An Email from Eric Raymond to Linus Torvalds
Linus Torvalds has always struck me as something of a pretentious snob, but I feel there’s little denying that he is truly a genius. This email brings up a very interesting point, though - one that I feel all talented people must eventually either come to realize or fail in their endeavors.
First, we’ll define talent and skill:
talent - n: a special ability that allows someone to do something well.
skill - n: the ability to do something that comes from training, experience, or practice
And secondly, an excerpt from the email:
When you were in college, did you ever meet bright kids who graduated top of their class in high-school and then floundered freshman year in college because they had never learned how to study? It's a common trap. A friend of mine calls it "the curse of the gifted" -- a tendency to lean on your native ability too much, because you've always been rewarded for doing that and self-discipline would take actual work.
There is a very distinct and very important difference between talent and skill, and this difference is simply that talent is given, skill is earned. A talented pianist will probably do very well at a 3rd grade talent show, but, if he relies on talent alone, will probably be no match for a skilled competitor five years down the line.
Don’t get me wrong - talent is very important. Talent helps you learn what your intrigues are, allows you to effortlessly complete tasks that others struggle at. Unfortunately, while each person’s talents have different scopes and limits, there is one thing that always holds true: talent will always hit a wall.
There comes a time where your talent will not help you. Maybe you were the best for 4 years in a row - if you don’t practice, don’t learn, don’t work hard, the person you were sure would never be your match will surpass you. They will best you with skill alone; and if you’re talented enough, you might not even know how.
The difficulty comes when you ask yourself “Why should I improve what I’m already good at?” or when you think “This has never been hard for me, why should I push it until it’s difficult?” So you stagnate - certainly the top of your class for a newbie, but that talent doesn’t hold up against the flow of time. You never get worse - everyone else just gets better. You find that playing the main section of Fur Elise isn’t cute anymore when people boredly ask you to move and start playing Beethoven’s Symphony #5 with both hands.
So you’re here. Staring at the wall, questioning yourself: Push on, and become great, or choose a different path, discouraged?
You have to push on. You have to work for it. You have to spend nights and weekends getting better. You have to keep practicing, even when you’re tired, even when you don’t want to. You have to keep coming back every time you fall down, every time you mess up. You have to take pride in knowing that you aren’t where you are just because of a dice roll, that you didn’t get here by luck or by chance, but that you earned it. You have surpassed talent and become skilled.

















