Lets rethink creativity and Talent.

I guess like everyone else, I thought that if someone said you had talent, then it was another way of saying, you are special,  you were born to do what it is your doing. Because Talent is god given, and its a sign of direction, of purpose. Most of all, that talent is a rare thing and should not be wasted.
So what do you do if everyone is telling you, you've got talent in that subject but you don't like it... must be a tough choice to make whether to listen to them or listen to yourself.

So what is Creativity? Lets start with the textbook definition:
 - the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imaginationWhat exactly is talent?
- a special natural ability or aptitude
- a capacity for achievement or success: ability

Right.. that didn't help at all. This is gonna take some deeper thinking. That means videos if I can find them, reading if not.
 

Interesting short documentary on this topic, probably the best I could find and its worth a watch.

Maybe when assessing what talent is or what creativity is, it would be helpful to ask some of the people we as a society believe have both in abundance.

"Most" people would say that Steve Jobs wasn't ordinary, that he was gifted with extraordinary creativity and talent to inspire others. But that isn't the case. He was just a very hard working man, who knew how to make the most of the skills he had learned in his time here.

This is a great video, will smith is one of my favorite actors and it isn't because of his skill at acting. its who he is outside of film. You'll see.

What I've learned is that they paint a very different picture on the myth of Talent and creativity, as opposed to it being something you are born with and that will stay with you gifting you for the rest of your life.
My parents and friends always told me I was talented, this and that, and sure enough I seemed to do well in art. But It was never handed to me, and I never found it easy to focus, or easy to really set my teeth and plow through the work.
Really when I look at the difference between myself and my bother or sisters is that I chose to peruse art, and I chose to invest many hundreds of hours in that craft. It isn't sent to you on the talent train.  You may start  out with a natural affinity to something, but its raw, its untrained, and therefor useless, unless you invest the hours to build and train that skill so you can use it.
The more you work at it, the better you are likely to become, leave talent out of the equation. Its just a perk that helps get the wheels rolling  sometimes, but in the end its up to you to turn the engine on and drive into your future.

Interesting articles :

http://madmikesamerica.com/2010/06/where-do-creativity-and-talent-come-from/
http://www.mikhailklassen.com/2012/10/master-anything-where-does-talent-come-from/