I see it constantly. The world seems so ready to pass off decades of hard work, practice, pain, blood, sweat and years as talent. Talent-shmalent. I’m not even sure what talent is. Some are clearly born more gifted than others, but, to me, talent, however you define it, is a bit of a misnomer.
Once I posted a short video of me doing a little tap dance routine…maybe about a minute long. Then someone commented about how fortunate I was to have this talent. Talent? What were they talking about? There was not one ounce of talent in that routine. While I was grateful for the positive vibes and compliments, it just didn’t jive with the truth of it all.
I wasn’t born with tap dancing talent. I grew up loving it for sure…the sound of humans drumming with their feet. It seemed like a lost art and just so dang cool. I mean, who doesn’t like tapping their feet to their favorite music? It’s something I always wanted to try. As fate would have it, I got to know a dance instructor through a mutual friend. Another example of the power of the universe, or source energy, or whatever you want to call it. Somewhere in my subconscious was a burning desire to tap, and the universe conspired to make it happen. Match the frequency of what you want with the appropriate vibrations and wham-bam, we’re in business. Anyway, I was about 32 at the time. She offered free lessons if I agreed to be in her tap dance recitals. Sounded like a fair deal to me; count me in.
It started out with about 10 guys. But, after we learned how difficult it was, the men started dropping like flies. After about a year or so, it was down to just me, and eventually I faded away too. Then my kids came along and we enrolled them in dance class…so I started dancing again too. All these years later, I’ve got at least 20 years invested in tap dancing. And of course, in the beginning I totally sucked, and truth be told, I still suck; but I can do it as well as I do because I practiced my ass off every week for two decades. Practiced after work when I was already tired and crabby. Most of the time, I didn’t even want to go to practice, but I did it anyway. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to tap, but I can assure you, it’s brutal. Hard on the knees, ankles and feet…pounding a hardwood floor with your flappers. It flat hurts. I swear, I could jog vigorously for five miles and not be drained half as much as I am after five minutes of tap.
So…don’t be in a hurry to recognize achievement of any kind with, “wow…look how talented he is.” It’s more like, “look how long he practiced his ass off…amazing.”
No…it has nothing to do with talent, whatever that is. It’s pure practice, pain, blood, sweat and years.
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