Talent and self discipline

I'll bet you were a scribbler when you were a tadpole. So was I. Isn't everybody? I've never heard of a child prodigy artist who could draw well as a toddler. Andrew Wyeth and Pablo Picasso were both precocious and drew and painted well at a young age, but neither was born drawing. Both had artist fathers who took an interest in their training. Note that word "training." When you get that much support, you take it for granted you're talented. When you're motivated by praise, desire and single-mindedness, you can accomplish wonders. But it isn't enough just to believe you're talented--you have to work hard to develop your talent to its full potential.

Einstein said, "I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent. Curiosity, obsession, and dogged endurance combined with self-criticism have brought me my ideas."

It also takes self discipline. Sydney Harris wrote, "Self discipline without talent can often achieve astounding results, whereas talent without self discipline inevitably dooms itself to failure."