“Yes, yes, never mind that,” he said, waving me away. “But have you ever considered, what’s the assumption that someone makes if they say they have no talent?”
I kept quiet.
“It means that they think their problem is technical.They believe they do not have the skills.”
“Oh,” I said.
“And so I thought that your problem was technical! I trained you as if your problem was technical. But it wasn’t! No matter what I taught you, you didn’t seem to improve. Your problem is a matter of will, not a matter of skill. I taught you everything you needed to know in the first two months, but you just didn’t seem to apply it! You were not willing to apply it.”
https://commoncog.com/mental-strength-judo-life/
Memo to self. “I’m not smart enough” or “I’m not good enough” masks an underlying assumption and uncovering that assumption—“I’m not willing to will my way forward”—is essential to progress.
I wonder if the inverse also is true. The self-talk of “I’m a fart in a windstorm” masking some deeper truth?
Also true: “I’m not talented enough”. But that’s a realization you get after you have applied extreme will and still have not reached your goal.