"Natural Talent" is a myth: why dedication and Passion are the real gift

I hate natural talent.

I don’t hate people with seemingly natural talent. I hate the phrase itself. “Natural,” as if we were born with the ability to do what we are great at.

I’ve had a strong opinion on this for a while, but it wasn’t until I watched the 2026 Winter Olympics with my mom that I felt true disdain for the saying. As we watched a snowboarder effortlessly float through the halfpipe, getting great air and nailing every trick and every landing, I heard it: one of the commentators said something about how naturally talented this person is. And that pushed me over the edge. A phrase I had always found mildly irritating was now downright disrespectful. This kind of thinking doesn’t just affect Olympians, but every artist, tradesperson, and performer. It strips years of dedication down to luck.

You might see someone who seems to be gifted in the arts, be it music, visual art, dance, etc., but very likely the “gift” is not a leg up or head start. Almost everyone is born with the ability to sing, dance, and draw. It’s not skillful yet, because you are only two years old, but you do it anyway because it brings you joy; it connects you with others before words do. Look at young children — at the start, they all have a similar ability to do these things. What changes is how you perceive your ability to do things, followed by the frequency with which you do them.

Eventually, as a person gains consciousness, they might realize they aren’t good at whatever it is they are doing, and they stop. Because why create something if the finished product is no good? That’s where the so-called “naturally talented” people come in. These people are not only worried about the outcome. They concern themselves more with the process and how it leads to the outcome. There is no gift given to them that makes them better. Just interest and the passion to do things even when the result isn’t what they wanted. Did the athletes who made it to the Olympics get there on their first try? Of course not! They tried and failed, fell and got back up countless times. And so did the artists, the performers, the craftspeople. Long after the excitement wore off, they endured. Even on the days they wanted to quit, to give it all up, they kept going. And when you keep going because it’s something you love, not something you want, when you keep going because you need to, in order to feel fulfilled in life — or in the very real cases where a guardian enrolled you in classes and you kinda had no choice but to keep going for years (I’m looking at you, piano players) — that’s where the talent comes from. It’s not natural; it’s trained. It’s been worked for. Sure, some people are more inclined to want it, to need it, than others. That’s the gift.

Now this isn’t to say there is no such thing as child prodigies. I admit this is a very real phenomenon, and maybe these people do have natural talent, a gift from God. But the vast majority of talented folk had to put in the effort. They had to want it and work hard for it. And claiming their talent was handed to them through a genetic lottery dismisses the hundreds, thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands of hours they spent eating, sleeping, and breathing their trade. This idea — that skills are effortlessly obtained as a gift — diminishes the persistence of every master painter, dancer, athlete, woodworker, stonemason, or concert pianist. It strips the countless hours spent building the skills necessary to be a professional down to luck, when in reality it has been earned by showing up, putting in the hours, bearing the repetition, enduring the pain and recovery, and doing something you love — even on the days you felt like quitting — to practice and perfect your craft.

I do wonder if the reason people see someone creative and assume it was given to them naturally is maybe a type of defense mechanism. “If only I was naturally talented,” they think, when really they just didn’t put in the time and effort to get there. Instead of accepting their shortcomings, they assume someone with the same lack of drive, the same amount of self-criticism, somehow managed to master a craft anyway. Anybody can be great at something, but if a person quits because they don’t like the outcome on their first try, they build a barrier that makes it harder to achieve their goals later. Now they have to find the energy and motivation not only to start learning and training, but also to overcome their worst critic: their own self.

Accessibility does come to mind. If someone does not have the tools or the time to master a craft, their lack of skill is not a shortcoming of their own, but of a system that does not value building skills out of passion but instead forever focuses on production. This furthers my point: If a person has everything necessary within themselves to be an artist or performer or athlete but is not allowed to pursue their passion and obsess over their craft, despite being “gifted,” they will lack talent. Because time and commitment are essential to becoming great at something. Showing up when you don’t want to, pushing to improve every day, and truly loving what you do — that is the gift. That’s what turns luck into true talent.

:)