No one ever asks that question, do they?
We automatically assume that we’re born with some talent.
But what if the reverse were true?
What if we were all blank slates?
What if everything depended on where we lived?
What if everything depended on if we were taught, based on how we learned fastest?
What if we had ‘teachers’ that didn’t believe in talent?
It’s all very fine to believe in talent.
But that’s like believing that 2 + 2=4.
Or to believe that time exists.
Because time doesn’t exist.
Neither does 2+2.
We humans made it all up.
And what if we made up the concept of talent as well?
Makes you wonder how many more skills you could have, if only you didn’t believe in talent, huh?
But again, it’s fine to fire rhetorical questions. But science is about proof.
And not only is it about proof.
But the proof must work across the board.
This means that anyone who’s interested in learning should be able to master the talent.
Anyone.
This means that you could walk into a cafe, where there were fifty people seated.
Fifty people of different ages.
Fifty people from different countries.
And education.
And capabilities.
And imagine we assumed that all of those fifty people are blank slates.
And we could teach them a skill.
But not only a skill, but help them become faster and more efficient than others who’d been using that skill for a long time.
We need a worthy challenge don’t we?
So let’s take a really difficult challenge.
Let’s learn Photoshop.
Let’s learn Photoshop without the toolbars.
And then let’s get everyone around you, no matter what their abilities, to learn Photoshop.
And then, learn it in such a way, that people have been using Photoshop for many years look at you in wonder.
And then, just to make it even more interesting, let’s learn Photoshop without a computer.
Is that a good enough challenge?
Are you game?
Because you’re one of those fifty people.
And this blog is the cafe. 🙂
So? Are you game, then?
Are you willing to believe in the blank slate, not because I say so.
But because you can prove it to yourself.
Are you?
Say yes in the comments section if you are ready 🙂
Si, but what if I already know a lot about photoshop?
We could do something else, eh? Like learn how to draw cartoons. Or something totally bizarre 🙂
I’d love to learn Photoshop. I’m in if you do it.
Ok, there’s always one person that moves you on, so I’m going to do this, even for an audience of one 🙂
I want to learn it. I’m ready to do something different! 🙂
Yep,
Ready to learn, ready to draw, ready to photoshop.
Jorge
It’s not so much about Photoshop, as it is about learning a new ‘language’ or ‘talent.’ And how new languages or talents are hard, because the method being used to teach is not fun or achievement-related.
Am I ready?
I believe I found an eraser.
I believe I found my slate.
I believe my slate is blank.
I believe I’m ready to rock n roll!
” What if we were born without talent”?
Talent is not something we have.
It is the observed effect of something we use in a specific environment.
For example, watching someone draw a cartoon and you say they are talented.
Talent is not the cartoon itself(effect) but the underlying attributes that come together that triggers an action expressed on paper in the form of a cartoon.
Yes, talent is a myth or better described as a word we use to describe the effects of a person attributes in action.
To develop a skill to use photoshop is valuable, but it too is an expression of my unique attributes combined with a focus on using your structure to learn.
I believe the talent being conveyed in this blog post is that you have found a way to break learning down in very simple steps that makes learning more of a decision to choose what to learn than rather than having “talent(s)”.
thank you. i dont know why but this made me feel beter for some reason. beleving that im not born to fail or fade gives me some sense of hope. so all i can say is thank you