If you're like me and you've accepted that you're not the best at anything (not even good at most, only mediocre at best) then the famous line "hard work beats talent" resonated with you. It spoke to you like no other quote has, it gave you hope and probably inspired you to do that one thing that you can, to work hard.
Honestly, I had to do a double take at that quote, not to undermine its inspirational capacity but rather to completely absorb and internalize what it truly means to work hard. You see, it's easy to say that you're hardworking because you have put in the hours at your job, because you have endured stress and might have even shelled out some money to improve your work. For me that's not the entire picture.
Talented people (like really talented people) don't have to work as hard as we do because they have it, the act for it, something that came naturally to them as breathing is to us humans. They don't have to match our 100% to succeed in life, they can do the things we do while blindfolded and handcuffed, but the quote also goes something like this "hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard" now it gets real.
People with talent work hard, oh they work very hard. A child prodigy who has a talent for playing the violin has put in the sweat and hours to play at a recital. A natural born swimmer has done thousands of laps to be better than the other natural swimmers. We only win if the talented gets lazy... but I would have to disagree though, I have to because I can't accept that kind of pessimism. It's too bleak, leaves no room for redemption.
What I'm about to say might have been said a million times over but for me it really hits home. (*cue motivational music*) The talented people that we have to beat with our hard work is none other than ourselves. Instead of thinking how to be better than everyone else why not start with how to be better at being you. You've heard this over and over again but has it ever really stuck to you. To beat yourself is the real challenge and should be the most rewarding one. To be able to improve constantly, to keep breaking new highs, to be able to do beyond what you thought you can, to fail a thousand times only to try again. That is grit, that is tenacity, that is perseverance. That is hard work.