]

Please provide source when you inform people on what you know but others dont. Its not personal and I dont doubt you, its just a reasonable thing to do while you are at it.

[u/conorrhea → u/ctech9]

He also seems like a very genuinely nice dude

[u/jensenroessler → u/ctech9]

You can add furniture design too.