Dedicated to Curiosity

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
– Albert Einstein

The above quote could mean a lot of things to different people depending on who you show it to. To some, it may mean that curiosity is better than talent, while to others it may mean passion goes hand in hand with curiosity. However, for me, it means that you should not go about life doing only what you are talented at. What even makes someone talented? Is it technical skill in an area? Or the ability to pick something up quickly?

I feel that if everyone goes about their life only doing what they are good at, are they really experiencing what life has to offer? People should step into the world, experience new things and cultures in order to find what makes their heart fly and what they truly feel passionate about. If you replayed your life on your deathbed, what would be your answer if you asked yourself:

I spent my life only looking at one area of the world. What else could I have done in my life? What else could I have accomplished? What else could I have experienced?

If humanity only did what they were good at, we would not be exploring space or exploring the ocean, and we would never have advanced in the world. We never would have gotten inventions like electricity or modern technology because the people who created and found those things would not have been talented in those areas to begin with. So, if this is true –  did they become talented in those areas? Why were they able to become talented inventors and scientists? Easy – By being curious and by begging the questions: “How?” and “Why?” on a daily basis.

Without these questions modern science would not be where it is today because nobody would be curious to know how things work or why we do the things we do. Without curiosity our world could possibly still be in the stone age! For example, I have two younger brothers. The first is extremely smart when it comes to technology. Was he born with this talent? Perhaps he was – but just because you’re born with talent does not mean you know you are talented in that area. My younger brother discovered he was talented with technology because he asked the questions – “Why does this work? What makes it work? How can I make it better?” which lead him to discover his talent. Over time, with these questions in mind, he started exploring everything about technology. If he had not been curious, he never would have explored the world of technology.

Something that is also a factor in discovering talents is how much work and dedication you are willing to put into whatever you want to be passionate about. A perfect example of this is my youngest brother, who plays youth hockey. My family has no idea how he found out about hockey and we frankly had little idea about the game. At first, my brother was too scared to skate onto the ice. But with hard work and dedication he is now making travel teams that play against other teams competitively and has been the captain of a few. How did he become talented in hockey? Well, he was curious to know what it was and he put time and work into it.

So, does this mean talent is based off just curiosity and hard work and not being born with something you are good at? Well, truth be told, you can’t say either one is right or wrong. I think both have elements that create talent. People can be born with the ability to have some things come easier to them than it does to others. Many people in my grade have a hard time writing but I find it very easy to write and I love to do it. But that does not mean someone can’t be talented in that area if they are not immediately good at it! Let’s say someone wants to be good at public speaking but they have stage fright – a truly dedicated person who wants to be talented in this area because they are curious to know how to be talented in public speaking will overcome this stage fright and may even become one of the most talented public speakers of our time!

I feel like if you work hard at something you will become even more talented at it than someone that it just came easy to. If you have worked hard at whatever it is you wanted to be talented in, you cherish that talent more since you know what obstacles you have overcome and what you have achieved. Someone who was just good at it thinks it is just easy and might not cherish the talent they have the same way.

In conclusion, anyone can be talented at anything if they are curious enough to ask the questions “Why and How” , and are dedicated enough to work hard to find the answers to those questions on a daily basis. That is what I think we should all strive for in life. So maybe – just maybe – when we look at it this way there really is no such thing as talent, perhaps just people who are willing to be dedicated to curiosity.