In a new article on Yahoo! News, titled Talent vs Hard Work: What it Takes To Be Great, the author states that research now shows that lack of talent wont keep you from becoming successful. Instead, hard work is the key element in goal achievement.

The studies showed that highly successful people dont possess a ’special gift’, and that it takes a minimum of ten years for them to achieve that level of success. This is so common, in fact, that they call it “the ten year rule”.

So greatness isn’t handed to anyone; it requires a lot of hard work. Yet that isn’t enough, since many people work hard for decades without approaching greatness or even getting significantly better. What’s missing?

The author suggests that we should adopt a longer-term point of view, and consistently improve on what we are currently doing. While these are things most of us already know, the research and statistics were very helpful in confirming that we are on the right path with those suggestions.

I found the article to be a very good read, not just a boring rehash of self-improvement info… and it was great for a fresh dose of motivation as well…

That said, there was a recent post titled What Makes 100%? on my discussion forum where Rick shared that “all this hype about hard work and talent and knowledge” was inaccurate, and wouldnt get you near as far in life as other qualities:

What Makes 100%?

What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give
over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?

Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these
questions:

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K

8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But,

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And,

B-U-L-L-S-H-*-T

2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND, look how far a** kissing will take you.

A-*-*-K-I-S-S-I-N-G

1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that, while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it’s the Bullsh*t and A** kissing that will put you over the top.

There you have it…

(just a little on-topic humor )

Tags: talent, hard work, success, successful, goal achievement, greatness