Comment by franze | Hacker News Reader

Comment by franze | Hacker News Reader

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i have a 14 year old son. probably due to

  a) bad teeny-movies
  b) a demotivating school system

he believes that ha has to find his "secret" talent - and after he has found it - life will

  I) be easy
  II) suddenly make sense.

i try to explain to him that it (life) just does not work like this he should just do what he is interested in - even if it is hard (especially if it is hard). surprise, surprise he does not believe me.

for me the concept of "talent" is just thought-cancer, it might be valid in some edge cases but overall it's just harmfull (not only for teens).

"Thought cancer", perfect! I always wanted a term like this to describe it. Definitely agree, even if there's such thing as raw natural ability, I dont think the lack of it is among the major reasons people fail. Succes is like a fire, there's no "rule", it can result from several different things and it's very complex. Trying to oversimplify it like the author does can only do harm.

He is not too far out. Figuring out your "secret" talent(s) does not make life easier, but it definitely makes easier (and fun) doing the thing you are talented at.

The key, in my opinion, is to figure out how to make money off your talent(s).

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