# Which Do You Value More - Natural Talent or Earned Skill?



## forgotten reason (Apr 27, 2014)

I prefer purpose/outlook to results, so I have an easier time associating that with "natural talent". Although it is not clear what exactly this means.


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## Sygma (Dec 19, 2014)

Both equally. Beeing skilled at what you're doing is always great. If you're as good at stuff you learn as the one you got a natural inclination, then all props to you, you got a secret stalker  (figuratively speaking)


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## Clare_Bare (Apr 6, 2015)

I voted NFP - natural talent.


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## nO_d3N1AL (Apr 25, 2014)

Natural talent is a product of nature. If someone is naturally talented but doesn't use their talent or put in the effort required to fully realise it, then it's useless. I value someone that tries and is motivated than someone that is lazy but naturally talented. Of course, these are extremes. A mixture of both is preferable, but with more weight to effort than talent. Someone with little talent can still be successful if they try and improve their skills.


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## Turlowe (Aug 4, 2014)

I appreciate natural talent in myself and others, but I have no more inherent respect for someones talent than I do for their hair color, both are accidental, just a quirk of fate. I have enormous respect for those who develop skills however, this at the very least takes real effort on the part of the person and often sacrifice of one sort or another. The things I'm capable of which I actually hold in esteem are the hard won skills which I've developed.


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## Mirkwood (Jul 16, 2014)

Earned.

I dont believe all that much in natural talents.. Yes sure, id have an advantage in basket ball if i was tall, but an short guy can also beat me.. A savant got some extraordinary skills at certain things, etc. All our brains are abit different and perhaps better at certain things.
But id say you only really obtain skill by learning and training, and then perhaps it become an mastery, being able to do things more effortless. I could make pancakes with closed eyes :tongue:.
A natural talent also has to be trained.

I think Einstein has some qoute saying that he is not all that different from other people he just keept at it.


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## Kingdom Crusader (Jan 4, 2012)

It depends on how useful it is to me. So I didn't vote.


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## pertracto (Sep 4, 2015)

Natural talent is a blessing by the gods, earned skill is a victory on yourself (STJ and voted earned skill)


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## Highway Nights (Nov 26, 2014)

Earned skill, but natural talent is pretty cool too.


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## Gossip Goat (Nov 19, 2013)

I value both equally, both are impressive in individual ways. It's interesting if you have natural talent and its admirable if you have earned skill because it shows hard work and dedication. I don't know if I could choose though. I think generally natural talent is valued more because its sort of shocking in a sense. You didn't have to do anything, you were just born with it. Earned skills get less respect. I am generally inclined to believe most things are earned/worked for. Most of the times I think people who claim to have natural talent were just brought up in an environment or were influenced by something that stimulated their inclination at a young age and most people assume genetics are the cause. I don't have any evidence other than my own logic for what I just said though. That's just my impression. I tend to believe we are mostly a blank slate.

SFJ - Earned Skill.


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## Squirrel54 (Sep 25, 2015)

I don't believe talent exists in the way people perceive it. I know a lot of people look at a piano and say "I don't have the talent for that." and look away. Or they'll play it for 1 week, then say the same thing. 

That's not how talent works in my opinion. In my opinion, anyone can learn any skill, talent just affects how easily [not naturally, easily] we pick up that skill. When a friend and I learned how to write, I learned how to properly structure novels very quickly, while my friend would still struggle to pull off a novella in terms of plot. I then started teaching him proper structure.

It took him much longer than I did, but with perseverance, he can create a novel plot just as good, if not better than me now.

I'll go into a bit more detail...

When I started writing, the 3 Act Structure, the 20 Master Plots, Character Arcs, those things came to me very easily. I didn't know about them though until I read about them. That's where talent comes in.

A lot of people think talent means I knew how to use a 3 Act Structure, Master Plot, and Character Arc without ever having to learn them. No... I had to learn them... it just only took 1 quick reading and a small bit of practice for me to understand and start applying them. That's talent.

My friend had to read Fiction Writing for Dummies, plus listen to my explanation of the 3 Act Structure multiple times before the pieces fit together. Not to mention how the Master Plots worked and how to incorporate character arcs. Lack of talent... but he pushed on and now understands those things just as well as I do.


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## Korra (Feb 28, 2015)

Earned skill to me implies such person went to great lengths to perfect whatever it was he or she was doing. It means this person understands struggle and learned how to conquer it. 

Plus, I think you let your mind grow as well through earned skill. This is because of the many people you had to interact with and/or watch in order to get at the place you're at. Natural talent sounds like you pretty much think you've got everything figured out on yourself and therefore may miss out on opportunities to fine tune it through other perspectives.


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## Tetsuo Shima (Nov 24, 2014)

I don't have much of either. Well actually, I have a lot of natural talent, but none of it is useful to society. And as for earned skill, I refuse to learn from anybody. I want to be the one to teach people. But, nobody wants to listen to me.


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## LandOfTheSnakes (Sep 7, 2013)

Natural talent. There are some things that can't really be taught. But natural talent also means nothing if you don't work at it.


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## MaggieMay (Dec 27, 2014)

I admire natural talent but I value earned skills more because it took more effort to obtain them.


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## yanibrin (Sep 3, 2015)

Earned skill, definitely. I'd take more pride in something I worked for than something I got by chance. I actually kind of dislike people assuming I just have natural talent for the things I'm good at -- I put so much effort into them! I feel as if skill is often misidentified as talent, which can be very discouraging to people who might want to pick up a skill, but are afraid to try because they don't have the 'natural aptitude'. It's really a shame.

I consider the ability to work hard to be a skill in itself. And it's one of the best skills, because with it, you can pick up almost any other.


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## Baldur (Jun 30, 2011)

I respect people who worked for a skill more, but I think you have to have a natural talent to be among the best, so a combination of both wouldn't hurt.
I voted earned skill though.


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## Monteskiusz (Sep 16, 2015)

I call talent=Intelligence, genes


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## mushr00m (May 23, 2011)

I only admire organic talent if the person isn't an egotistical dickshit.

Those who have worked for their talent do indeed have my respect.


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## Yumiko (Sep 20, 2015)

Earned talent hands down.

To try your best at something is a skill that I admire most. Even if the work seems a bit sloppy or very flawed, as long as the person is learning from their mistakes and noticing what their stronger points are, then their work will always be valued as "good" and "impressive" by my standards.

To feel good about yourself for working so hard; to see that your struggles and paranoia be at ease when you look at the skills and progress you have. Even if the journey was full of frustration, sorrow, or doubts, the feeling of when you scale a rugged mountain filled with blistered hands, and when at the top, you see the pure beauty of the world that lives beneath this labyrinth of obstacles makes you realize it was all worth it.

What sounds like something you'd put more respect into?

A person who has struggled and climbed so far, and is determined to keep going to pursue what they love, or someone who walks up, touches a flag, and sits around?


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## Monteskiusz (Sep 16, 2015)

Talent is also a bucket if it's bigger than we can add more water to it (more skills).


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## TTIOTBSAL (May 26, 2014)

I value both. I prefer natural talent because lots of talented people I've met rarely came with just one talent, and it is a myth you don't have to work on your natural talent to really make it meaningful, you earn new skills in the process. Unless you talk about pure genius, I've never seen either someone with zero gift or possibility, beside entirely earned. Yes it means I believe everyone has something special to themselves.


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## Lord Necro (Jun 15, 2014)

Earned skill. Talent leads to fame a lot of the time, and I prefer to stay under the radar. I'm a huge fan of knowledge, whether that piece of knowledge be significant or not.


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