This is quite apparent in the way we create icons out of people who struggle to overcome a lack of natural talen. Consider the true story of Rudy Ruettiger, the 23-year old groundskeeper at Notre Dame'stadium, who was the protagonist of the 1993 movie Rudy. At just 5'6" and 165 pounds, this young man clearly didn't possess the physical ability to play big-time college football, but he had ample "heart."
Rudy worked tirelessly to gain admission to Notre Dame University so he could play football there. Eventually, after being rejected three times, he was accepted at Notre Dame and soon therafter earned a spot on the football team's practice squad.
For two years, Rudy took a beating in daily practices, but he was never allowed to join this team on the sidelines. Then, after trying as hard as he could for two seasons, Rudy was finally invited to suit up for the final game of his senior year. In the last moments of this game, with a Notre Dame victory safely in hand, Rudy's teammates lobbied their coach to put him in the game. In the final seconds, the coach sent Rudy in for a single play - and he tackled the opposing team's quarterback.
It was a dramatic moment and of course Rudy became and instant hero. While Rudy's perseverance is admirable, in the end, he played a few seconds of a college football and made a single tackle...after thousands of hours practicing.
The inspirational nature of theis story actually masks a significant problem: Overcoming deficits is an essential part of the fabric of our culture.
A misguided Maxim?
"You can be anything you want to be, if you just try hard enough" - You cannot be anything you want to be - but you can be a lot more of who you already are.
What StrengthsFinder actually measures is talent not strength. The ultimate goal is to build real strength and talent is just one of the ingredients in this formula.
Although people certainly do change over time and our personalities adapt, scientists have discovered that core personality traits are relatively stable throughout adulthood, as are our passions and interests. And more recent research suggests that the roots of our personality might be visible at an even younger age than was orignially thought. A compelling 23 year longitudinal study of 1000 children in New Zealand revealed that a child's observed personality at age 3 shows remarkable similarity to his or her reported personality traits at age 26. This is one of the reason why Stregnths Finder measures the elements of your personality that are less likely to change - your talents.
Knowledge, skills and practice are also important parts of the strengths equation. Without basic facts in your mind and skills at your disposal, talent can go untapped. Building your talents into real strengths also requires physical strengths. For example, if you are born with the potential to build large biceps, but you do not exercise these muscles regularly, they will not develop. However, if you do work equally as hard as someone without as much natural potential, you are likely to see much greater return. Adding raw talent is a very different story. While it may be possible, with a considerable amount of work , to add talent where little exists, our research suggests that this may not be the best use of your time. Instead we've discovered that the most successful people start with dominant talent - and then add skills, knowledge and practice to the mix. When they do this, the raw talent actually serves as a multiplier.
TALENT (a natural way of thinking, feeling or behaving)
X
INVESTMENT (time spent practicing, developming your skills and building your knowledge base)
=
STRENGTH (the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance)
