Talent

Being born with a gift can be a blessing from above, but make no mistake about it, it’s also a substantial responsibility. In order to make the most of an aptitude one must learn to sharpen their skills and hone them, regardless of their raw talent. And most of all you have to work your tail off and break your back more the the next guy, if being the best is what you truly want. After all we are just diamonds in the rough at first. Only with ample experience, consistency, and infinite practice may we truly excel in our endeavors. Do you have what it takes? Get ready to go the extra mile as we take a look at talent on this week’s episode of FYI!

Transcript

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[Music] being born with a gift can be a blessing from above but make no mistake about it it's also a substantial responsibility in order to make the most of an aptitude one must learn to sharpen their skills and hone them regardless of their raw talent and most of all you have to work your tail off and break your back more than the next guy if being the best is what you truly want after all we are all just Diamonds in the Rough at first only with ample experience consistency and infinite practice may we truly excel in our endeavors do you have what it takes get ready to go the extra mile as we take a look at Talent on this week's episode of f y welcome to for your info English you got it you got it[Applause][Music][Applause][Applause][Music] hello hello hello and welcome to this another exciting edition of FYI for your engl it's a topic based show and if you haven't heard a topic you'd like to hear about please let me know you can find me over at my website Alberto Alonso docomo Alonso or Alberto Alonso and if you'd like access to a bonus episode plus tons of other content such as PDF documents and classes with me then you should join us over on patreon.com Alberto Alonso and folks I have an announcement drum roll[Music] please there are 200 of us at the time of this recording so thank you thank you thank you to all of you who are in my community you know who you are you get a bonus episode every week chalk full of awesome expressions and fun facts you also get all the vocabulary in PDF documents and if you're in our higher levels our super duper students and our Interstellar students well then you even have classes with me and you can ask any of them we have the time of our lives and we learn and laugh together and I guess this is a perfect time to send a shout out to all my patrons especially my super duper students Mara Javier and Paco and don't forget about my Interstellar students the ones who have a private class with me as well as everything else I said before give it up for Carmen Lena Issa Paco David Jose Maria Patricio and Edgard keep kicking butt guys and if you want to join us for more you can join us over at patreon.com Alberto Alonso now let's get this show on the road we're here to talk about talent and as always we're going to start with our intro I started out by saying being born with a gift and I know what you're thinking a gift a present unalo well this is another way of saying a talent and I think when you think of it like that well it's something that you should take care of that you should nurture it reminds me of the expression don't look a gift horse in the mouth I know we've looked at that expression on the show before so you can call somebody talented or gifted so I said being born with a gift can be a blessing from above a blessing is something excellent it reminds me of the expression a blessing in disguise let me give you an example oh man it hasn't stopped raining in 2 weeks yeah but this is great for the plants in the trees in the end it's a blessing in disguise but I didn't say a blessing in disguise I said a blessing from above and careful with that word I've heard a lot of students say above it's not above it's above and then I said make no mistake about it it's also a substantial responsibility if you have a gift or a talent you've got to use it because if you don't use it you're always going to wonder what if then I said in order to make the most of an aptitude an aptitude a skill a talent a gift call it what you will you must learn to sharpen your skills and to sharpen means to make them better stronger to get better at it to hone them this is like to polish you say bulled regardless of your Raw Talent so let's use Messi for example one of the most talented footballers if not the most and yes he was born with raw talent but he had to develop that Talent he had to make the right decisions he had to put in the time and energy it takes to make that Talent work he didn't just wake up one day and say I'm great at football great I'm done I don't have to do anything else quite the contrary and I know they always say Cristiano worked his butt off and Messi was born with a natural talent I think both of them did both both of them have a natural talent and both of them have worked their tails off you don't get to the elite you don't get compared or called the goat if you're not excellent so just being called that is amazing and these two guys have worked their tail off another way to say it is to break your back and then I use the Expression to be Diamonds in the Rough you say the same thing Diante Ino just be careful we don't say diamonds we say Diamonds the a is silent and then I said only with ample experience consistency and infinite practice may we truly excel in our Endeavors hey does all this sound familiar it's like mastering a language I always say you can't take out the time and energy in anything if you want something if you want it bad enough then you've got to put in the time the energy and the effort and this we can apply to learning a language this is why practice has to be fun when we're in class it has to be fun because repetition can be boring it's all about the approach in the end and and then you might have recognized the word excel you say Microsoft Excel Excel we say Excel it comes from the word excellent does it ring a bell it means to be great and your endeavors are the things you set out to do and then I ask the question do you have what it takes another way to say this is are you cut out for it we can also use it in the negative I'm not cut out for this and then I used one of my favorite Expressions get ready to go the extra mile and to go the extra mile is to do more than is expected of you so as always the intro is chalk full of great vocabulary you could just listen to the intro of this show every week and that would be enough vocabulary to learn new stuff every week but I want you to listen to the whole show and the bonus episode which in this week's bonus episode we're going to look at some fun facts we'll also take a look at the most talented people to ever walk the planet we'll hear from Michael Jordan we'll also take a look at some unorthodox talents and we'll look at the dark side talking about these talent shows and exploiting talent we'll get into that stuff a little bit later in the bonus episode also we'll look at some vocabulary and idioms all that and much more so join us in the bonus episode all right so as always we need to Define what talent is and when I looked it up it didn't give me the word talent it gave me the word aptitude does this mean you have a high IQ you say Coe intellectual okay maybe you've got a high IQ but your EQ is very low your emotional coefficient so it's not just about having a high IQ let's get that out of the way an aptitude is a component of a competence to do a certain kind of work at a certain certain level outstanding aptitude can be considered Talent OR skill aptitude is inborn potential to perform certain kinds of activities whether physical or mental and whether developed or undeveloped we just talked about developing Talent aptitude is often contrasted with skills and abilities which are developed through learning the mass term ability refers to compon components of competence acquired through a combination of both aptitude and skills blah blah blah blah in a nutshell and according to Cambridge a natural skill or ability to be good at something especially without being taught and that's one we need to look at good at are you good at it notice how I put those two words together I don't say good at I say I'm good at singing he's good at cooking good at good at it's not good Plus at it's good at one word and the best way to practice this is make a list of things you're good at and things you aren't good at and of course say that list aloud and I want you to put emphasis on the good at good at not good at good at good at not good at until it becomes innate like Talent so I looked at a lot of lists over here tons of lists of who people consider the most talented people to ever walk the planet and there was one person that was not only on every list but he topped everyone's list and can you guess who I'm referring to all right I'll give you a clue he was born in 1452 nothing he was Italian well what did he do okay hold on let me take a breath here he was an active painter draftsman engineer scientist theorist Sculptor and architect great God but he also studied subjects such as Anatomy astronomy botany cartography painting and paleontology you could call him the renissance man the textbook definition do you know who I'm talking about of course Leonardo DaVinci Leonardo derer Pierro DaVinci to be exact I think he is aru arguably the most talented person to ever walk the planet and it's not just my opinion as I said he was at the top of list after list after list that I looked at but we'll look at other people who made the list in the bonus part let's take a look at some common kinds of talent some of my talents before we get started nobody plays the air guitar quite like I do I am a master air guitar player okay all right well hey I really really get into it just ask my wife but let's look at different kinds of talents what we'll do is we're going to put them into categories the first category is Artistic and creative skills now let's put it this way creativity will help you out no matter what field you're in being creative is important period and Michael Jordan confirms it we'll hear from him in the bonus episode some artistic and creative skills painting writing storytelling dancing graphic design woodworking composing music knitting Pottery even origami and obviously we can include musical instruments as well I'm sure you guys can think of some more then we've got athletic talents and physical abilities this is stuff such as archery swimming horseback riding sword fighting acrobatics juggling ice skating climbing hiking and one of my favorites skipping Stones you know that that's what you do when you're a kid you go down to the lake you find a flat stone and you see how many times you can skip it across the water that's another one of my talents I didn't mention before oh and how can I forget I'm a pretty mean cook too now mean means disag but in this case it means Lo muen well you'll have to ask my wife and my daughter but I've got to admit whatever dish I making the secret ingredient is always TLC tender loving Careo and when I say cooking I don't mean baking oh man I'm horrible at putting things in the oven but grilling sautéing but the moment it comes to baking a cake man I don't know why I just can't make a cake and you know what that takes the cake you know the expression that takes the cake esma you say in Spanish it's another way of saying that's the best or worst thing I've heard and what about you guys are you thinking about your talents do you have any artistic or creative skills or maybe athletic or physical talents another category people skills man this is is so important even if you're not a people person you need to know how to be one cuz we all have to deal with people some skills that are really good and considered people skills listening the power of persuasion so being very persuasive being a leader how do you practice that and I think again that's an innate thing too you can become a better leader but some people are just natural born leaders they're Alpha Personalities in instead of beta personalities I myself for example I've always been a leader I've never wanted to be it's just the position I took I would get to a party and say okay here's what we're going to do but I'm talking about since I was a little kid I remember even once in Puerto Rico we were in the rainforest and there were like 30 people there and we were looking it was like a little Bridge there and we were looking at this beautiful waterfall and it was just appetizing it was just calling you to get under it because it was muggy it was hot I mean we're in Puerto Rico what do you expect in a rainforest and then I decided Well I'm going to go take a closer look I see a little Trail over there and I'm going to walk up along the side of the waterfall and I went and all 20 people followed me again it was not something I did on purpose but I led the group is it something I like no again sometimes times a talent can be a curse too other people's skills are parenting that means being a good parent learning how to charm people or win them over or being empathetic and knowing how to comfort people what about debating that's such a huge skill and I don't just mean in the office sometimes you need to debate at home with your wife I love you honey negotiating public speaking that's so important even telling jokes and I don't mean being a standup comedian but I mean having a sense of humor knowing when to put a little joke in there from time to time to lighten up a situation now we'll take a look at some academic and intellectual skills spelling you're either good at it or not I remember when we were kids of course we all practiced the same in school but there were people who just had a natural proclivity to spelling While others had a natural proclivity to m and that's good you should know what you're good at your strengths your weaknesses it doesn't mean you give up and you don't do your weaknesses but you know you need to be a little bit more patient other academic and intellectual skills are learning foreign languages the good news about that one is the more you speak the easier it gets there's also memorization I remember some kids were great at memorizing things and it didn't mean that the other kids couldn't it just means that they had to work double as is hard and then I remember some people who were speed readers I'm a slow reader but also I like to take my time math oh man that's my slogan and I think it's the worst because I think I almost sabotaged myself I'm not good at math I'm not good at math I'm not good at math keep saying it Alberto and it will become the truth then you've got people who are really good at bookkeeping that means keeping track of your expenses and all that jazz others are good investors even solving a crime is an intellectual skill you have to have a lot of creativity and a lot of talent and Imagination if you want to be a good detective and then you've got some other more dubious talents talents such as lying some people are really good liars they lie through their teeth they're compulsive liars they believe their lies other people Master cheating in a casino on a partner you've also got forgery or fraud forgery is signing somebody's signature it reminds me of the movie Catch Me If You Can some people are really good at spying but again you can develop that and you can go work for a government agency that's into spying some people are really good at gambling they learn the game they learn the odds and their life is going into the casinos or these online Bing sites and at least trying to come out on top but if you know the game it gives you an advantage you know the stakes you know the odds some people are great robbers they've been robbing banks or breaking into homes or museums for decades without getting caught it's a talent is it one that should be celebrated no like computer hacking that's a talent being able to hack a system and then you know what happens in the end these hackers end up being employed by the people they were hacking the perfect example is Frank abig now from Catch Me If You Can which we just mentioned in the end he was hired because who would recognize a forged check better than him then you've got safe cracking these are people who know how to crack a safe you say and you've even got professional Killers you call them cados we call them Hitmen these people are professionals they don't only know how to carry out a killing but then they know how to dispose of the body and disappear into the night it reminds me of Richard klinsky I think his name is if you haven't seen it check it out it's called The Iceman Confessions of a Hitman and this guy literally got paid to kill people and it became his art his skill again we're talking about dubious talents right here other talents are rhyming you can maybe become a poet or a hip-hop artist if you know how to rhyme you've got lip reading here's one is lip syncing a talent you say a playback because I remember in school we had a talent show where we had to lipsync and I said but wait a second we're being judged on our stage performance then not on our singing ability I think a huge Talent is being a handyman knowing how to fix everything my friend Shawn doesn't matter what it is he'll figure out a way to fix it even if he doesn't know it that is an amazing talent that can save you a lot of money in the long run so the same way there are talents that can be used for bad there are many that can be used for good what about gardening if you know how to garden you don't only have a nice Garden but you've got food to eat as well so repairing gardening this is kind of DIY stuff DIY is doit yourself and I include Plumbing in that too Plumbing carpentry stone masonry so these are just some of the talents that I came across what are your talents what are you good at what are the things you're not good at and it doesn't mean you can't get good at them like we said before it just means you have to work harder in that area also as we say in English stick to what you know it's good to leave your comfort zone and say I want to be a professional ice skater but also you've got to be realistic you know how many hours it takes to be a professional ice skater have you guys heard of the 10 th000 hour rule supposedly if you dedicate 10,000 hours to something you will become an expert a master now I don't know if that's a a rule but I guess it's a general rule obviously some things are easier to master than others we're going to get going in just a moment over here but we've got a lot of exciting stuff to look at in the bonus episode we're going to look at some weird talents we'll also hear from Michael Jordan one of the most talented people to ever walk the planet and he'll tell us how creativity and talent are one in the same in other words you can't have one without the other and you would think Sports you don't need creativity for sports you just got to get the ball in the hole Yeah but if you want to be the best if you want to stand out then you need to fly through the air like Air Jordan there have been many many basketball players who can score but with that style with with that flare with that dedication Jordan is in a class of his own if you haven't seen the documentary there's a documentary about Michael Jordan and Nike and his early years really interesting vocabulary and a fascinating story even if you don't like basketball as I said we'll also take a look at the dark side some of these talent shows have had some bad results and I don't mean coming in last place I mean there have been many suicides and we'll look at tons of idiomatic expressions that have to do with Talent we're going to say goodbye now with Fran Liebowitz Fran libowitz if you didn't know she's an American Author public speaker and she has a really funny Netflix documentary called pretend it's a city and this is from that documentary it's her talking about Talent let's give it a listen anything thing writers need or painters or you know any other kind of artist is talent and the great thing about Talent is that it is the one thing the only thing I can think of that is absolutely randomly distributed throughout the population of the world it has nothing to do with anything it has you cannot buy it you cannot learn it you know you cannot inherit it you you can't it's not genetic okay it is just like sprinkled like you know sand around the world and it could come up anywhere now of course there are many places where you might have this talent but you have no ability to express it okay there are many places like that but um and it is probably the reason why people are always especially in this country um looking for explanations for um success of a book or I mean when I say success I don't mean Commercial Success other than talent because it's infuriating to people well there you go I think that sums it up quite nicely that'll do it for the first part I sure hope you'll join us in the bonus episode of this week's FYI[Applause][Music][Music]