There’s everything to love about this quote – the simplicity, aspiration and a desire to constantly learn. We belong to a generation where talent is often viewed as the number one thing. Sometimes, this extra focus on talent makes us forget things like hard work, taking feedback and continuously growing. We have numerous examples of people who have broken the predictions of limited talent and created inspiration for us. Today, I want to focus on this element of inspiration through Einstein’s quotes – I have no special talents I am only passionately curious. It is a talent in itself to maintain this curiosity and hunger. Let’s delve more into the details of the meaning of this quote and how we can derive inspiration from it.
I have no special talents I am only passionately curious
This is a beautiful statement from someone who’s a constant source of inspiration. I love the humility that says that Einstein has no special talents. I don’t know how truly humble it is, but I like that this quote moves away from worshipping talent and makes us focus on the hard work. We don’t have a lot of control over this talent – it is a given, finite thing. Unfortunately, we can’t change this much as well. This is where your opportunities, where you are born etc come into play.
Although we have no control over this special talent, we have a sense of control over our hard work and continuous progress. Talent is unreliable because it fails when we don’t work hard. On the other hand, hard work is more reliable because it gives us more things in our control – Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard! Naturally I am making a case for hard work because we can take charge of our life and find solutions.
The other aspect in the meaning of I have no special talents I am only passionately curious is about curiosity and hunger to learn. When we feel talented, we also have an ego that creates a false impression that we know more things. It also breeds overconfidence and makes us ignore some of the feedback. The passionate curiosity however can make us humble and look forward to learning. In this learning, we can improve our skills and continue to grow. Remember Steve Jobs saying – Your time is limited, Stay Hungry Stay Foolish. This hunger and foolishness might save us some day and create a continuous growth mindset which brings us success.
I have no special talents i am only passionately curious