I'm Richard Lloyd Jones, and this is Thinking with Somebody Else's Head. The debate between talent and hard work is a dynamic one. Is it raw talent that carries the day or practice and dedication that reigns? I remember deciding when I was 11 or so, on hearing my recorded singing voice played back on my cousin's new cassette recorder, that I couldn't sing.

How that marked my life, because I thought, wrongly, that you were born with singing talent or not.

Wish I could redo that decision.

Later in life, I heard about Vladimir Horovitz’s statement late in his life that if he hadn't practiced for one day, he would hear the difference. For two days, his wife would hear the difference. Three days with no practice, and the audience would notice.

A poster child for hard work.

Because becoming good at anything requires both talent and dedication, right? And probably not in equal measure. After all, we get in the way of our own success a lot, don't we?

Performance and Free Will, today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head.

Click here to listen to this episode.