Talent is something we are born with. On the other hand, skill is something we acquire. We need to work hard to earn it.

Talent, by definition, is general intelligence, the ability to understand. It is associated with the innate ability to aptitude. Being brilliant is a talent, a gift. However, more important than talents is how we use them.

Being smart is a gift, but it doesn't guarantee success if we don't use it correctly. There is no short path in personal and professional development. The separation between talents and abilities is still difficult for some people to understand. We have gifts or talents by nature; we are born with them. Instead, we develop skills only with the investment of hours of effort. No matter how talented we are, talents won't be enough if we don't care about developing them and spending time making them better every day.

It is my belief that talent is overvalued. Talent undermines and diminishes the effort that people put into developing a skill. As Seth Godin says, don't call someone talented because they are not, they are skillful.

Playing tennis is a skill in the sense that you work on it to get better every day. And also being creative, positive, enthusiastic, and someone who looks for opportunities. These are skills. You can get better, and you can choose to put work into it.

Don't confuse talent with skills because you could be blind to the first impressions and take out the real power of resilience, consistency, and commitment.

In the end, we are our choices...