Talent and Practice

Natural Talent or Practice? Which one is needed the most to succeed? The short answer is that we need a little bit of one and a lot of the other.

Natural talent is practically what you're stuck with as far as body/mind goes. It's what you were born with - it's all about your genetics. It plays a part especially in sports. If you were born with no legs, for example, then chances are that you won't make it in the NHL no matter how hard you tried.
Once you have the minimum required natural talent, then you need to practice. If you were 7 feet tall, for example, and couldn't dribble the ball then you wouldn't make it in the NBA.

I used to believe that everything in life could be achieved with hard work but now I understand that working hard can only go so far. In anything that you endeavor, you need a minimum of natural born strengths in order to reach the top of the field. If you're not a people's person then you'll likely won't make it in business unless you change that about yourself.
Unlike sports where height/weight/body parts matters, you could still succeed in business by learning the necessary skills but it won't be as easy for you as it would with someone that has the right skills from the start.

Figure out what you want to do with your life and then ask yourself if you have what it takes to achieve it. Do you need to be taller? Then you need to pass and move on to the next goal that you have.

The Universe Has No Purpose

We once believed that the Earth was at the centre of the universe and everything else revolves around it.
Once our eyes were opened to the fact that the Earth is but a pebble around a star amongst so many other stars, some of us adapted their beliefs to say that the Universe was created to satisfy our curiosity and effectively put themselves at the centre of it all once again.

Do we seriously believe that the fat of humanity is somehow tied to the Universe? That the Universe was created for us and that once our time has come to pass that the Universe will also cease to exist?
Isn’t it more likely that the Universe just “is” and we just happen to have developed an awareness to it. Isn’t it more likely that the fate of humanity has no bearing on the Universe’s Health?

Just because we know a handful of things doesn’t mean that we’re at the centre of anything. We pride ourselves for being creatures with intellect and yet we’re blind to our own arrogance in regards to our place in this Universe.
The fact that we’ve developed masters towards our immediate environment doesn’t necessarily mean that it was placed there for us to play with.

GM Labor Strike and the Rise of the Machines

I recently came across an article about GM workers being on strike. As usual, money was at the forefront of the negotiations but something else came up that struck me the wrong way. Apparently, one of the reason for the strike was for the workers to keep their jobs following GM's longer term plan that would have most of the manual labor done by Engineers on computers.

What we have to understand here is that there are no strikes that can fight off progress. Manual labor, in factories and elsewhere, is going away to give place to machines.
If you are in such field now is not the time for you to put your head in the sand. You need to plan the next 5-10 years accordingly - adapt to the change because you won't be able to fight it off. Don't be afraid of those future "aggressors" that are sure to come. Think and plan ahead.

If GM doesn't do this their competitors surely will.

Why isn't this good news? We should be rejoicing at the news since this means that many, mindless jobs, will be taken over by machines while workers workers will be able to pursue something that is, perhaps, more fulfilling and meaningful. We don't see it that way because most are content in that position or are genuinely loving what they do.

I've been through a few layoffs myself and each time I was part of them it was ultimately for the betterment of the company. Here's the thing though; I'm not a machine and manage to learn some new skills and found myself a new, better, opportunity each time.

You can too!