Talent is a Pursued Interest
I often find myself talking to others (and reminding myself!) about how to get better at doing things. Inevitably, I bring up the following quote from Bob Ross:
Talent is a pursued interest.
I love this quote because it's succinct and gets to the crux of the issue: You must pursue something in order to get better, and you should be interested in that pursuit.
What we think of as "talent" is a manifested interest in a thing. Interest results in pursuit, and pursuit results in improvement.
The "interest" can come from a couple angles: You might be inherently interested in the activity, or you might be interested in the end result and disciplined enough to apply pursuit.
Here's the quote in context:
One of the most interesting things that we see as we run across the country teaching this fantastic method is people continually say "I can't draw a straight line. I don't have the talent, Bob, to do what you're doing".
That's baloney.
Talent is a pursued interest.
In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do. And this is no exception.
But it's like driving a car. At first it's a little difficult. You have to learn how to make your hands and your foots [sic] work together.
Same thing, and that's what we're trying to teach you here, is the technique.
Once you have the technique down, all you need is a dream in your heart and the desire to put it on canvas.
— Bob Ross