WHO HAS TALENT? WELL, WHO DOESN"T?

According to Daniel Gilbert in his book Stumbling On Happiness, studies show that most people consider themselves above average in most everything they do (and consider themselves less-biased too). He does add that people tend to rate themselves as worse than others when having to perform a difficult task, (juggling and playing chess are his examples). In Gilbert's words, "We don't always see ourselves as superior, but we almost always see ourselves as unique."

Which brings me to talent. Doesn't everyone think they have some talent? Many will claim to have it in at least one of the arts. I happen to think that most people do have some sort of artistic talent. What has prevented most people from developing their talent has been a lack of enthusiasm, which is no failure unless you're trying to earn a living as an artist. The talent differences among individuals is rather slight, but some have an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm and desire, which results in the development of that talent. I don't intend this to mean that you can be whatever you want to be. Unfortunately we don't get to choose our enthusiasms either, and therein lives the wide gap between a handful of humans and everyone else. In short, Mozart's enthusiasm is rarer than his talent. More on this later.