Hard Work always outperforms Talent
Most of the times when I failed to achieve something I was pursuing, I used to write it off as something not meant for me, something I would never become good at. I justified that others have been doing this longer than me and that i could never be as good as them. I went back and shrunk my boundaries, I compromised.
But I recently had the chance to go US to visit my wife who’s studying there for screenplay writing, and I met people in her college who were from almost all around the world. And almost everyone I met came from a profession different than the masters they were pursuing in that college. My wife was a practising criminal lawyer until 3 years ago when she decided to pursue screenplay writing. A friend of hers is from Dharavi, Mumbai where he used to work as a mechanic and is now pursuing production design in LA. Another friend is from Jordan where she was working as a consultant before she decided to take up directing.
How did these guys manage to make a complete pivot in their careers within 2 – 3 years and still end up performing at the highest level? This was arguably the best film school in the world – AFI (American Film School) and had an acceptance ratio of just 1% of all total applications.
For the 20 odd days I spent there during their winter break, whenever we went out to meet any of my wives friends, we found them working on their craft. My wife used to start writing early in the day around 9am and didn’t stop brainstorming or typing until it was 11pm in the night. Every single day. I got fed up to the point where I asked her to just shut the laptop and be with me, its a holiday! To that she replied, “If I don’t put in the work right now during the holidays, I won’t be able to compete or deliver my best when the classes are in session. 2 years at a film school in LA alone is not going to be enough to become the best, we have to outwork whats considered normal.“
And it hit me. Could it be so simple? We’ve all read about it, hear about it in stories and movies, even know what it entails but most of us never end up putting in the effort.
With so many distractions fighting for your attention, its harder than ever to do focused work. But to be able to execute at the highest level, there are no shortcuts, we still need to find the discipline to sit down and chip away at our chosen craft. Specially when noone’s looking or when you don’t have a deadline.
“You are rewarded in public for what you do in private”
Kobe Bryant once said – “There’s only one thing that seperates the bad from the good, the good from the greats, the greats from the legends…..Obsession.”
