Hard work beats talent? Yes, it does. Talent that doesn't work is not a guarantee you will be successful.
Whether you believe that or not is up to you but I believe it does and I'll tell you why.
I am an example that it works. I couldn't even break 5.30 for the mile when I first started running. Does an athlete who runs a 5.30 mile show potential to hold 5.19 pace for 26.2 miles?
Not likely to someone who thinks short-term but to those who are on the edge, the ones who have no concept of giving up, it is very much a possibility.
The same goes for you. Regardless what it is.
You have to see that impossibility as a reality that can occur in your life.
Hard work beats talent but the individual had better not be intimidated to do the extra work.
If I had a dollar for every talented athlete that either got bored with the sport we compete in, got preoccupied with other goals in life or simply quit, I would be rich man by now.
An individual cannot rely on his or her talent to get by.
Take The Less Traveled Path
Someone hungrier and more driven will take the path you are unwilling to take.
Regardless of the chosen field.
People like safety and security. Anything that rocks the boat, out of the ordinary or what feels uncomfortable is not what most people seek.
You have to be willing and you have to be open to advice or else you'll continue to follow the way you have always lived.
We're only here once. Why do anything ordinary, mundane, status quo?
Who told you, you have have to live like that?
No one!
So don't.
Take action.
Hard work beats talent for a reason.
High School Days
I remember competing against a guy that went to Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Ohio.
His name was Michael Budenberg.
This gentleman had ridiculous amounts of talent.
I still have an old picture competing against him at the Bellaire Relays. I will try to track it down and post here on RDA.
My coach took a finish shot of us all about 20 meters from the finish line in the mile. Michael won in 4:32 with a huge grin on his face. He wasn't even trying.
The look on mine was drastically different.
I finished in 4.38 for 3rd place and I was giving it everything I had. It was my sophomore year in high school, my fastest time of the year and I was in agony as I crossed the finish line.
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Mike went on to run 9.21 for the 2-mile and 4.19 for the mile while a junior in high school and quit shortly thereafter.
He had immense talent but the longevity simply wasn't there.
He was a great athlete with enormous talent but the longing for long-term running success just wasn't in his heart.
Everyone has different goals in life.
Delayed Gratification
I have tried to set the example for the hard work beats talent idea for as long as I can remember.
If you are not a believer in delayed gratification you need to move on to something bigger and better for your life.
Everyone has strengths and we all have weaknesses but far too often we let our weaknesses dictate how far we can truly go.
It doesn't matter what avenue it is.
You could have setting a new personal best as your goal, starting a business or doing something that scares you.
You have to be tenacious in what you want and you must be willing to think long-term for true success.
Far too many people want to do things yet aren't willing to endure and take the steps needed in order to get out of their current lifestyle.
Pay Attention To Nutrition
There are over 70 major diseases that can be fought more effectively if only more people knew about glutathione and liposome technology.
This is a super powerful component of the body hardly anyone knows about.
Athletes want to run fast.
They put in the physical work.
These are committed professionals regardless of ability level at what they do.
What they are not doing is training the other areas in their preparation.
Nutrition is just as, if not more important than the training itself.
Talent Is Not Enough
Hard work beats talent but hard work had better do more than just the heavy lifting of preparation.
You can't expect to outrun, outsmart and out maneuver an army coming at all angles.
There must be a executed plan for success.
I'll also add that hard work that has a long range outlook will almost certainly never fail against talent that isn't zealous.
Yes, hard work beats talent.
The Status Quo
I have been at odds with the status quo all my life.
It stems from people telling me over the years the way I ought to live and it continues to this day.
The status quo wants you to believe that the talented athlete, businessmen, speaker etc simply was born that way but you can't measure heart!
We may be able to measure an athletes VO2max of lactate threshold but no test can measure the drive and focus of the individual who simply won't take no for an answer.
No one has control over what you are capable of doing but you.
I've been told to quit when I wasn't measuring up on the roads and know how it feels.
I remember reminding myself that I was a sub 2.22.00 marathoner while I still had a PR of 2.43.36.
You have to see the vision far before it becomes a reality and you have to believe that it will come true.
I know what it feels like to pour my heart out to people who I know are struggling as athletes and in their personal life yet still aren't willing to put in the work.
See Your Vision
Success, regardless what endeavor you have in mind, demands consistent, endless focus.
I was up until 1am in the morning last night fixing over 120 broken links that were on RDA knowing I had to be up at 6am to go to work.
The long-term success of RDA demands I put in the work to make it exactly that and the love has to be there.
I couldn't go to bed until it was complete. No one has told me to create this site. It was over 2 years ago as it is today, a passion to impact lives.
There is no half-assed effort here. I'm not in this for the short-term, as an athlete or as a businessmen.
Long-term committed partners and friends are what I am interested in.
People that are interested in breaking the status quo way of creating wealth and health.
Commitment
The same commitment I continue to bring in my own training I will place into seeing others succeed.
That being said, people will not always follow through. They have to believe in themselves and we all need a mentor sometimes. I did to earn that Olympic Trials standard.
It took someone else to see an area of my life (running) that I need to adjust, re-direct my thought patterns and tweak a few things in order for massive change to occur in my life.
It also took enormous work and passion on my part. The longing to succeed must be there.
This goes far beyond running.
Long-Term Work
The bottom line is this.
You have to be willing to endure and put in the work when others don't want to take action.
It doesn't make you any better than them. It simply means you've gotten to the edge and you look over and see your options.
You change course or you keep getting the same results.
I've given 26 of my 37 years on this earth to work that I truly wasn't passionate about.
It takes me away from writing, creating, motivating others and instead 8 hours of my day is spent around people complaining about meetings they must attend, hours they have to work…
…yet no one is doing anything about it.
My mother used to tell me a story when I was a kid.
She said, if you walked into a room and looked at the ceiling and it was filled with multi-colored lights and one light was burned out, which one would you notice first?
I told her, ‘I would notice the one that was unlike the others'. Go and do that.
If everyone around you is doing the same thing expecting different results perhaps you need to change environments.
Goal Setting
Imagine creating a way to throw a wrench into the equation that has had you stuck in that matrix?
Everyone has different goals in life. There are people in this world who are happy working in a factory.
How can you blame them?
It is all they have ever known.
I grew up in a very small mill town near Pittsburgh called Mingo Junction, Ohio. It is a small town with an enormous work ethic, yet Mingo continues to decline.
There is very little funding to build the town up.
Hard working men and women continue to work in the mills in the town trading their time for barely enough money to make ends meet.
It is my hometown and I love visiting because the work ethic inspires me but at the same time I see people who know no other way to earn a living.
There are others ways to do this but much like training and advice, you either are willing to put in the work and listen or continue to answer to someone else who handles your time for you.
Hard Work Beats Talent
I believe this with all my heart.
Control and leverage of your time is the most powerful, precious and priceless gifts we have and we had all better start paying closer attention than we currently are.
We have to cherish and protect it just as we do in our training.
You don't go out and earn a Boston Marathon qualifying time by talking about.
Cast aside the longing for money. Seek knowledge and control of your own time, search for alternatives that the majority of the people around you are not looking at.
Surround Yourself with a Team
People that think they achieve everything on their own without help are kidding themselves.
If you keeping getting the same result, are you going to continue to do the same type of training?
I think it is safe to say you would begin to get fed up and either quit or try something new.
People don't start making massive change in their life until they finally make the decision to take action.
I work around extremely driven and bright individuals, only one problem, they are all miserable, complain all day about why they hate their jobs.
Guess what.
I see no one taking action to change the environment they are in. They accept it, that this is what they are stuck with and the continue to trade their time for money.
Bills need to be payed, mouths needs to be fed.
5 days of work for 2 days of freedom is not a win-win situation folks.
No Other Choice
Change occurs when your back is to the wall and you have no other option but to succeed.
When you get so fed up with what you see around you, you either take massive action or remain with the masses.
Your choice as is mine.
I can tell you many times I wanted to quit in this sport. I failed numerous times over the years at all distances ranging from the 5K to the marathon.
You have to have an iron will that change is going to be created in your life.
Visualizing it every second of the day, seeing those that you love and are supportive of you relishing in that achievement creates a great deal of strength to keep you moving.
I have massive amounts of information here on RDA for my visitors. Sick of driving to and from work in traffic, take action to change that.
Do you want to run faster longer?
You have to do something about it. Wanting and doing are two drastically different things and far more people want than do.
Wanting to have more money to spend on your loved ones doesn't mean you have to trade your life away in order to make it a reality.
We are all here but for a fleeting moment.
How many of our 70-100 years do we willingly trade for a paycheck at a job? How much of that time is stuck in traffic to and from work?
This is massive amounts of our limited time we never pay attention to yet so many act as if they have unlimited amounts of time.
Work 40 years at a job only to retire when your old(er)?
I'm not buying that.
Natural Ability Idea
I got a little off topic above.
I tend to become quite animated when it comes to freeing up people's time with an opportunity that would allow them to train without any distractions.
Forgive me for that.
How much you can improve as a runner really depends on how long you are willing to sacrifice in order to see your goal become reality.
Talented athletes take much less time to achieve a high standard than those of us mere mortals who have to make up for what we lack with our drive, focus and determination.
That being said, talented athletes want it just as much as we do. Some do.
There are those who were born with physiological gifts and work decades to make the most of what God gave them. They are hungry for success.
Hard work beats talent that doesn't put in the effort that a motivated, less talented athlete will.
To beat talent that does work takes a lot of other strategies.
You have to be on top of your game nutritionally.
The athlete must pay attention to getting enough sleep, massages, ultrasound etc.
You have to have a long-term approach. What took the talented athlete 5 years to achieve may take you or I two decades to match.
We can't rely simply on our natural ability.
Stay Motivated
The work, drive and want to improve has to be there. I thoroughly enjoy my down time. I usually take a full month off per year.
What I have gained in the sport in terms of fitness was by way of over 23 years of endless, non-stop work but when I take time off, I, too, have to get back into shape.
I have run under 2.20 for the marathon distance, yet when I take that amount of time off, gain some weight and enjoy the break, the likelihood of trying to equal that effort upon my return to training is unrealistic.
So natural ability can only take you so far.
Everyone is brought a little bit closer to earth when they are out of shape.
Improvement really depends on how you vary your training to meet the demands of what you are aiming to achieve in your race.
If you have running 6.00 mile pace for the marathon (2.37.00) you have to set up your game plan in line to make that particular pace seem more achievable.
Delayed Gratification
Goals only seem impossible until they are achieved.
The biggest mystery for me over the years has been how to train mentally for races?
How do we prepare mentally to master a race like we do physically?
What am I doing that others will not be willing to do?
Does that make me better than you or anyone else. No way.
It is all a choice.
We either create the change we want to see in the world or we wallow in what surrounds us. If you want to get ahead in this sport, do what others aren't willing to commit too.
Closing Thoughts
It could be by way of running more mileage, hiring a personal coach, running faster for longer in your long runs or simply take action to be a part of a team that can help free up your time.
When you want to succeed as badly as you want to breathe, then you will be successful –
All available options, all within your grasp but as runners.
This video has drastically changed my life. I watch it a few times a week, have for years.
It goes beyond money but focuses on success and what it takes to feel and create that in your life.
We have to follow through in all areas of our lives to be a success. As long as you are working and learning then you are successful.
I don't measure a person successful based on how fast he or she runs. I measure it on how willing are those around me to challenge the status quo, in their training as well as their lifestyle.
Something has to give. People don't take action until they get fed up and truly want change in their life.
Make sure to visit and subscribe to the RunDreamAchieve YouTube channel. I create new videos there each week to help runners like yourself get better results. I hope this post on hard work beats talent has been helpful to you.
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