The Myth of Talent

Probably one of the biggest myths in sports today is the idea that the talent you possess is something that a person either has or they don’t. Too often I hear people say that a particular player is just a “born hitter” as if this reasoning explains why a particular player is having success and another player isn’t. We have a tendency to blame our successes and our failures on forces that are beyond our control. Do we really think that an athlete who hits .220 every year of his career was simply born to be a .220 hitter? That there isn’t much that they can do to improve on that number? Oh sure they can work their tail off and take extra batting practice and break down their swing on video and then maybe they will be lucky enough to increase their average to .250. I couldn’t disagree with this belief more. Any athlete is capable of putting up Hall of Fame numbers regardless of the “talent” that others believe they have or they don’t have. No athlete is limited in what they can accomplish in any way.

Most of my career I was plagued by lack luster performance and an inability to attain the levels of performance that I desired. I was constantly told that I was unable to perform at higher levels due to some lack of “talent”. I became the athlete that is commonly referred to as the guy who gets the most out of what he was given. I was the “hard worker”, the “scrapper” who had to scratch and claw for everything that I was given and I wore this label as a badge of honor. At the same time however I somewhat resented the label and for some reason had an inner knowing that this wasn’t who I really was. Regardless of what anyone told me or what I or anyone else labeled me, I always knew that I was capable of more. What I didn’t realize at the time was just how much more I was capable of. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to become the athlete that I knew that I truly was.

Even after I signed my first professional contract and was soon after released I still felt a sense of disappointment, I felt as though I had underachieved in some way. I had people all around me saying that I should be grateful for the time I had in professional baseball and that I had exceeded everyone’s expectations and I should be proud of that. I was grateful especially knowing how few people get that opportunity however I knew what no one else knew and while at the time I couldn’t prove it I knew there was more inside of me and I had to figure out a way to bring that out. At the time I didn’t know how and I couldn’t even tell you why I felt this way I just knew that I was not “overachieving” as everyone had said but I was instead underachieving. I was not living up to the unlimited potential that I was born with.

As a result I set out on a journey that continues today. To prove to myself what I already knew and to find a way so that other people could experience their unlimited potential and never have that quiet knowing eating away at them that they too are underachieving in their career and in their life.

Not knowing how this was going to happen or where to start I began to dissect the game of baseball working on the physical aspects and through trial and error figuring our how to eliminate the habits that were inhibiting my performance. At the same time I also began to study the power of our minds and how people throughout history have achieved physical and mental mastery. Since this journey began, I have been able to see my own development from an athlete of minimal “talent” to an athlete with above average talent in a relatively short amount of time. In that amount of time I have turned my weaknesses into my strengths and so much so that someone who met me today and watched my skill set would list my strengths as the very same qualities that someone who knew me 10 years ago would list as my major weaknesses.

How is this possible? How can an athlete completely redefine themselves so that the areas in which there appears to be little or no talent all of a sudden becomes an area of tremendous talent and ability? Could it be possible that we are all capable of achieving anything we desire and that we possess the talent to do so from the moment we are born? Could it also be that a lack of talent doesn’t exist and that the lack of talent we are experiencing is more a product of some physical, mental, or emotional roadblock that we have placed in our own way on our way toward success.

The experiences in my life and the changes that I have been able to make have taught me that I had already possessed the talent that had eluded me for the majority of my life. That from the moment I was born I already had the skill set necessary to accomplish anything that I had a passion for. That it was due to self imposed limitations through my personal conditioned responses to situations that was blocking my talent from revealing itself.

In Dan Millman’s book “Body, Mind, Mastery: Creating Success in Sport and Life” he states, “The essence of talent is not so much a presence of certain qualities but rather an absence of the mental, physical, and emotional obstructions most adults experience.” I couldn’t agree with this statement more. I have had the privilege to witness this very fact in my career and in the career of the athletes I work with. Obviously if this was an isolated incident where I was the only one who had made such major improvement then there would certainly be a cause for an argument. However, I have seen the same results happen to a number of the athletes I work with. This very weekend for example I had the honor of witnessing it once again.

On Saturday afternoon I was working with one of my athletes. We have been working together for the past couple of years and he has made tremendous gains over our time together. Recently he approached me about working with him on his throwing which was an area of his game that he has always felt a lack of ability. In a mere 30 minutes, by simply eliminating a physical “block” in his mechanics he was able to achieve velocity that he never knew he had. We constantly talk about arm strength as if it has to do with muscular strength and while muscular strength plays a role his lack of strength evaporated by simply removing a flaw that was blocking what was already inside. The exciting part of all of this is that he has only scratched the surface as to what he will be able to accomplish as he proved a few minutes later when we moved into the hitting portion of his lesson.

Over the past two years we have primarily focused on hitting with our work together. During that time he has developed as mechanically flawless a swing as just about anyone could hope for. As a result we have now been able to move into the mental skills area of his development as an athlete. Saturday was the first day of our “mental” training and the results that manifested themselves physically were incredible. In one round of swings where he hit 15 balls he executed 15 of the best swings I had ever seen him perform. Every ball that was hit exploded off of his bat with greater speed and back spin then I had ever seen out of this athlete. I could have taken any one of the swings out of that round and it would have easily been the best swing I had ever seen him perform. All the while his swing was performed with an effortlessness that to the few who saw it could only classify it as beautiful. By removing some mental blocks he was able to elevate his game to a level that had previously been thought of as unattainable. The amazing thing is how removing this mental block manifested itself into physical form by a tremendous increase in bat speed and power with a decrease in effort and an elimination of physical mistakes. What is exciting for me and for him is the fact that this was THE FIRST DAY!!! What is he going to be capable of in a year or the year after once he has gained greater mastery over his thoughts?

What revealed itself once again is this myth of talent. This particular athlete went from an athlete of “average talent” to “above average talent” in a mere 60 minutes. Obviously this “talent” has resided inside of him all along and has been waiting to be released. Witnessing these results I must also conclude that there is so much more inside of him just waiting to come out. It was so exciting to see him begin to see his unlimited potential and to begin to become the unlimited athlete he truly is.

Whatever level of baseball you are currently playing at or how well you are currently performing please know that you already have the ability to accomplish anything that you desire. That your ability to achieve your dreams is not in the acquisition of certain skills but rather your ability to remove what is currently blocking you from using the talents you already have. Take comfort in the knowing that what ever goal you wish to accomplish whether in baseball or in some other arena you already possess every talent necessary to accomplish this goal. You don’t need anything more other than what you already have. You simply need to turn inward and discover what it is that is blocking you from using the talents you have already been given. Whether it is a limiting self image, your conditioned responses to the situations in your life or some physical limitation in your mechanics, removing these roadblocks will enable you to achieve your dreams with ease and effortlessness. Dream big dreams, set your sights high and know that there are no limitations to what you can accomplish. The talent you need is already inside you.