'Mindset' QQC

Quote: "You would think the sports world would have to see the relation between practice and improvement - and between the mind and performance - and stop harping so much on innate physical talent. Yet it's almost as if they refuse to see. Perhaps it's because, as Malcolm Gladwell suggests, people prize natural endowment over earned ability. As much as our culture talks about individual effort and self-improvement, deep down, he argues, we revere the naturals. We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don't like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary."

Question: Why are we set against viewing those successful as successful due to growth and practice as opposed to innate ability? Do we really want to see our idols as superheroes? Don't most people want to believe that those they look up to have risen from nothing, rather than have been born great, so that they have something to aspire to? The article talks about character and mindset being most important, but aren't there some counter-examples showing that some are truly just naturally more talented, and will be successful regardless of their attitude or feelings?

Comment: I thought this quote, as well as the article as a whole, was fairly interesting. The article kind of just stated the obvious - what we've been taught our entire lives, that attitude is everything - but it is written in a way that it holds your attention and makes you think about it. Despite not caring in the least about sports, I felt that the author did a good job of expressing his point and holding your interest by telling stories within various sports that supported his argument that your mindset is what ultimately determines your performance, not just your natural talent and ability. This quote, in particular, stood out to me as kind of summarizing the explanation behind what the author was saying, because it gave you the reason as to why our culture wants to idolize those who do something that is effortless to them, not someone who had to work just as hard as anyone else to get where they are. All in all, I found this article to be interesting and informative, and it made me wonder what the entire book was about that this chapter was taken out of.