Want to free your creativity?
Abolish “talent”!

Over the years, many people have come to me to get rid of a creativity “block.” While hypnosis significantly helps, clients are always surprised that I also recommend changing how they describe themselves.

To unblock creativity, banish “talent!” 

Yes, they should continue to call themselves poets or painters or songwriters or what-have-you.

But if they want to succeed, they should stop calling themselves “talented.” Now wait! Before you think that my aim is to cut anybody down, please know it’s the opposite. I strive to build my clients’ confidence and motivation so that they not only fulfill their potential, they continuously expand that potential.

Recent research shows that “talent” sabotages success.

Revolutionary research led by Carol Dweck of Stanford University reveals that seeing yourself as “talented” can dramatically reduce your ability to succeed. Moreover, the best way to encourage others in their pursuit of art or sports or indeed achievement of any kind, is to avoid the word “talent,” and instead to praise the work they put in, and the effective strategies they use.

To effectively support others, praise their actual effort.

In other words, don’t praise what people are. Praise what they actually do. And rather than seeing yourself as “talented,” take pride in your commitment and discipline.

In my last blog, we discussed having a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset regarding intelligence. In Dweck’s findings, fixed-mindset proponents mistakenly believe that intelligence is a purely innate trait, i.e. you’re smart or you’re not. In contrast, growth-mindset folks recognize that intelligence is variable, so we can make ourselves significantly smarter through focused effort.

A growth mindset is scientifically correct—& fuels success.

Scientists have discovered that due to “brain plasticity,” our intelligence levels are constantly shifting depending on how, and how much, we use our brains. What’s more, research shows that adopting a growth mindset fuels success, because it dispels the performance anxiety of a fixed mindset, while eliciting genuine confidence and persistence.

Well, guess what (you already guessed, didn’t you?), those mindsets apply to talent as well. Decades of studies, by Dweck and other scientists, confirm that thinking of talent as a fixed trait will hold you back.

“Talent” is a myth. Most likely, it does not exist.

In fact, most scientific experts conclude there’s no such thing as talent! If you find this hard to believe, check out the 900-page-plus Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, offering the most respected research on the topic, by more than 100 leading scientists who study ultra-achievers.

What creates a superstar: family, teachers & practice.

You don’t want to read all that? Okay then, here’s the scoop. The overwhelming consensus, based on many decades of scientific inquiry: Three factors contribute to superstar success: a supportive family environment, excellent teachers, and thousands of hours of effort. “Talent” plays no part.

But wasn’t Mozart talented?

Now some of you are wondering: What about Mozart? Mozart’s the poster boy of talent. Even today, most of his online biographies perpetuate the Mozart myth. The film Amadeus showed him effortlessly writing masterpieces due to his DNA. Serious historians, however, know otherwise.

Mozart’s real advantage? His father.

Mozart’s father—a skilled composer and famous music teacher—had begun training the toddler by age four! Dad expertly guided his son’s musical development and enforced a rigorous practice schedule. Dad also helped the boy write his early compositions—which were, in any case, neither brilliant nor original, but patched together from the works of other composers.

Mozart didn’t write his own first masterpiece (Piano Concerto No. 9) until age 21. That seems young only until you remember that by then he had undergone 18 whole years of extraordinarily intense study and practice. Remember those three elements that produce superstars? Mozart enjoyed all three. Ultra-supportive family (check!). The best teacher imaginable (check!). Thousands of hours of effort (check!).

“Talent” created my client’s creative block.

One of my clients, Jasper, came in complaining of “writer’s block.” As a youth, he had loved to write. His well-meaning parents and teachers tried to encourage him by praising his “talent.” This fed his ego but sabotaged his commitment. In adulthood he stopped writing—telling himself that between his family (a wife plus their two sons) and his job at a bank, he didn’t have time.

He told himself he would take it up again after retirement. He fantasized that once he had time, it would be pretty easy, given his talent, to churn out The Great American Novel fairly fast. When we met, he had been retired five years and written zilch!

The fixed-mindset belief in “talent” paralyzes creativity.

Here’s what he finally came to realize had happened. Because his notion of “talent” had raised his self-expectations sky-high, he’d become subconsciously terrified of falling short. If he got to work, and failed to be immediately great, that would mean (according to subconscious fixed-mindset logic) that he wasn’t talented. Scientific research shows this sort of paralysis to be endemic to the fixed mindset.

Clinging to “talent” causes fear of failure. So let it go!

Jasper wasn’t lazy. He wasn’t vain. But his all-or-nothing fixed mindset had paralyzed him with fear of failure. Instead of the pleasure he once took in writing, now the pressure filled him with dread. Fortunately, Jasper agreed to change his mindset. (He didn’t just take my word for everything; he read much of the science for himself.) He stopped calling himself “talented.” He finally got to work.

Enjoy the freedom of genuine self-esteem.

Is he a household name in fiction yet? No, but he’s writing. Is it easy? Nope. Does it require discipline? Yep. Is he enjoying more genuine self-esteem than he ever before experienced? Yes.

And, he told me, he feels free. He is no longer trapped in the fixed-mindset myth of talent.

What about you? Did you grow up believing that you were (or weren’t) talented? Can you imagine how it might free your creativity to adopt a growth mindset? Many people resist letting go of the notion of talent. What’s your opinion? Please share your comments below. And if you’ve found this post stimulating, please click Like. Thank you!