Is it possible to succeed in any field? Personality and Talent

In response to Pablo, I write this text about the limits of talent and the limits of personality. In the text “How to discover your professional talent“, Pablo asked if it was possible for anyone (physically and psychically healthy) to be talented in any area. The argument is the following: since the brain is plastic, that is, it can be modified over time, can we learn a new activity and excel in this new activity?

Remembering that the definition of talent given by me in the previous text included 3 questions:

– Have ease;

– Having love or passion;

– Have discipline and study for years to improve.

I will try to use examples so that this whole theory becomes clearer and the whole question comes closer to our lives.

The definition of talent that I use (ease, love and dedication) is simple. But we too will always think of talent as genius. Perhaps the greatest genius in history was Mozart, who composed a symphony at the age of 8. For those who don’t know, a symphony uses 56 instruments. Therefore, a boy, only 8 years old, managed to write for 56 instruments!

This would be another definition of talent. But that we can put in our definition as the facility to carry out a certain activity. It may be that a person is easy to compose music, but he will need years of study (dedication) to be able to do it. Mozart’s case is rare, of course.

The question Pablo asked us is: could Mozart (being Mozart, an excellent musician) also be an excellent soccer player? An excellent poet, doctor, politician, philosopher, architect, lawyer, engineer? Or would his personality allow him to be “only” a genius musician?

The limit of personality

A long time ago I read a book (forgive me because I don’t remember the name) that told the story of a boy who, while studying medicine, had become neurotic. He simply loved the field he was going to major in. But the suffering of studying all the subjects connected to the profession had caused him profound psychic suffering. So many minute details, subtle differences, descriptions and catalogs made him extremely tired.

The psychologist who attended to her soon saw that the university was the cause of the problem. Her personality (intuitive in Jung’s psychological types) was the exact opposite. Rather than absorbing the detail, his personality absorbed the totality, the global. The difference between his act of studying medicine for years and his personality, therefore opposed to the course, had created a great internal split: a neurosis. A big conflict between one side and the other.

The idea of ​​personality is as old as humanity. We can see this way of dividing people into groups from astrology – which divides people into 12 groups. Other societies also had their own formulations, as in some Buddhist groups that faithfully classified 83 personality types. Psychology, in its different approaches, has also created its personality types.

Freud and Lacan divided it from psychopathology (neurotic, psychotic and perverse), Jung from the four main psychic functions (sensation, intuition, thinking and feeling), Reich divided it into the body, the 7 character armors and so on.

Regardless of the method or origin of the distinction between people, the thinking behind each of these theories is simple: people are different. We can find “groups” of similar people. But then another question arises: is it possible to change the personality type?

The fixed personality and the dynamic personality

The answer to the previous question may have two directions. No, if we think that the personality is fixed and yes, if we think that the personality is dynamic. It would take a long time to describe the understanding of each theory on the subject. Instead, we can go back to our definition of talent and understand how personality relates to each of the items.

1) Ease

Personality can facilitate or hinder learning a new task, a new skill. In the case of the medical student who became neurotic, the intuitive personality made his life very difficult. So much so that it made it impossible to continue. But not every case is so extreme. Let’s say he managed to finish college. To continue studying and specializing, he would have to continue his whole life doing the same type of activity required during the course. It would have to be the opposite of what he is, in himself.

On the other hand, another personality type might find it much easier to study medicine. And the guy above could find it much easier in another area of ​​human knowledge. Just like Mozart had a facility for music.

2) Love

We can be very fond of a certain area. If we pass the stage of the fool in love, those who have more illusion than they see the day-to-day reality of the profession, we will be able to have more clarity about whether we like it or not. Someone might think it’s beautiful to be a dentist. Attending dental school and, in practice, hating being a dentist.

With regard to personality, we will see that we also tend to like more than what we already have easily. By a basic psychic mechanism (running away from pain and approaching pleasure), the probability of loving an area in which we are already comfortable is greater.

For example, I love psychology and I’m good at this area. I also love programming and technology, but I don’t have it so easily, because the type of methodical and organized personality that is required in the area, is not really my profile, it doesn’t fit my personality. With that, I like to study and create websites, but there is a limit. This is the limit of personality.

3) Dedication

If we think that it will take at least 10 years to specialize, we can understand that it is easier to follow a harmonious path with the way we already are. If we think that we are going to spend 10 years doing an activity in which we will feel like a fish out of water… why continue? It is necessary to evaluate carefully, therefore, whether we really want to dedicate ourselves and move in a given direction.

Conclusion

In a way, Pablo and friends, the conclusion is not closed (conclusion comes from conclude, close). Is it possible to perfect ourselves in an area that is not related to our way of being, our personality, our tendency? I think so, but the amount of energy, the amount of libido that must be invested, for so long, can become a displeasure (lack of the love aspect) or a difficulty (lack of the ease aspect) or so much fatigue that it generates a lack of interest to continue (lack of dedication).

In fact, this is precisely what Professional Guidance with a psychologist is for. In order to know which path we should follow, based on who we already are and on the basis of the potential we already have internally.

Questions, suggestions and comments, please write! It will be a pleasure to continue the conversation!

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