Born with Talent? How adorable.

I’m always amazed … genuinely baffled … by how many people think you have to be born with talent.

Like it’s something slipped into your diaper alongside baby powder and pacifiers. “Oh look, this one came with oil-painting ability … let’s upgrade to the talent crib!”

Here’s the truth:

We were all artists as kids. Every single one of us. We scribbled, we colored outside the lines (sometimes on purpose), we sculpted masterpieces out of Play-Doh and boogers (you know who you are). Then what happened? Life. Judgment. Grown-ups. Some of us stopped. While some kept going. That’s the only difference.

And then someone pipes up with, “But what about Mozart? What about child prodigies?”

Sure, let’s talk about them. Study their lives. You’ll find that almost every prodigy had intense, structured training from the time they could walk. Not divine intervention—just immersion.

There are exactly three things we do naturally from birth: cry poop and sleep.

If you want to call that talent … go for it. (Though nobody’s hanging gallery space for a great nappy poo.)

Want to get good at something? Here’s the not-so-secret formula:

 • Study it.

 • Find good instruction.

 • Get a mentor.

 • Be really, really bad at it for years.

 • Repeat.

That’s the grind. That’s the process. You simply can’t wish yourself into skill. It’s not a missed spiritual calling. It’s not fate’s fault you never learned the guitar. You have to earn it … with messy practice, relentless curiosity, and more failures than you’re comfortable admitting. (Confession: I have guitar hanging in my study. That’s all it does. Hangs.)

So next time someone tells me, “You’re lucky … you’re just naturally talented,” I smile and nod.

But inside?

I’m thinking, “Aww… bless your sweet, uninformed little heart.”