Arthur Shopenhauer wrote, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see” and while this may be true, he did not specify how exactly one was to achieve either of these.
In the past year, I have a come across a hefty amount of literature which claims, that all of the great minds of the past which have achieved anything meaningful shared one thing in common: positive thinking. And though you may feel this may sound logical and even to some point true, I am afraid you have been torn away from the actual truth. Indeed, positive thinking is needed to be successful in this day in age, I cannot help but imagining that this outlook towards life makes 20%, if not 30%, but not more than 40% of what it takes to accomplish such a feat.I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the real engine behind anything grand is, and always will be hard work. Yes, this may be the type of truth which you may not be actually comfortable with, because hard work is not easy, but that's simply how it really is.
How do you hit that target which no one else can? You practice, you ask for expert advice, you practice, and then you practice a little bit more. In “The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance” there exists a depiction towards which qualities and characteristic should each person fulfill in order to gain the desired status in each of the realms of human interaction and understanding. Among them are sports, writing, playing chess, etc...
Now then, how do you hit that target no one else can see? First of all, you need to have direction. You cannot start aiming to the sky and all around hoping to hit it by chance, even though you may. What you need to do is first become capable of hitting the talent target and then continuing in that direction, the new genius target may reveal itself to you. This, of course, is only one method and I am not saying it is the only one. Just like any mathematical problem, it may have different ways of getting the same outcome.Remember though, nothing will ever come from it if diligent, hard work is not present. Bring your positive thinking as well, and you may well be on the way towards achieving something beyond your wildest dreams.
