I remember clearly the day I first saw someone play an acoustic guitar with finesse. As I listened, my soul was refreshed and awakened to a new desire. With all the dedication a six-year-old boy can muster, I resolved to play guitar well enough to move people. It pulled me in. There was no declaration of purpose based on my talent or willpower. I fell in love with the instrument. It hooked me. Over the following two decades, this love of music would teach me much about the place of hard work and talent. Talent is a gift. It is bestowed on us and sometimes discovered by accident. It is like the Staples Easy Button. I wish all life were as effortless as pushing a button, but an easy life produces laziness. Long division was my nemesis. I could add or subtract two numbers, but these forever-long rows of numbers and decimal points stymied me. I always buried one thoughtless mistake in a pile of brilliant calculations. It felt like a miracle when I made it to high school. Without a natural talent for math, there was no “Easy Button” to push. The only way out was to grind through the next day, then the next.

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”— Tim Notke

Read the article: Harmonizing Talent and Self-Discipline