I grew up with a piano in the house. I would go in and clank around on the thing two or three times a week. Just make noise. My mom made me take lessons, after which, I would clank around and just make noise.
When I was 15 I was given a guitar by my girlfriend. Almost immediately I was making music. I just 'got it'.
Others 'got it' better. Easier.
Others still put in the time to practice.
Professional talent is the accumulation of practice.
Talent is inherit in each of us to some degree. Some for this, others for that. But it's practice that separates the professional from the novice.
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The professional gets paid.
My old roommate is a professional guitar player. He's been Taylor Swift's guitar player for 7 or 8 years now I think. Traveled the world. Seen it all. Played shows with thousands of bands. Been on hundreds of TV programs.
He put in the practice. I know because the kid was always practicing. Always in his room working on songs. Chops. Licks. Phrasing. Touch.
I could play guitar because I had been playing guitar for half my life. He could play guitar far superior because he had been Practicing guitar for half his life.
If he heard it, he could play it.
The level of practice one needs in order to be proficient in any talent is solely determined by the goals set by the person whom the talent is given.
You will practice for what you hope to achieve.
You know the Spiderman saying, "with great power comes great responsibility" - same with talent and becoming a professional.
Each person will have a different path.
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If one is looking for the easiest of all talents to master in order to become a professional, one would still have to have some amount of talent in that to begin with and allow practice to make up for the rest.
Unless of course it's a "talent" you invent for yourself. The most obvious example that comes to mind is this:
You don't become the hot-dog eating contest champion simply by sitting down at the table and eating more than your fellow competitors.
One has to eat a lot of hot-dogs.
There is no talent in eating hot-dogs. You either like to eat them or you don't.
But should a person enjoy doing so, and they practice enough (eat more at one time, and quickly), they can turn that enjoyment into a talent and turn that talent into a profession.
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I love the Jerry Seinfeld movie Comedian because it takes the viewer through the process of him learning and working out an entirely new comedic set.
It turns out that you can be funny and yet bomb on stage.
You can make your entire crew laugh and everyone you meet, but once you get on stage, you could fail.
Jerry shows us in that movie that you just have to keep working and getting on that stage and going.
He says, "Colin (Quinn) set me straight the other night. I was telling him I wasn't going to be doing Saturday nights anymore because the crowd was too worked up and he said, 'no. You get out there and you work, work, work, work, work.' And he's right. It doesn't matter when it is or where you're at. You need to craft that act in front of everyone."
He also says in the movie, "I was standing outside the comedy club long before I ever became famous and I was feeling bad because I wasn't really getting anywhere and I see these construction workers coming back to the job site from the lunch break and I thought, 'If they can show that level of dedication for a job everyone knows they don't want to do, then why can't I show that same level of dedication for something I love doing?' And so I determined I would do what I needed to do." (not exact quotes but that's close)
If you want to open doors and find opportunity you have to have at least some talent (and yes, everyone has some type of talent) and the determination to practice.
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The only way I was able to get as good at marketing was through practice.
I have a natural ability - talent - in the field. I have an education from reading and study and training. But it was putting it into practice that made me who I became.
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