The battle of words is still going on among people to decide which one is more important, talent or hard work. If these two were chemical elements, then the periodic table would have been lonesome without them. Simply, these are two of the most important factors for an individual to achieve success in life, but I firmly believe what Kevin Durant, a professional basketball player, had said, "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard."

Moreover, talent is useless if you do not work hard to achieve your target. A talented individual cannot sit idle and expect success to knock at the door. It does not matter whether you are talented or not, you need to put your blood, sweat and soul towards what you are doing, only then the will the result be as expected. For example: Kevin Hart is one of the top comedians in the world right now. He had the talent to make people laugh but he did not get where he is at present in a blink of an eye. He got rejected many times but he did not give up; he worked hard, day and night, to achieve the greatest height.

It is not just the result that matters. The process is a lot more important than the input or output. While working hard you will see the real world. An individual will know what it is like to get knocked down and how great it feels when you look back and realize what you have achieved in spite of the obstacles thrown into your way. Even if the result is not a positive one, an individual can learn many things; s/he will realize the Dos and Don'ts and most importantly will know himself/herself which can indeed change their life in many ways.

However, talented individuals can have an extra edge over the hardworking ones. For example: when two persons who are in the same position in a company need a promotion or a pay raise, the one who is talented will be most likely to get that reward as s/he is known to be talented in that particular field. In addition, when an individual is talented, s/he will be pursuing his/her career well. On the other hand, there might be a chance that someone who is working hard at a job that does not fit him/her will not be as satisfied or achieve as much as the talented individual does. It is so because the talented ones will be passionate about what they are doing and as a result they’ll be pursuing their career well; however, the hardworking ones might not be as interested as the talented ones about the job and might fall behind compared to the talented ones.

To sum up, hard work is the key ingredient to achieve success in life. Talent will help an individual to get a head start but hard work will help an individual, if s/he is interested and passionate, to cross the finish line first. Even if the result is a negative one, if you work hard you will learn valuable lessons which will be beneficial in the long run.

( Author Biography: Sumedh Shakya is a first year student studying BBA in The British College.)