I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “hard work beats talent”. It’s nothing new at this point.
My question to you is, do you believe it?
Hell, there’s a lot of really talented people out there. There’s also a lot of really talented people who don’t work hard.
So I think the phrase “hard work beats talent” is true to an extent. A better version, in my opinion, is “hard work is more important than talent” and I’ll explain why.
Let’s start with Kobe Bryant. We all know who he is, I hope.
Starting back when this guy was like 11 years old he started finding the meaning of working hard. He’s talked before about not scoring a point in a Philadelphia summer league. So he went on to work on shooting for 6-12 months and then something else and so on. He comes back a bit better the next summer. Rinse and repeat.
Last thing on Kobe, he’s also implemented ridiculous training routines. He would train at least 3-4 times a day throughout his career. Start early, finish late, and do it all over again. You’ll have to do some more digging on him to learn all about what he did.
Here’s another example, David Goggins. I don’t care if you love him or hate him, the dude can do some intense stuff.
This story is full of details that I don’t want to do a disservice to, so I’m going to give a quick rundown. He was overweight, sprayed cockroaches, and was basically going nowhere. Something snapped in him and he wanted to become a Navy Seal. Completely flipped his life around through relentless training, unmatched discipline, and a burning determination to change.
His military achievements are nothing short of insane, but his ultra endurance athletic achievements are a different breed. The lengths he goes to while training are not for the weak. Every day. I’ll go into one example, the San Diego One Day. For this race you had to run 100 miles in 24 hours. He did it in 19 with ZERO prior training. Needless to say, he paid a big price as the consequences of doing so nearly killed him. David Goggins has multiple books full of information about him and what he’s done, so check those out to learn more.
Tom Brady, Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan, Elon Musk, and Steve Jobs are just some of the stories you should look into more when it comes to outworking everyone else. Once again, I don’t care if you love them or hate them, they’ve all done some ridiculous stuff.
I’d like to put a bit of my own spin on this though. I think you should do your best to not put yourself in a spot where you could have negatively life changing consequences. There aren’t many things worth dying, getting paralyzed, losing a limb, or whatever over. There’s just not.
So while I think we need to stay productive and driven, let’s also stay safe.
I hope you could see the point that I’m trying to make. You don’t have to be the most talented, but you have to be able to work very hard. I think good things will come your way if you’re able to do so.
Forever learning. Always building.
-Ethan