It's Not Talent, It's Practice, And You Can Do It Too

As a fine arts major, I hear a lot that people wish they could do what I do and that they have no talent in art. Whether it be because they think it’s an easy major or because they just want to learn a cool party trick, it’s just common to hear when people look over at my notebook during class and see doodles instead of notes.

(Mom, I’m kidding, that was a joke, I’m taking notes and I’m also eating enough.)

Let’s dive in and talk about talent.

First of all, thank you for your compliment, it doesn’t go unnoticed. However, talent is a scam. Talent doesn’t exist, at least not how you think it does, anyway. For example, if you spend 20 years trying to juggle, you’re probably going to come out of that being pretty good at juggling. If you remember, you probably weren’t great at talking when you were just learning, and now you won’t shut up. It’s all practice.

I used to draw dogs with no heads and now I draw dogs with heads! Character development!

Overriding the talent scam is a lesson in self-worth. The term “talented” is so broad it can apply to everyone. However, remember that if everyone is talented then no one is talented, so one must hone into their specific genre of talent.

Personally, I can’t do cubism to save my own life. It’s hard, it’s time-consuming, and I never like the outcome. I would not say I am a talented cubism artist, and it’s because I don’t want to practice it. However, I would say I’m a talented expressionism artist, and that not everyone is a talented expressionism artist because not everyone practices it. I’m not good or bad at these things because they’re pre-determined, it’s because I don’t put in the effort for every single art movement.

This is the same principle that other people put into sports, music, or watching reality shows instead of art.

Why would you practice soccer when you need to work on football for the next night’s game?

Why watch Floribama Shore when you would much rather catch up on Teen Mom OG for the season finale?

It just doesn’t add up.

You can do whatever you want, you just have to try. The best advice I can give you is to [blank] every day. Write, draw, bake, whatever you want to be good at, do it every single day. You have talent that I don’t, I know that for sure. Even if it’s not a skill that’s capitalized on, it’s still talent.

(Besides! Capitalism fosters sociopaths to get to the top and earn the most money no matter how many people they hurt or how much they cheated the system! Haha!)

To conclude, do your best, work hard, and pretend you don’t put everything until the last minute like I do.