I have always been interested in observing successful people. More instructive than their end though, is the path they took to get success. Most of the time, success at anything is simply the natural result of tireless work – not innate talent. Look at this verse:
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. Proverbs 10:4
Notice what the Bible didn’t say would make you rich:
- Talent
- Charisma
- Good looks
- Good business sense
- Networking Skills
No, none of these things will make you rich. We would prefer to think that someone who is successful in life had talent or good looks, because in a way it excuses us from not having the same success. After all, how could we be successful if we didn’t have the talent that so-and-so had? The problem though is that it is diligence that creates riches and not talent. And the interesting thing about diligence is that anyone can have that!
So talent doesn’t matter? Well, that’s not necessarily true either. Talent does help, but without diligence it is nothing. Think of it as an equation:
(t) x (w) = results
t=talent, w=work
Everyone has a little bit of talent. We all have a base set of skills that we can use, but if there is no diligence involved in this equation, the results are still pretty low even if you have a lot of talent! Talent also cannot usually be increased, but your hard work can be. Therefore the person with little talent but has diligence will outperform the person that is very talented but does not even put forth any effort.
Stop worrying about how much talent you were given and start multiplying it against a strong work ethic and you will see results in your life.
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December 13th, 2010
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