When I was a kid, things came easy. I was told I was talented. I crashed and burned into my 20's, uni dropout, and didn't really find myself until I scraped pretty close to rock bottom at a USPS callcenter. Then I gradually dug myself out. Talent is bullshit. Becoming an artist is just hard work.

I got told many times I’d never get anywhere so I just worked my ass off and look at me now, fuckers! I tell people this exact thing all the time.

I think "talent" in a field is the ability to keep doing it, and learn well in it. You still have to put the work in, but (a) you like and keep doing the work and (b) you don't waste your time on things that don't produce "progression" (however you might define that).

I actually really agree with this take. I push back against the word talent frequently. I contend that when I'm told that I'm a talented singer, for example, that makes it sound like I was naturally gifted. It glosses over literally thousands of hours practicing and studying.

"oh you're just so good with computers" bitch I failed out of a CS degree so hard my GPA was below 1.0. Do you even know how hard that is to pull off? Much later, coming back via a community college redo, Engineering wouldn't even readmit me! It's why I'm Math major. Had to move to Arts&Sciences.

Talent is a myth they use to justify not teaching you study skills.