365 Days of writing, 2026 – 68

Day 68 – Is talent really necessary

…

Talent Is Insignificant – It’s Discipline, Love, Luck …and Most of All Endurance That Wins

“Talent hits a target, but only discipline hits the bull’s‑eye every single time.”

If you’ve ever cheered a prodigy at the piano, a gymnast who seemed to glide, or a coder who writes flawless algorithms in a flash, you’ve felt the magnetic pull of talent. It dazzles, it excites, and it often convinces us that “natural ability” is the holy grail of success.

But the more closely we watch the stories that truly endure—athletes who out‑last their rivals, entrepreneurs who bounce back after failure, artists whose work still moves people decades later—the clearer a different truth emerges: talent alone is a weak foundation. What builds a lasting legacy are the quieter, less glamorous forces that sit just beyond the spotlight: discipline, love, luck, and, above all, endurance.

In this post we’ll unpack each of those ingredients, explore how they interact, and give you practical ways to turn the “insignificant” talent you may have into a resilient engine for achievement.

1. Talent: The Spark, Not the Engine

Why Talent Feels Overrated

One‑time brilliance vs. sustained performance. A single moment of brilliance (a perfect shot, a viral video, a breakthrough idea) can jump‑start attention, but without a system behind it the spark fizzles.
The “gifted” trap. Research in psychology shows that people who are labelled “gifted” often develop a fixed‑mindset: they attribute success to innate ability and avoid challenges that might expose weakness.
Statistical reality. A 2016 meta‑analysis of 75 studies on expertise (Ericsson et al.) concluded that deliberate practice accounts for roughly 10 % of performance variance; talent accounts for less than 2 %.

Talent as a Starting Line, Not a Finish Line

Think of talent as the starting line in a marathon. It decides who can line up first, but it says nothing about who will cross the finish line. The race is run on the road, not the lane.

2. Discipline: The Daily Blueprint

What Discipline Looks Like

Discipline Element	Real‑World Example
Consistent practice	A violinist who rehearses 2 hours daily, 365 days a year
Structured feedback loops	A software engineer who writes unit tests after every feature
Goal‑oriented routines	A writer who writes 500 words before checking email
Self‑monitoring	A runner who logs mileage, heart‑rate, and recovery data

The Science of Habit Formation

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, points out that identity‑based habits (e.g., “I am a disciplined athlete”) outperform outcome‑based habits (“I will run 5 km”). When discipline becomes part of who you are, it no longer feels like a chore; it feels inevitable.

Actionable tip: Choose one micro‑habit that aligns with your larger goal and repeat it for 30 consecutive days. The habit loop (cue → routine → reward) will start wiring the neural pathways that make discipline feel natural.

3. Love: The Emotional Fuel

Why Passion Isn’t Enough

Passion is often touted as the driver of success, yet passion without purpose can become burnout. Love, in the context of achievement, is a deeper, more sustainable affection for the process—the learning, the challenge, the incremental improvement.

The Role of Love in Resilience

Intrinsic Motivation. When you love the work itself, you’re less dependent on external validation.
Stress Buffer. Studies in positive psychology show that people who report “loving” their work have lower cortisol levels during high‑pressure periods.
Community Magnet. Love attracts like-minded people, creating a support network that can catch you when you stumble.

Actionable tip: Write a “Why I love this?” statement for your main pursuit. Keep it on your desk and read it each morning. When the grind feels heavy, that line reminds you why you’re in the arena.

4. Luck: The Uncontrollable Variable

Luck Is Not Pure Chance

Luck is the intersection of opportunity and preparedness. As the old adage goes, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

Exposure. The more you put yourself out there (networking events, conferences, open‑source contributions), the higher the probability that a serendipitous chance will arise.
Timing. Being ready to pivot when a market shift occurs—think of Netflix transitioning from DVD rentals to streaming—turns “luck” into strategic advantage.

How to Engineer Luck

Expand your horizons. Learn a new skill unrelated to your core field.
Cultivate diverse relationships. Cross‑industry friendships often surface unexpected collaborations.
Stay alert. Keep a journal of ideas and revisit it weekly; the seed of a lucky breakthrough may be hidden there.

5. Endurance: The Long‑Term Engine

Endurance vs. Stamina

Stamina is the ability to sustain effort in the short term (a 10‑km race).
Endurance is the capacity to keep moving over years, decades, or even a lifetime.

Endurance is the only factor that consistently predicts long‑term success. A 2021 longitudinal study of 2,500 professionals across 12 industries found that endurance (measured by years of continuous effort despite setbacks) explained 45 % of career advancement variance, dwarfing talent (2 %) and even discipline (15 %).

What Builds Endurance?

Component	Practical Habit
Physical health	30 minutes of moderate exercise, 5 days a week
Mental recovery	10‑minute mindfulness meditation after each work block
Strategic rest	Schedule “no‑work” days once per month to reboot creativity
Adaptive mindset	Reframe failures as data points, not verdicts

Real‑World Illustrations

Serena Williams (tennis) – Not just a natural athlete; she trained relentlessly, loved the grind, leveraged every lucky draw for sponsorship, and persisted through injuries for over 25 years.
Elon Musk (entrepreneurship) – While his vision seems “gifted,” his schedule of 100‑hour weeks, love for solving engineering puzzles, strategic bets (SpaceX, Tesla), and willingness to endure public ridicule illustrate endurance at scale.

How to Cultivate Endurance in Your Life

Set “anchor goals.” Choose a lifelong purpose (“becoming a master storyteller”) rather than a fleeting target (“finish a novel this year”).
Build a “failure portfolio.” Keep a list of setbacks, what you learned, and the next step. Seeing failure as a collection of data points removes the fear of the next stumble.
Create rituals of renewal. Whether it’s a yearly retreat, a quarterly “skill‑audit,” or a weekly “wins‑and‑losses” meeting with a mentor, rituals remind you that the marathon has checkpoints, not just a distant finish line.

6. The Synergy: How the Four Elements Feed Endurance

Element	How It Reinforces Endurance
Discipline	Turns daily effort into muscle memory, reducing decision fatigue over the long haul.
Love	Provides emotional fuel that keeps you returning to the grind when motivation dips.
Luck	Supplies the occasional boost that keeps the journey exciting and opens new pathways, preventing stagnation.
Endurance	The overarching framework that integrates the other three into a sustainable, lifelong practice.

Think of the relationship as a four‑legged stool: remove any leg and the whole structure wobbles. Talent may be the decorative cushion, but the stool can’t stand without its sturdy legs.

7. A Blueprint for Turning “Insignificant Talent” Into Lasting Impact

Audit Your Starting Point – List your natural abilities, then rate your current discipline, love, luck, and endurance on a 1‑10 scale.
Identify the Weakest Leg – If discipline scores a 4 while love is an 8, focus on building consistent habits first.
Create a 90‑Day “Endurance Sprint” –
- Week 1–2: Establish one micro‑habit (e.g., 20‑minute focused work session each morning).
- Week 3–4: Add a love‑reinforcement ritual (e.g., a weekly reflection on why the work matters).
- Month 2: Seek one new “luck‑engine” (a networking event, a side‑project).
- Month 3: Review progress, adjust, and lock in recovery practices (sleep, movement).
Iterate Forever – After each 90‑day cycle, increase the difficulty slightly. Over a year, you’ll have built a compound endurance system that eclipses any initial talent.

8. Closing Thoughts

Talent is the spark that may ignite curiosity, but it’s the quiet, persistent fire of discipline, the warm glow of love, the occasional gust of luck, and the unyielding heat of endurance that keeps the flame alive.

When you stop measuring success by how quickly you can light a match and start measuring it by how long you can keep the fire burning, you shift from a short‑term performer to a long‑term creator.

So, the next time you hear “You’re so talented,” thank the comment, smile, and then ask yourself: “What will I do today that my future self will thank me for?”

Because the answer, more often than not, will be found not in talent, but in the relentless, disciplined, loving, lucky, and enduring steps you take—one day at a time.

Ready to build endurance?
Start now: choose one tiny habit, write a love‑statement for your craft, reach out to a new contact, and schedule a recovery day next week. Your future self will already be cheering you on.

Stay disciplined. Stay loving. Stay open to luck. Stay enduring.

Searching for locations – Port Macquarie – Day 5 – Part 2

Timbertown – old-time shops

The street

The newspaper office and printers

This is apparently a theatre

The barber shop

The bakery

The Bootmaker

There was also a General Store, which was in operation

A blacksmith, sometimes in attendance

A livery stable

A Church, which can be hired for weddings

A school room

And, a dining hall.

What I learned about writing – Word work is sublime – so is the writing we produce, the measure of our lives?

I guess it depends on what you write. Certainly, if you were to ask me if my writing was to a certain extent based on my life experiences, or at the very least, influenced by my life experiences, I’d probably have to say it was.

I mean, what else can you write about? Someone else’s life experiences. Perhaps you have a passion for writing other people’s biographies.

Otherwise, what we may see, consciously or unconsciously, is the baring of your soul in your writing.

Of course, if you are a prolific reader and you have an interest in the ways of what the world used to be like, or the particular ways of a certain group of people, this acquired knowledge might also turn up in your work.

As a writer of period romances, or stories that have their setting in days past, a great amount of research might be required to capture the places, the people, and how they behaved or reacted in those days, because not a lot of those old ways are around today.

Back then, they didn’t have mobile phones or any phones at all. They certainly couldn’t;t jump on a plane and be on the other side of the country in a matter of hours, or on the other side of the world in half a day. Travel used to be by ship and took weeks, even months, to get from one side of the world to the other.

Trains were different, run by steam, and took longer to get to destinations; cars were rare and only affordable for the rich, and places like Africa, and the Middle East, even the Orient, were totally different than they are today, and a person who lived in that time would be shocked at how the world had changed particularly since the end of the second world war.

We only know of today, and what life is like now. Some of us know what the world was like 50 years ago, and it was different then. There was still a British Commonwealth, and we still learned about the British Empire and its kings and Queens. America was a different place, but the only way we knew of its colourful past was through the movies Hollywood made.

And the diversity that was out there in the world was only brought to us by immigration from all over the world.

So, we are products of our times, our words reflect what we know, and what we know, and our perception of the world changes with each new generation of writers who entertain us with their vision of our world, the measure of what our lives are now, and not what they once were.

And some would argue that change is not always for the better.

“The Devil You Don’t”, she was the girl you would not take home to your mother!

Now only $0.99 at https://amzn.to/2Xyh1ow

…

John Pennington’s life is in the doldrums. Looking for new opportunities, and prevaricating about getting married, the only joy on the horizon was an upcoming visit to his grandmother in Sorrento, Italy.

Suddenly he is left at the check-in counter with a message on his phone telling him the marriage is off, and the relationship is over.

If only he hadn’t promised a friend he would do a favour for him in Rome.

At the first stop, Geneva, he has a chance encounter with Zoe, an intriguing woman who captures his imagination from the moment she boards the Savoire, and his life ventures into uncharted territory in more ways than one.

That ‘favour’ for his friend suddenly becomes a life-changing event, and when Zoe, the woman who he knows is too good to be true, reappears, danger and death follow.

Shot at, lied to, seduced, and drawn into a world where nothing is what it seems, John is dragged into an adrenaline-charged undertaking, where he may have been wiser to stay with the ‘devil you know’ rather than opt for the ‘devil you don’t’.

newdevilcvr6

Searching for locations – Port Macquarie – Day 5 – Part 1

Timbertown

Timbertown is based on a timber getters township between 1880 and 1910. All the buildings are based on original plans and sit among Tallowwoods and Blackbutts. Most of the red cedar has been cut down.

it might have made a bigger impact if there were people dressed in period costumes enacting roles in the various buildings.

Only one was used being used as a General Store.

The stables where the carriages are kept

There was a horse-drawn carriage, which does a circuit of the town.

It would not be a comfortable ride these days with independent suspension and solid steel wheels, giving bone-jarring passing through the potholes.

And a ride in a stagecoach from city to city, you would have to think long and hard before you travel.

Another excerpt from “Strangers We’ve Become” – A sequel to ‘What Sets Us Apart’

…

It was the first time in almost a week that I made the short walk to the cafe alone. It was early, and the chill of the morning was still in the air. In summer, it was the best time of the day. When Susan came with me, it was usually much later, when the day was much warmer and less tolerable.

On the morning of the third day of her visit, Susan said she was missing the hustle and bustle of London, and by the end of the fourth she said, in not so many words, she was over being away from ‘civilisation’. This was a side of her I had not seen before, and it surprised me.

She hadn’t complained, but it was making her irritable. The Susan that morning was vastly different to the Susan on the first day. So much, I thought, for her wanting to ‘reconnect’, the word she had used as the reason for coming to Greve unannounced.

It was also the first morning I had time to reflect on her visit and what my feelings were towards her. It was the reason I’d come to Greve: to soak up the peace and quiet and think about what I was going to do with the rest of my life.

I sat in my usual corner. Maria, one of two waitresses, came out, stopped, and there was no mistaking the relief in her manner. There was an air of tension between Susan and Maria I didn’t understand, and it seemed to emanate from Susan rather than the other way around. I could understand her attitude if it was towards Alisha, but not Maria. All she did was serve coffee and cake.

When Maria recovered from the momentary surprise, she said, smiling, “You are by yourself?” She gave a quick glance in the direction of my villa, just to be sure.

“I am this morning. I’m afraid the heat, for one who is not used to it, can be quite debilitating. I’m also afraid it has had a bad effect on her manners, for which I apologise. I cannot explain why she has been so rude to you.”

“You do not have to apologise for her, David, but it is of no consequence to me. I have had a lot worse. I think she is simply jealous.”

It had crossed my mind, but there was no reason for her to be. “Why?”

“She is a woman, I am a woman, she thinks because you and I are friends, there is something between us.”

It made sense, even if it was not true. “Perhaps if I explained…”

Maria shook her head. “If there is a hole in the boat, you should not keep bailing but try to plug the hole. My grandfather had many expressions, David. If I may give you one piece of advice, as much as it is none of my business, you need to make your feelings known, and if they are not as they once were, and I think they are not, you need to tell her. Before she goes home.”

Interesting advice. Not only a purveyor of excellent coffee, but Maria was also a psychiatrist who had astutely worked out my dilemma. What was that expression, ‘not just a pretty face’?

“Is she leaving soon?” I asked, thinking Maria knew more about Susan’s movements than I did.

“You would disappoint me if you had not suspected as much. Susan was having coffee and talking to someone in her office on a cell phone. It was an intense conversation. I should not eavesdrop, but she said being here was like being stuck in hell. It is a pity she does not share your love for our little piece of paradise, is it not?”

“It is indeed. And you’re right. She said she didn’t have a phone, but I know she has one. She just doesn’t value the idea of getting away from the office. Perhaps her role doesn’t afford her that luxury.”

And perhaps Alisha was right about Maria, that I should be more careful. She had liked Maria the moment she saw her. We had sat at this very table, the first day I arrived. I would have travelled alone, but Prendergast, my old boss, liked to know where ex-employees of the Department were, and what they were doing.

She sighed. “I am glad I am just a waitress. Your usual coffee and cake?”

“Yes, please.”

Several months had passed since we had rescued Susan from her despotic father; she had recovered faster than we had thought, and settled into her role as the new Lady Featherington, though she preferred not to use that title, but go by the name of Lady Susan Cheney.

I didn’t get to be a Lord, or have any title, not that I was expecting one. What I had expected was that Susan, once she found her footing as head of what seemed to be a commercial empire, would not have time for details like husbands, particularly when our agreement made before the wedding gave either of us the right to end it.

There was a moment when I visited her recovering in the hospital, where I was going to give her the out, but I didn’t, and she had not invoked it. We were still married, just not living together.

This visit was one where she wanted to ‘reconnect’ as she called it, and invite me to come home with her. She saw no reason why we could not resume our relationship, conveniently forgetting she indirectly had me arrested for her murder, charges both her mother and Lucy vigorously pursued, and had the clone not returned to save me, I might still be in jail.

It was not something I would forgive or forget any time soon.

There were other reasons why I was reluctant to stay with her, like forgetting small details, an irregularity in her character I found odd. She looked the same, she sounded the same, she basically acted the same, but my mind was telling me something was not right. It was not the Susan I first met, even allowing for the ordeal she had been subjected to.

But, despite those misgivings, there was no question in my mind that I still loved her, and her clandestine arrival had brought back all those feelings. But as the days passed, I began to get the impression my feelings were one-sided and she was just going through the motions.

Which brought me to the last argument, earlier, where I said if I went with her, it would be business meetings, social obligations, and quite simply her ‘celebrity’ status that would keep us apart. I reminded her that I had said from the outset I didn’t like the idea of being in the spotlight, and when I reiterated it, she simply brushed it off as just part of the job, adding rather strangely that I always looked good in a suit. The flippancy of that comment was the last straw, and I left before I said something I would regret.

I knew I was not a priority. Maybe somewhere inside me, I had wanted to be a priority, and I was disappointed when I was not.

And finally, there was Alisha. Susan, at the height of the argument, had intimated she believed I had an affair with her, but that elephant was always in the room whenever Alisha was around. It was no surprise when I learned Susan had asked Prendergast to reassign her to other duties.

At least I knew what my feelings for Alisha were, and there were times when I had to remember she was persona non grata. Perhaps that was why Susan had her banished, but, again, a small detail; jealousy was not one of Susan’s traits when I first knew her.

Perhaps it was time to set Susan free.

When I swung around to look in the direction of the lane where my villa was, I saw Susan. She was formally dressed, not in her ‘tourist’ clothes, which she had bought from one of the local clothing stores. We had fun that day, shopping for clothes, a chore I’d always hated. It had been followed by a leisurely lunch, lots of wine and soul searching.

It was the reason why I sat in this corner; old habits die hard. I could see trouble coming from all directions, not that Susan was trouble or at least I hoped not, but it allowed me the time to watch her walking towards the cafe in what appeared to be short, angry steps; perhaps the culmination of the heat wave and our last argument.

She glared at me as she sat, dropping her bag beside her on the ground, where I could see the cell phone sitting on top. She followed my glance down, and then she looked unrepentant back at me.

Maria came back at the exact moment she was going to speak. I noticed Maria hesitate for a second when she saw Susan, then put her smile in place to deliver my coffee.

Neither spoke nor looked at each other. I said, “Susan will have what I’m having, thanks.”

Maria nodded and left.

“Now,” I said, leaning back in my seat, “I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation as to why you didn’t tell me about the phone, but that first time you disappeared, I’d guessed you needed to keep in touch with your business interests. I thought it somewhat unwisethat you should come out when the board of one of your companies was trying to remove you, because of what was it, an unexplained absence? All you had to do was tell me there were problems and you needed to remain at home to resolve them.”

My comment elicited a sideways look, with a touch of surprise.

“It was unfortunate timing on their behalf, and I didn’t want you to think everything else was more important than us. There were issues before I came, and I thought the people at home would be able to manage without me for at least a week, but I was wrong.”

“Why come at all. A phone call would have sufficed.”

“I had to see you, talk to you. At least we have had a chance to do that. I’m sorry about yesterday. I once told you I would not become my mother, but I’m afraid I sounded just like her. I misjudged just how much this role would affect me, and truly, I’m sorry.”

An apology was the last thing I expected.

“You have a lot of work to do catching up after being away, and of course, in replacing your mother and gaining the requisite respect as the new Lady Featherington. I think it would be for the best if I were not another distraction. We have plenty of time to reacquaint ourselves when you get past all these teething issues.”

“You’re not coming with me?” She sounded disappointed.

“I think it would be for the best if I didn’t.”

“Why?”

“It should come as no surprise to you that I’ve been keeping an eye on your progress. You are so much better doing your job without me. I told your mother once that when the time came I would not like the responsibilities of being your husband. Now that I have seen what it could possibly entail, I like it even less. You might also want to reconsider our arrangement, after all, we only had a marriage of convenience, and now that those obligations have been fulfilled, we both have the option of terminating it. I won’t make things difficult for you if that’s what you want.”

It was yet another anomaly, I thought; she should look distressed, and I would raise the matter of that arrangement. Perhaps she had forgotten the finer points. I, on the other hand, had always known we would not last forever. The perplexed expression, to me, was a sign she might have forgotten.

Then, her expression changed. “Is that what you want?”

“I wasn’t madly in love with you when we made that arrangement, so it was easy to agree to your terms, but inexplicably, since then, my feelings for you changed, and I would be sad if we parted ways. But the truth is, I can’t see how this is going to work.”

“In saying that, do you think I don’t care for you?”

That was exactly what I was thinking, but I wasn’t going to voice that opinion out loud. “You spent a lot of time finding new ways to make my life miserable, Susan. You and that wretched friend of yours, Lucy. While your attitude improved after we were married, that was because you were going to use me when you went to see your father, and then almost let me go to prison for your murder.”

“I had nothing to do with that, other than to leave, and I didn’t agree with Lucy that you should be made responsible for my disappearance. I cannot be held responsible for the actions of my mother. She hated you; Lucy didn’t understand you, and Millie told me I was stupid for not loving you in return, and she was right. Why do you think I gave you such a hard time? You made it impossible not to fall in love with you, and it nearly changed my mind about everything I’d been planning so meticulously. But perhaps there was a more subliminal reason why I did because after I left, I wanted to believe, if anything went wrong, you would come and find me.”

“How could you possibly know that I’d even consider doing something like that, given what you knew about me?”

“Prendergast made a passing comment when my mother asked him about you; he told us you were very good at finding people and even better at fixing problems.”

“And yet here we are, one argument away from ending it.”

I could see Maria hovering, waiting for the right moment to deliver her coffee, then go back and find Gianna, the café owner, instead. Gianna was more abrupt and, for that reason, was rarely seen serving the customers. Today, she was particularly cantankerous, banging the cake dish on the table and frowning at Susan before returning to her kitchen. Gianna didn’t like Susan either.

Behind me, I heard a car stop, and when she looked up, I knew it was for her. She had arrived with nothing, and she was leaving with nothing.

She stood. “Last chance.”

“Forever?”

She hesitated and then shook away the look of annoyance on her face. “Of course not. I wanted you to come back with me so we could continue working on our relationship. I agree there are problems, but it’s nothing we can’t resolve if we try.”

I had been trying. “It’s too soon for both of us, Susan. I need to be able to trust you, and given the circumstances, and all that water under the bridge, I’m not sure if I can yet.”

She frowned at me. “As you wish.” She took an envelope out of her bag and put it on the table. “When you are ready, it’s an open ticket home. Please make it sooner rather than later. Despite what you think of me, I have missed you, and I have no intention of ending it between us.”

That said, she glared at me for a minute, shook her head, then walked to the car. I watched her get in and the car drive slowly away.

No kiss, no touch, no looking back.

…

365 Days of writing, 2026 – 68

Day 68 – Is talent really necessary

…

Talent Is Insignificant – It’s Discipline, Love, Luck …and Most of All Endurance That Wins

“Talent hits a target, but only discipline hits the bull’s‑eye every single time.”