[chipfunk]

This is incorrect in many cases. The relative importance of innate potential vs focused practice differs wildly based on the activity. Certain activities (powerlifting, sprinting, competitive programming, singing) depend very heavily on genetic abilities such as IQ, muscular strength, etc. Other activities (assembling wooden ships and putting them in bottles, sailing, choreographed dances, becoming an expert on world history) depend more on improving muscle memory or on learning specific skills/strategies/techniques that don't simply appear without practice.

Most skills are somewhere between the two extremes. If success relative to your peers is the goal, the former type of skill should only be pursued by those with some degree of pre-existing talent, whereas the latter type of skill provides opportunities for talentless but hard-working individuals to outshine their lazier peers.

[munchbunny]

On the topic of talent-heavy activities though: I think it's important to point out that you should only consider talent when you are trying to make a living doing it, because competition is high and thus you're likely going to get out-competed by people who have innate advantages.

But if you're just doing it for fun and not to earn a living, you can actually get quite good at any of them with focused training. You might not get professional level good, but you can become objectively quite skilled.