Whoever talks to you about talents without mentioning discipline and great work ethic has done you a disservice. Nothing ridicules talent like laziness. It makes you look like a lie. You will look the part but won't be able to act the part.
No matter how brilliant a talent looks, it's a trace of prospect. It's a sign that says, “Gold lives here if you can dig” or the road sign that says your destination is a thousand kilometers up north. You can only get there if you keep driving.
Many people see this sign and stop. They gasp with satisfaction, kill the engine and build a tent. They are overwhelmed with the possibility of a beautiful promise. Talent is a promise on the journey to competence, not the destination itself. So when you move your hand a certain way and you spot a conspicuous brilliance for the first time. It's a pointer not a destination.
When you open your mouth and a freshly cut flow of inspiration comes out, it's a skimmed milk, the sludge is still at the bottom if you can stir. Don't get overly excited like someone who has arrived. The journey is just getting started.
Michelangelo said “if people know how hard I had to work to gain mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all”. Michelangelo was one of the best documented artist of the 16th century according to Wikipedia. He was so prominent that Giorgio Vasari opined that his work transcended that of any artist living or dead. He was often called Divino by his contemporaries which means the divine one. Do you know what it means when someone is called the divine one? Yet he lived a secluded life and worked so hard.
Similarly Zig Ziglar was popular for saying you cannot have a million dollar dream and have a minimum wage work ethic. You must know where you really are with talent, all you have is a burden to prove to yourself that you are not an accident or a mere potential. You can't plateau.
Talent is a call to duty, a call to digging, and testing your capacity against what could be done. The work you do at the level of talent comes very easy. In order to do something much more enduring and valuable, you need to spend time digging.
The accomplished endurance athlete who has completed over 60 ultra-marathons, triathlons, and ultra-triathlons, setting new course records and regularly placing in the top five. Who has also held the Guinness World Record for pull-ups completing 4,030 in 17 hours, David Goggins said “My work ethic is the single most important factor in all of my accomplishments”
Work is the furnace that refines talent.
Pay attention to the work you're putting in. Be ruthless with yourself and demand more from this leverage. Talent is a lever, it gives you a starter pack advantage more than most people on the track. In fact most talented people are in a world and class of their own when they put in the work. You can do more than you are currently doing, and I can too. Things get done when we work at it, products get created, visions and dreams can only materialize when we put our hand to the plough. This more than talent is a surer guarantee!
One of the most consistent writers I know is Seth Godin. His consistency is mind-blowing. He has written over 7000 blog posts. He does every single day before he compromised because his audience complained about not being able to keep up! In one of his interviews he said “I don't post a blog post because I feel like it, or because it's perfect, I post because its tomorrow and that idea helps the work move forward”
Take on the same disposition. You build core muscles, grit, and competence when you put in the work. There's a lot to be done.
Share your questions, feedback and comments via email or the comment section. Have a great week and breakthrough from within.
©Abiola Iyiola, 2025
This reminds me of what I learned in church on Sunday about processing my seeds, gifts, talents, potential, etc. If I don't develop my talents, it will never become valuable. Thank you for this, Coach AI.