So, about meritocracy… “Those who think that success emerges from talent and innate intelligence are far more likely to be threatened by their mistakes.”—Matthew Syed, ‘Black Box Thinking’
I’ve found that people who believe they are functioning in a “meritocracy” and “only hire the best,” etc. are far more likely to believe in “talent.” And as an artist turned web developer, I do not believe in talent. It is a concept native to a fixed mindset.
“Why do you have nice things when you put in as much effort as people who don’t? Well you must be special in some way.” How much easier it is to believe that god or genetics has chosen you of all people to shine brightly than to suspect the system lifting you up.
But let me tell you this: I’m not talented. I wasn’t born drawing. Or coding. Or giving talks on a stage. I was horrible at all of those things. My art didn’t win local contests; I sweat bullets in technical interviews; and thank goodness no videos remain of my first few talks.
And you aren’t talented either.
You got here because enough people believed in you and you believed in yourself. And you did the work. I hope.
I often feel people who believe in talent are also more likely to see merit where only luck exists.
They also value effort less, as any “talented” artist will lament: like “talent” makes one’s work light and easy to give away.
They also value effort less, as any “talented” artist will lament: like “talent” makes one’s work light and easy to give away.
But I value effort. Effort is a skill. Determination must be honed.
It’s easy to walk away when something stops being fun, when the praise feed cuts off. This is Seth Godin’s “Dip.”
That’s not “the best.”
That’s an external validation based response system.
And those things are a mess of problems for another tweet storm.
That’s not “the best.”
That’s an external validation based response system.
And those things are a mess of problems for another tweet storm.
My first drawings were terrible. But I held a mirror to them and did them again. My JavaScript was weak, so I learned ANOTHER programming language to get better. My first talk was awkward, so I gave another and another.
I remember how many times my comics were rejected from anthologies. Each rejection knocked me flat. But I got back up, revised, did it again. And again. And again.
And again. And again.
Get back up.
Again.
Get back up.
Again.
Get back up.
Again.
Keep your meritocracy.
Choose to try again.
