The two blogs I am bringing the spotlight back onto today are in honor of the great basketball player and wonderfully unique human being, Bill Walton, who passed last week. They are both from my series on how being called talented is actually demeaning. The first one - BEING REFERRED TO [...]
The first one originally appeared here in March of 2018. This blog was inspired by a question I get all of the time: WHY DO PEOPLE INVEST IN PEAK PERFORMANCE COACHES? The short answer that I give is, to get better quicker! If you are interested in a longer explanation [...]
It has been a while since I added to this series, so I am going to start with a short review of the premise of this series. Most people like being referred to as “talented” and most people think they are complimenting someone when they praise them for being “talented.” [...]
As I have touched on from the beginning of this series, I find it offensive whenever someone refers to an individual as talented or gifted. Doing so is dismissive of all the hard work they put into developing whatever skill or skills they possess. Nearly every culture on the planet [...]
The popular, but flawed assumption throughout western society that you need to have ‘talent’ to reach the pinnacle of your field is an injustice that only serves to stifle progress in all fields. As author Stephen King accurately stated “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual [...]
The hidden secret about both talent and intelligence is that they are probably the worst predictor of future success you can find. As Alfred Binet, the inventor of the IQ test once said, “People who start out the smartest don’t usually end up the smartest.” Just as our physical body can [...]
I teach my clients to take umbrage when anyone calls them talented. It is an insult of the highest order. At best, it devalues all the hard work and effort they have put in to get where they are, and at worst, it is like calling them an underachiever/disappointment.
The first thing that comes to my mind when people describe someone as being talented is that they are an underachiever. When someone is achieving at a high level people talk about their productivity not their talent. If you ask most experts to list the ten best players they ever [...]