You might not have a talent problem. You might have a striving problem. Learn why effort beats skill when you actually show up.
Most young guys blame talent. They say, "I'm just not naturally gifted at this," or "Some people are born with it, and I'm not." Here's what I actually see: it's not a talent problem. It's a striving problem.
Talent is real, sure. But it's way overrated compared to what actually separates people. The striving problem is that you're not showing up with the right intensity, consistency, or focus. You're half-in. You're hoping it works instead of deciding it will.
I've met plenty of naturally talented guys who went nowhere. And I've met guys with average gifts who became exceptional because they had a striving problem they solved. They made a decision to actually commit—not just say they're committed, but to feel the weight of it every single day.
The striving problem looks like this: you practice for a week, then life gets busy and you skip two weeks. You're talented enough to feel like you're still "in the game," but not committed enough to actually dominate it. You compare yourself to people who've been all-in for years and wonder why you're behind. Well, you know why.
What changes things is recognizing this early. If you catch yourself with a striving problem instead of blaming genetics, you've already won half the battle. Because striving is completely in your control. Talent? You get what you get. But the intensity, the frequency, the mental toughness you bring—that's all you.
I've written about this kind of mindset shift before on Success Scholars, and the guys who actually change their lives are the ones who read it and then do something different that week. Not next month. That week. They don't overhaul their entire life—they just shift the intensity on one thing.
Here's what I mean: if you're learning a skill, you don't need to practice eight hours tomorrow. You need to practice one focused hour every single day for the next thirty days. That's how you dissolve a striving problem. Not with giant bursts of motivation. With unsexy, daily commitment.
The second part is energy. Your energy sharpens energy. When you actually show up with real intention, other people notice. They want to work with you, they give you better opportunities, they take you seriously. But when you're half-committed? Everyone feels it. And they respond accordingly.
So before you tell yourself you don't have what it takes, get real about whether you're actually striving. Are you going all-in on your craft, your goals, your vision? Or are you hoping someone else's talent gene will somehow show up in you?
The answer changes everything. Start this week. Pick one thing you've been drifting on, and commit to it fully for thirty days. No breaks. No excuses. That's how you turn a striving problem into your greatest advantage.