The world outside the academic fence is very different.
The world of textbooks, assignments, tuitions, lectures, note-taking, examinations, and grades will be replaced by the complex realities of life.
The society/system, depending on how you prefer to refer to them, will have a different set of expectations from you and your efforts. Academic days were manifestations of your family celebrating your grades and taking pride in your inquisitive mind, sharp memory, and exceptional communication ability. After your studies, the same people will start expecting a result from the result you got in your academics.
Now, society will rank you more than grades based on your bank balance and material possessions.
An entirely new world order!
Here are two phrases that will haunt you day & night in almost all the places, from the resume to the job floor to your cubicle!
Talent and Skill!
Talent is the natural ability to be good at something, especially without being taught.
Key phrases from this definition of talent are Natural ability, Good at something, Without being taught.
Skill is an ability to do an activity or job well, mainly because you have practiced it.
Key phrases here are the ability to do an activity or job and practice.
With a close comparison of the two definitions, talent and Skill, prima facie may look and smell different; we need to look further deep.
- Talent is the natural ability to be good at something (activity/job)
- Skill is the practiced ability to do something good (activity/job).
So, let’s use some mathematics and scientific approaches for widening our common sense:
Our hypothesis here is:
Talent = Skill; that is, talent and Skill are the same.
This implies the natural ability to be good at something = practiced ability to do something good.
Striking out standard terms, the expression will become: Natural ability = Practiced ability.
Tuning further: Natural = Practiced
This hypothesis has two inferences:
Inference 1:
Talent = Skill
Natural ability becomes equal to practiced ability. Or, natural ability and practiced ability both are the same.
Here, one will be investing time and effort in one’s natural talents. As it is evident, less resistance, you will be feeling, and passion will be so much because you are doing something for which you are made. With more and more effort, you will sharpen and polish your talents. You are practicing your talent and turning talent into Skill. If you can bring the two universes, that is nothing less than any miracle. This is a point where happiness and success co-exist in the same person. Call it luck or hard work; this is an outcome of decision-making. The decision to pursue your path through your in-built qualities. You need to have courage, confidence, patience, and perseverance.
Inference 2:
Natural ability does not equal practiced ability.
Here, a person has a particular set of natural abilities; we call it talents already. And, because of the following reasons, but not limited to, one doesn’t put the effort in polishing their talents:
- Ignorance (of their ability or opportunities)
- Laziness
- Lack of confidence
- Negative thinking
- Shyness
- ‘What-if’ mentality
- People-satisfying approach
The list may go endless, but the outcome remains the same, you don’t want to work on your talent.
More than working on your inborn talents, you invest time and effort in proving you are wrong and others are right. You are seeking someone else within you, and repeatedly you are confronted with yourself and your society’s expectations. You train your fish to climb trees and your monkey to swim in the water. You fail, but keep living the life to make others happy. To comply with social norms. You prefer to become that one engineering graduate among the lakhs ignoring that one talent you can do with your eyes shut. Skill and talent hardly come in harmony here. And, success, even if reached, happiness stays kilometers away.
A career is a journey; you cannot ‘pretend’ to be pursuing it. You must live it.
Mujeeb Patla 