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Why Talent Is Not Enough By Tayo Demola

June 11, 2013

One of the ways to succeed in life is to be talented. If you are talented, it will open doors of opportunities before you thereby making you succeed faster. But you will agree with me that to succeed in life, you need more than talent. If talent is all you need then why have all the talented people not succeeded?  We have talented and educated derelicts who have not been able to use their talent and education to better their lot. We have so many talented people roaming the streets and who have not been able to achieve anything for themselves.

One of the ways to succeed in life is to be talented. If you are talented, it will open doors of opportunities before you thereby making you succeed faster. But you will agree with me that to succeed in life, you need more than talent. If talent is all you need then why have all the talented people not succeeded?  We have talented and educated derelicts who have not been able to use their talent and education to better their lot. We have so many talented people roaming the streets and who have not been able to achieve anything for themselves.


Can a talented person who is not passionate about his talent achieve anything with such talent? Have you ever seen a lazy talented person succeed just because he is talented without working hard to accomplish such talent? Success is achieved not merely through talent but through a dint of hardwork. If you've got talent without hardwork then you've got nothing. If you've got talent without an optimistic mindset and perseverance, then you've got nothing. The fact is that you need a combination of all these to succeed in life and not just talent.
 
Then comes the big one: courage! With courage you can do anything to accomplish your dreams. With courage you will achieve success faster than you can ever imagine. A courageous man can move a mountain with his courage! It is not for the feeble-minded but for those who have the heart to dare and to dream big. All great men you hear their names today have at one time exhibited acts of courage that helped them accomplish their dreams.
 
Born on July 18,1918, Nelson Mandela grew up to behold the segregationist Apartheid regime in South Africa where the white rulers held sway against the blacks who were not only perpetually politically oppressed but were also haunted, brutalized  and relegated into second class-citizens in their own country. The political landscape in South Africa was tense for decades and it seemed as if nobody could successfully challenge these white oppressive rulers to their game until the advent of various Black Activist Movements one of which was spearheaded by Nelson Mandela. Having lost his father at a tender age of 9, he was entrusted unto a distant relative who ensured he got the right leadership training which he harnessed in later years. He was so courageous and fearless in everything he did because he knew from the onset that talent alone could not see him through.
 
Having read Law and qualified as a Legal Practitioner, he floated South Africa's known Black Law firm in 1952 through which he fought the cause of several oppressed Black South Africans at relatively cheaper rates. His political activism became well known to the government and having initially started out with peaceful activism, he later had to deploy armed struggle and guerrilla warfare having realized that peaceful activism did not work in achieving his goals.  He fought the South African government to a standstill and in 1963, he was arrested alongside other activists and charged for treason. Despite having been tried and initially jailed for five years, he was later retried and sentenced to life imprisonment.
 
While in prison he did not give up. He enrolled for and obtained a degree by correspondence while in prison. In the 80s, several overtures were made to him by the government that he would be released from prison on the condition that he renounced armed struggle but he blatantly refused and stuck to his guns. That is courage! If not courage, how could a man who had spent close to 20 years in prison as at then refuse to renounce his activism and belief in the struggle for the emancipation of his people? In a twist of fate, he was later released from prison on February 11, 1990 after having spent 27 years behind bars!
 
In 1993, he won the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1994 at the age of 76, he became the first black President of South Africa being the first time in over 300 years a black man rose to power in South Africa. If this feat is merely achieved by being talented then every talented person out there would have achieved it. No matter how talented you are, don't rely too much on your talent and ignore other vital elements that can enable the talent materialize such as passion, courage, hardwork and perseverance. Talent alone cannot do the magic. You must harness all other elements to drive the talent in order to achieve your dreams. God bless you.
            
               Tayo Demola (Mr)
               Public Affairs Analyst & Director/CEO,Book Editors Nigeria.
               Lagos, Nigeria.
               E-mail: [email protected]

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