According to Wikipedia, Fred Astaire is widely seen as the “greatest popular-music dancer of all time”.

But early in his career, Fred was told he’d have no future in showbiz due to his ordinary singing voice, average acting skills and unremarkable dance ability.

One studio executive even wrote “Can’t act.  Can’t sing.  Balding.  Can dance a little”.

Poor Fred!

Now, I’m sure Fred had some natural talent.  

But by the sounds of things, that talent wasn’t obvious.

And maybe, just maybe, this untapped talent was key to Astaire’s achievements.  

Because it turns out that having natural talent - and knowing it - can be a real barrier to success.

Carol Dwek explores this idea in her book Mindset.

She recalls a study which had 100s of students taking part:

We gave each student difficult problems from an IQ test.  They mostly did well.  When they finished, we praised some students for their ability and we praised others for their effort. 

Then we gave the students new, harder problems, which they didn’t do so well on.  The “ability kids” now thought they weren’t smart after all. The other kids simply thought their difficulty meant ”apply more effort or try new strategies”.

Dwek goes on to say:

The performance of the ability-praised students plummeted, even when we gave them easier problems.  Losing faith in their ability, they were doing worse than when they started.  The effort kids showed better and better performance.  They’d used the hard problems to sharpen their skills. 

Guess what?

If we’re looking for someone who embodies this “apply more effort, try new strategies, sharpen skills” idea, we need look no further than fancy-foot Fred.

See, Fred was willing to push the boundaries.  He created new dance moves, styles and techniques that captivated audiences.  

He was known for his work ethic and practiced for hours and hours each day.

He had exquisite attention to detail and perfected the tiniest movements of his footwork and body. 

And he was adaptable and versatile.  He worked with a variety of choreographers and directors to expand his repertoire and skills.

Bottom line:

Fred didn’t rely on any natural talent.  Instead, he allowed a perceived lack of talent to push him on.

And there’s something I find re-assuring about all this.

Because if I want to try something new, it means I don’t need to worry about whether or not I have talent…

Or whether other people think I do.

In fact, as long as I have the right mindset, having no visible talent could be the very thing that paves the way for success.

That’s it for today.

Catch you tomorrow.

 - Tom