Thread by @TheSweetKat

I found a worry I wrote down a few years ago that seems so completely irrelevant now: “What if I’m a fraud and don’t really have the hacker nature?”

Let’s talk qualities that are seen as things that you either have innately or don’t have and never will.

So, I’m a vocalist...

I’m pretty good at singing; it gives me a rush whether I’m in front of a crowd or just belting out Hamilton in my car. Many people who compliment my voice assume I was born with the voice I have now. But years of effort and good circumstances went into making it look effortless.

I sing almost every day. I had classical voice training all throughout high school and college, plus choirs and musical theatre for even longer. There are many moving parts that go into a song — breath support, diction, control of dynamics, balanced vibrato, even proper posture.

Then there’s the fact that I had access to resources. Before the days of YouTube tutorials, I had middle class parents who could afford a private voice teacher to help refine my technique. I also had time to practice — all the free online tutorials in the world can’t bend time.

Hiatus periods aren’t an indicator of apathy. There are times when I can’t devote energy to singing because my more base needs aren’t being met. When I had a PE after surgery, I had to work on just *breathing*, the most basic need of all, because that was suddenly a struggle.

Lest you think I bounced right back after my clot went down because I’d been singing since childhood, I actually ended up several steps back. I not only lost a lot of my range, I also lost abdominal agility — I had to re-train my diaphragm and intercostals to get enough breath.

To bring this all back to the “hacker nature”: there’s a lot going on behind the scenes of what we perceive as natural abilities that exist as a binary. We don’t see these as skills that can be built (and built more easily under certain conditions); this perpetuates exclusion.

Even curiosity and comfort with making mistakes can be cultivated. We do ourselves a disservice when we apply a fixed mindset view to growth-based abilities. Sometimes it takes the right environment, supportive coaching, or financial stability to make someone thrive.

“Do I have the hacker mindset?” is the wrong question.

“How do I build the mindset? What do I need to build the mindset? What societal conditions ease building the mindset; how do I right those conditions for others?” That’s where it’s at.

Thank you for coming to my TED Tweet.