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the myth of talent
Personal note:
When I was young, I loved playing the trumpet, but finally had to accept that I had no talent, and thankfully found a great career in computers and security.
Now I find that I really don't have a lot of woodworking talent, but I really enjoy it!
Here is what one of the greats said about that.
By Kurt Vonnegut:
“When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.
And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”
And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”
And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them.”
- Kurt Vonnegut
and 1 other.
Comments
When I was in my teens my grandmother tried to teach me piano: she was a rather intimidating teacher although she had a great intellect. However, after two lessons she gave up and told me I was an idiot - that put me off learning any instrument.......
It's a good point that 'winning' rather than 'trying' or 'doing' seems to be many peoples' aspiration.
Geoff
Perhaps another suggestion is to us to have just "fun" get togethers rather than graded "winners"
Very wise words indeed . So what if you goof up every once in awhile , I chalk that up to a learning experience and what not to do next time!
Kurt Vonnegut was profoundly influential on me as a whippersnapper. I read those words (and so many more from him) decades ago, and took them to heart.
I read that same quote recently and wholeheartedly agree! I took a few guitar lessons with our youngest about 10 years ago. We were both all thumbs on the fretboard, but we sure had fun doing it.
So did you everpick up a trumpet again Don?
A great sentiment Don, thanks for sharing! I think this mentality is more important today than ever, with so much online influence in people's lives the fear of failure is greater than ever before. So many "viral" videos of some pretty amazing things online, it's easy to dissuade anyone from ever starting a hobby with the mentality of "I could never do that". The bar gets set so high it becomes a non-starter. But that's not really the point is it? The points is to do something that you have genuine interest in, and that it's perfectly okay to just be okay at it.
This actually reminds me of a Youtube video that was about perfectionism, I think a lot of what is said in this video can be applied to this hobby, or any for that matter.
Good question! I picked one up a couple of months ago, and didn't like the experience at all!
Decided then and there to sell my beloved "axe" and have not regretted it.
Now I'm trying to learn some keyboard skills.
"A man's got to understand his limitations" (Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry)