Talent Versus Skill

[pdub]

I was watching a drag race on TV the other day, a replay I'm sure. Somebody got a perfect light. I mean, .0000 leaving leaving the line. Was that luck? Maybe, but I don't think so. You practice and do something so many times, and if you're completely focused on it, perfection is possible, even if not every time. You'll get close at least.

So, was that "talent" or was it "skill?" Those two words run together. Most of us don't have much of either, and that's what makes it amazing when they come together in front of us.

What's got me thinking about this, I'm cooking a pot of spaghetti, it's a Sunday thing. The sauce I made a few weeks ago, a huge batch, freeze it in containers so we can eat for weeks. Please stay with me, this is going somewhere, I promise.

I'm not a caterer but I've cooked on grills a time or two. There was one thing, I think it was a wedding for some great friends, can't remember....all I can recall was there were a lot of people there. A lady came up to me....even older then than I am now...she was gushing....about what a "talent" it is to be able to "cook."

That told me a few things:

1. These folks, she and her husband, have eaten out every meal of their entire lives, and it's obviously been a very long life.

2. I don't think "cooking" is a skill OR a talent, it's neither, it's required to stay alive.

And I can't come up with a third thing to put on the list.

[studemax]

Don't sweat it, P - you have neither.
Oh, yeah - and the 3rd thing is luck.

[pdub]

Don't sweat it, P - you have neither.
Oh, yeah - and the 3rd thing is luck.

Which is why you're not on my race team. You have no "P"

EDIT: WAIT WAIT, you DO have a P. Last name, but you're still not on our race team.

[studemax]

We could be P&P Racing Team!!!!
I can sign up a bunch of sponsors....

[silver_bullet]

Pdub... there are three things that always come into play in every occurrence... time, distance, and luck.... yes, there is a talent to cooking....to see those have a taste for making things delicious for those they care for is something else.... my mother could burn water... you can cook for sustenance or survival as you call it, but to really have others enjoy it , thats something that requires talent and skill!

[pdub]

...and Stude missed the "P" bus. He's way behind, and not on Red's back window at all.

[studemax]

CURSES! Foiled again!

[fatguyzinc]

theres another factor--determination. what makes me 'succeed'
at whatever im working on car wise, because i HAVE to fix it-
its usually my daily driver, so no fixy means stucky stucky.
it also runs rampant through most of my life and personality...

i worked as a doorman-fat dude at the door-
(or "bouncer"-although i used to tell people i was an
"intoxicated patron ejection engineer"...) for 26 years
at different bars and clubs in and around honolulu hawaii.

i cant say how many fights i got in, id say 1-2 a week average
at MINIMUM. now times that by 52 weeks, times 26 years....
looking at roughly 2700+ fights. i have never lost one.

there are several reasons, one being i was always sober
and the guys i had to fight were drunk. also, im 6 foot 2 /300lbs
and have a 5th dan blackbelt. that being said.....
the biggest reason for me wasnt talent OR skill--it was determination.

i never got in a fight to prove anything to anyone, or show off to
my friends, or impress the girl i was with, or any other stupid reason.
i won because i had too. it was my job, trust me if you lose a fight as
a doorman you will be unemployed immediately. youre pretty much
hired on the guarantee that you can handle anyone at anytime, if it
becomes painfully obvious you cant, then youre useless--dead weight
so to speak.

so each and every fight, i fought like i was the 3rd chimp on the
gangplank to the ark--and brother, it just started raining.....
in essence, i was more determined to win because it wasnt
about bragging rights to me--it wasnt to 'retain the title', so to
speak, i fought like my life depended on it because in a nutshell
it did!

i still have friends that tell me to take up MMA or some other form
of organized fighting--i tell them i dont know how to fight like that.
as far as im concerned, theres only one rule in a fight- WIN.
also, my usual fight sequence is "SKNTE" (i say it like 'skin-tee')
which stands for Shins Knees Nuts Throat Eyes. kinda an
immediate disqualification for any of those i think.

AND, my opponents would need to take like 11 shots of tequila first...

[Thumpin455]

A skill is something you've practiced, honed to a fine edge, investing time and sweat learning it. That's everything I do. I've had to work at everything to become proficient.

A talent is anything that comes naturally to you, but not everyone. You try and you simply can. Ok, one thing I do is kinda like a talent. First person shooters on the pc, with no more effort than learning the map, I kill everyone online. So very useful in the real world. From the moment I started with those time sinks, I've been good at it. Everything else, cars, military, life, yeah had to learn the hard way.

[silver_bullet]

....

[Barry Donovan]

a fast internet is always talent, thumpin455

We all got talent. My weirdness with steel was some old nature. Adding skills, bonus.
I am getting real slow, before I am supposed to.. but I think I am a lucky disabled vet.

[ratpatrol66]

Buddy of mine has cut a perfect light twice. He cuts .009 to .040s most of the time, and he's old.

[AndyB]

Getting close to a perfect light takes work and setup. Actually hitting it takes some luck atop that. I've only managed it twice myself.

[Deaf Bob]

Talent: something coming easy with little/no practice
Skill: something you became good at due to repeated use.

An example of skill is replacing head gaskets (unfortunately an often job in demo cars) first one took a Ford mechanic and me 2-3 hrs now I can do it in 45 minutes if somebody lifts the heads off for me.

Talent in that instance would be the first time in 45 minutes.. Gary had talent, he could do many mechanical things easily the first time.. An example, I replaced the 30 round magazine on my SKS with a small one and quickly tired of reloading.. Was trying to take the smaller one off and it did not want to come off. Gary had never worked on guns before He took it off, I was the one who installed it 6 months before.. That would be talent

[DanStokes]

In my dictionary, "talent" is what you came with. "Skill" is what you do with it.

Dan