2. “You can be anything you set your mind to.”
You just can’t. Most people have the potential to do only a few things well, at most. That potential is talent. You’re born with it.
Many people, but probably not most, can actually do one or two things really well. That’s skill, and it’s talent plus experience. It’s when ability meets time and repetition.
Developing nothing into a skill takes naiveté. It doesn’t happen. I learned that the hard way in college when I spent well over a hundred hours (real-life hours, not credit hours) pursuing a geology major, and bashing my head against igneous rocks in frustration, before my mineralogy professor told me a very mean thing: maybe it’s not for you.
I was actually sort of taken aback. That’s how deep the “You can be anything you set your mind to” rubbish was lodged in my head. I later realized that the guy did me a big favor. He saved me time and energy by telling me nicely to get out.
That’s the world I want to live in. One where adults don’t lie to kids and tell them they can be great at things they’re not even average at.
‘There’s No Such Thing As A Stupid Question’, And Nine Other Dumb Things I Learned In School
You just can’t. Most people have the potential to do only a few things well, at most. That potential is talent. You’re born with it.
Many people, but probably not most, can actually do one or two things really well. That’s skill, and it’s talent plus experience. It’s when ability meets time and repetition.
Developing nothing into a skill takes naiveté. It doesn’t happen. I learned that the hard way in college when I spent well over a hundred hours (real-life hours, not credit hours) pursuing a geology major, and bashing my head against igneous rocks in frustration, before my mineralogy professor told me a very mean thing: maybe it’s not for you.
I was actually sort of taken aback. That’s how deep the “You can be anything you set your mind to” rubbish was lodged in my head. I later realized that the guy did me a big favor. He saved me time and energy by telling me nicely to get out.
That’s the world I want to live in. One where adults don’t lie to kids and tell them they can be great at things they’re not even average at.
‘There’s No Such Thing As A Stupid Question’, And Nine Other Dumb Things I Learned In School