Are you talented or are you hard-working? Which do you value more? The big question is, which should be valued more? Everybody always talks about “God given talent”, but people also talk about being hard-working. Personally, I think being naturally talented in something isn’t as valuable as being hard-working.

Everybody has a talent within them. However, many people fail in finding out what the talent is. For some people, finding their talent is a piece of cake. But for most of us, we have to work hard in order to figure out what that talent is. I think hard work could get you many places, unlike talent. If one is not willing to put in the work to harvest their talent, then the talent itself is essentially useless.

“Would you rather have a hard worker or someone that just shows up and is good?” says Ellie Zaczek (10). “Honestly, the gap between natural talent [and hard work] isn’t too incredibly big, so I believe hard work is more reflective of someone’s character. As a personality trait, I like hard workers because [that person] would be someone who knows the value of putting in effort. They are willing to put in effort.”

Think about it this way. When you are naturally talented in something, let’s say singing, you don’t have to spend hours and hours practicing. But when you want to become a singer and don’t have a “Godlike” voice, you have to work hard to develop the techniques and become a good singer. Not having natural talent could lead you to have a hard time. There might be times where you feel like you want to give up because you aren’t good enough. Working hard on something will teach you what it takes in order to reach new heights. As for talent, you don’t need to work much since you already have the skill.

Talent can also get you so far in life. You need to work hard in order to achieve greatness. According to the Huffington Post, “A large body of literature shows that achievement is more related to hard work and effort than natural abilities. Yet in the workplace, a predilection for innate talent may prevent hiring managers from choosing the most qualified applicant for the job.”

“By recognizing our implicit preference for naturals,” Tsay said, “we can become better equipped to identify and hire the people who actually possess the achievements we value and who are more likely to help us attain greater success in the long run.” Psychologists have done experiments to determine that achievement is more possible when the person is hard working.

Now don’t get me wrong — you can be talented AND hardworking at the same time. That will bring you a lot of success in life. However, if you’re talented and don’t do anything to promote your talent or make it known, where will your talent be valued?

If you have a talent, great. Work hard, and you’ll achieve true greatness. If you don’t have talent, that’s also good. That challenges you to become good at thing you want to be good at.