What Jordan Peele Says About “Talent”
Last night, we saw LIFE OF CHUCK (which is wonderful!) and there was a trailer for Jordan Peele's new movie HIM. Jordan EP'd it, but it had to get past all his filters, so its an extension of the official MonkeyPaw ethos.
And there is a statement in the trailer: "Talent is how hard you're willing to push yourself to succeed."
The champs, the masters, the successes don't focus on what they might have been given at birth…all their attention is on what they do with every day, every moment of prep or play time.
Average people focus on what they or others were given at birth. It's like someone tall thinking that's enough to get to the NBA. And anyone taller than 5'6" should be studying Spud Webb rather than thinking they weren't tall enough to play basketball. I submit that those people wouldn’t have made it even if they were 6'6". The REAL players would be the best in their local league, a demon on the pick-up court even if they are lawyers or Uber drivers as their day job. Or they would have found SOMETHING at which to excel. Total bad-ass.
Give that bad-ass a few extra inches, and that drive might well result in an Olympic or Professional life. But…pro is pro. And most of Pro is HEART.
This is like the children who think that Batman's power is being rich. Really? Don't they know any rich people? Haven't they studied them? There are countless people with fortunes over a hundred million dollars. There are no Batmen.
Whatever Batman is, it isn't about money. In fact, take a poor kid and give him Batman mentality, and they'll MAKE a hundred million dollars, and also dominate the local karate circuit. Show me THAT person, and yeah, I'll agree that if they'd been born rich, they might be Batman.
Talent is how hard you are willing to push yourself to succeed.
In the MAGIC formula we'd say "yes IF": you also have an accurate Map of action, can manage your emotions to sustain action over time, have actually defined your goal so that its achievement is a positive thing in your life, and believe that you CAN and SHOULD take these actions.
So…yes. Its true. But it is from this perspective one of FIVE basic elements. Other systems of thought will look at this differently. Brendon Burchard's "High Performance Six" would say "how hard you're willing to work" is included in their list of six characteristics: Clarity, Energy, Urgency, Productivity, Influence, and Courage.
Note that you can subsume this under "Map" and you'll make MAGIC. How about the Three Gates?
Is it True that talent is hard work? Well, every winner says so. But it is reasonable to say "part, yes."
Is it Kind? It says that if you have a dream, AND ARE WILLING AND ABLE TO DO THE WORK you can be on the "path of mastery." There is a trick here: real martial artists want to be the best they can be. They aren't comparing themselves to others. The kid who goes into the school saying "I want to be a champion" is fun, and they will work hard, and might well bring home the trophies. But what the teacher is waiting for is the day they STOP comparing themselves to others. Ultimately, the people who will be the best will come from the set of people who are simply committed to being their best. The set of people who need to be better than others? They will flame out, because there will always be anxiety and fear, rather than the joy of discovery. So yes, it is kind, as long as your eye on the right goal, the only one you have control over: to be your best. If you take joy writing, then just being able to finish books and stories to share with others will be a reward, the building blocks of a good life. If you can make enough money doing it to support you, you are blessed. If you need a career to support the hobby, you can give thanks you figured that out. If you find a spouse willing to help balance out the finances, you have a pearl beyond price.
Is it USEFUL? Well…if the ultimate goal is to "Escape Suffering, Embrace Joy, and Be of Service" then ANYTHING you do that takes you into "flow" keeps you in the moment: no suffering. If you enjoy it, better still. If you find a way to monetize it by finding a community that needs or wants your skills, then you have found a way to spend your days in intense flow state, that supports you, that also provides service to your community, even if "only" entertainment. And as long as you protect yourself, the more service you provide (the more people appreciate what you do), the more you are rewarded.
Working hard at something you love, then, is a perfectly legitimate route to life happiness. You might want to look at the people who would agree with this. And the people who argue.
Whose lives do you find most appealing? If you DON'T find their lives appealing, and you believe our choices and actions influence our results…be very careful.
So…we have a horror movie coming up about someone willing to sell their soul for success. That's a great metaphor for life, and a solid foundation upon which to rest a story.
If things go wrong (and HIM is a horror movie, so something WILL go wrong) you will find the warning signs clearly:
He will do dishonest things. Lie to himself or others. Break rules.
He will do unkind things. To others. To his own being. This is tricky. Did Muhammad Ali make a mistake to invest himself so deeply in performance that it affected his health? Did Bruce Lee? I suggest that both did what they needed to do to be in alignment with their core being. They couldn’t have done otherwise and been honest.
He will do non-optimal things. Obviously. Either he chooses the wrong goal, or he mistakes fool's gold for the real thing.
If the character followed the Three Gates, it wouldn’t be a horror movie. He'd look at the price demanded and say "Nope." And "Get Out." And that is what Jordan wants "Us" to understand.
All puns intentional.
Namaste
Steve
