In article , Bill W wrote:

Bill W:
Anyway, if the claim were true, I'd be another Artur Rubinstein,
but I assure you, I suck at music, too.

Sandman:
You've really spent 40 hours a week for five solid years
practicing the piano and you suck at it? Then I submit the theory
that you're not pursuing an interest - you're pouring time into
something you don't want to learn.

I am sure that you would agree that some people learn activity 'X'
more quickly than others. What do you attribute that to?

Greater interest.

Let me use an example. I've always been a visual kind of guy, took my art degree
at RMI Berghs, I've always painted, drawn and stuff. So that is where my
"interest" has been since I was a kind. I'm not "exceptional" at it, nor do I
strive to be. I like doing it so I've become more proficient at it.

When I started my work at ICA Förlaget, a Swedish editorial house, I started as
Art Director of a magazine. Then, in 1994-95, the "internet" thing blew up, and I
was asked if I wanted to be the "Web Designer" of the newly created IT
department, well of course.

With me, I had a colleague who was a programmer, a world that was very foreign to
me at the time. Watching him program didn't make any sense to me at all, and I
deemed my mind not "abstract" enough to easily comprehend "that stuff" and I was
content with that.

But as time moved along, this colleague of mine proved slow to work with and I
started to dabble with programming ever so slightly. Suddenly, a sparkle of
interest started, and over time, I poured more and more time into the programming
part of creating web pages.

Now, I run a software company that caters to the vast majority of Swedish
municipals and more with a niché-leading web application made entirely by me.

I had no "born with it" talents to lean on, I had no advantages over any other
person to do what I did, I just had a great interest in the craft, which meant I
spent countless hours doing what I do. Am I the "Ansel Adams" of software
programming? Of course not, but not due to lack of "talent", only due to lack of
interest. I have no interest in becoming more proficient currently, and probably
regretfully so.

Those that do excel at what they do do so because that's what they live for, what
they love doing. Not because they're "born with it".

Like I said earlier, attributing "skill" to "talent" is a slap in the face of the
countless hours and years spent practicing what you're currently good at.

--
Sandman