In my time at school, it was extremely common to hear someone being called “naturally gifted”. This whole notion of being naturally gifted stems from the core idea that being extremely talented academically or in other areas, such as sports or music, is purely innate. While natural ability plays a role in one’s skill level, my experience has revealed that hard work and consistency are the critical strategies to be successful, rather than just relying on natural ability.
Students are often initially labelled as talented when an idea or concept comes to them relatively quickly, without experiencing much trouble in grasping or understanding it. However, I believe that students who buy into this develop the wrong habits and will ultimately lack resilience in the long run, as they know they can master certain ‘surface-level’ concepts with ease. When work becomes more complex, they will eventually struggle, as opposed to their peers who have learnt to move through content steadily, ask questions and persist through tricky concepts as they arise. These students will experience constant improvement through critical thinking and curiosity, and will ultimately surpass their peers who rely on their natural ability through perseverance.
Hard work is not simply working endlessly. It involves actively engaging with material, practising relevant skills on a regular basis, and reflecting on and rectifying mistakes. These are critical skills that build lifelong confidence and independence, as the individual can trust that they will always be able to work through any challenges they are presented with.
Tutoring has made it obvious to me that consistently building one’s understanding in a particular area by providing the student with challenges each week, which build upon each other and require them to critically apply what they already know, grows their confidence and instils perseverance, as it doesn’t always come easily to them. This is in contrast to students who rely on their natural ability and don’t push themselves beyond what they already know, and when faced with a challenge, they feel as if any mistake is a failure, as they aren’t familiar with working beyond what they know regularly.
Hence, in the long run, hard work will always trump being naturally gifted, as the most successful learners don’t always find everything easy.
Hayden McCarthy