“Talent” could also be an affinity for practicing that skill. I don’t think I’m exceptional at programming, but I got good at it because I enjoyed it and that was enough to drive me to develop that skill. There are other skills I didn’t develop as much because I didn’t feel as driven to pursue them.

Talent is hard to define. In my opinion talent = unobserved practice/study.

This picture gets the concept across pretty well. But it can also happen with kids that “happen” to be good at something. Like sports. Was that kid a natural at baseball, or did he just watch a lot of baseball games and played backyard baseball a shit ton so he just knew the rules/strats before any of the other kids?

Some people learn faster than others yes, but learning in itself is a skill.

Maybe this isn’t true, but it is definitely 100% more effective than assuming talent is outside of your control or an obstacle that can not be cleared.

Related: “Your camera takes good pictures!”

To be fair, to be able to practice regularly for so long to gain skill is rather lucky. Also, not all practice is equal, so having someone teach you to practice more effectively is a privilege. Either that or practicing on your own in an unguided manner and still being able to gain skill takes talent.

Yeah, that’s lucky and very well could require being lucky enough to have some sort of talent along the path.

Ah, Mac Hall. Those were the days.

In my region, people use “talented” as a compliment, not necessarily to indicate their skill was not hard-won.

I hate that having to work so damn hard on something is the only way to success. I don’t have time to train for everything I want to be good at.