A very thought provoking piece on talent from Magnus Holm, drilling into the details and questioning some of the assumptions.
In order to become great or excellent, you must keep practicing. Not mindless practice of course, but deliberate practice as Ericsson has described. Depending on the subject, the innate abilities or the physical attributes may help, but is not essential for reaching an expert performance. In many cases, having a talent makes no significant differences on the outcome, which therefore leads to the conclusion that, very often, “there is no talent”.
If talent doesn’t matter, what do you need then? Passion, passion and passion. By following your passion you will not only get better at things, but your life situation will also improve since you’re doing what you really want to do.
Might it be that passion is more valuable than talent? Are we inching our way past 20th century militaristic models of work or will there be a new 'war for passion'?
