The Effort is Yours

I have concluded that effort doesn’t beat raw talent. It may seem pessimistic but it is also true. I would choose to have raw talent every time if I could. It’s easier, and if the passion accompanies it I can eventually add effort to the already impressive talent. Just having effort and putting the work in doesn’t make you spectacular. It’s been portrayed in various forms of media, books, shows, movies, songs. One character is passionate and tries to improve their skill, but they never manage to surpass the character that does it because they can. It kills your soul and motivation but it seems like a universal law. Those tropes resonate with me the most. I have always been the one to put in so much effort without getting back satisfactory results. I begin to resent people who seem like they have it easier, or people who look like it isn’t that hard. It is for me, and the creeping feeling of incompetence looms every time I consume that sort of media. 

Memories of my failures and their successes resurface and leave me fretting with envy. The worst part is not being able to blame them, because they are better than me. I can never deny that glaringly obvious fact, but it’s just the way they are.

It sucks even more when they don’t care, when something I hold close as a passion is just a simple hobby to them. There’s a limit to where passion and effort can take you. Just loving something isn’t enough and we all know that. When I gain interest in something I work hard to be better at it. I focus on it for a while and it becomes part of my life. Unfortunately when I am faced against someone with raw talent that interest dims, not because I think I can’t do it, but because deep down I don’t believe I can get to that level. I realize that no matter how hard I try to get better, the possibility of them also being better than they were is still there. That’s what scares me and so many others I’m sure, about stepping into something new. It’s unrealistic but I immediately want to be perfect at it. That’s also where I go wrong, if I want to learn something I shouldn’t learn it to be the best. Not that striving to be the best is a bad goal, it just seems unrealistic. If that’s the only purpose then what happens to your passion, and can you learn anything and be great at it without passion? Sure it seems futile, being mediocre or imperfect when millions of people are the same, but if everyone’s goal was to be perfect there would be such little variety.

Although I don’t believe efforts can surpass talent, it has been proved possible on occasion. It is a difficult feat and you’re left with a gratifying feeling. The question becomes, ‘what happens when talent puts in effort?’ The discourse turns into a battle of who can improve faster, and what if it was never effortless talent? It’s not unheard of to be unaware of the hidden efforts put into one’s craft to hone it. The idea alienates the mind and is even more nerve wracking than the thought of raw talent. If they can put in so much work and make it seem effortless what exactly am I doing wrong? What are they doing that I’m not, and how can I feel so wrecked when they seem so graceful?

Alas, being perfect isn’t all there is to life. Mistakes and obstacles make us improve. Everyone brings their own special spin to everything they do, the work you put in is a piece of yourself. 

Having passion and being able to act on it is a beautiful thing we often take for granted. People

long to create and do things worth acknowledging. It hurts deeply to be overlooked despite all your dedication because someone else makes it seem easy. It’s always going to be part of the pathway to greatness and success, you won’t always be the best but that’s just grounds to become better, not an excuse to quit.

Written by, Amina Abdulkareem