Suppose you take an average person - average in every way (100 IQ, average face, average body, average brain, average upbringing. etc) - but this person is motivated to be the absolute-best they can be in every way. What’s their ceiling?
(The nation of origin would unfortunately make a big difference; there’s a big difference between being born in Canada vs. born in Equatorial Guinea.)
The average person could, no doubt, get a highly honed body from exercise and diet. Are they capable of learning almost any career skill? (Some people just really are not cut out to be a doctor or engineer, IMHO.) Can any average person become a millionaire by, say, age 40 if they start pushing themselves as hard as possible by their 20s? Could they get admission to a Harvard-type college by studying really hard from K-12?
Yes, hard work will make things happen under many circumstances, but not all. There are just too many other factors at work that cannot be tracked or predicted.
When it comes to physical skills I definitely believe there is a talent factor that cannot be quantified. David Epstein’s book The Sports Gene goes into this in detail. “Talent” in this context refers to advantages conferred by certain genetic qualities, but there is also selection of activity, age it is learned, quality of training, etc. He talks about a man who dedicated his life to golf with the goal of making the PGA tour. Spoiler alert - he didn’t make it.
There’s a lot of this sort of thing in athletics. People who seemed to have all the gifts but don’t achieve their predicted potential (Billy Beane as a player), and people of seemingly lower overall quality who somehow go beyond what anyone expected (Beane’s early cohort Lenny Dykstra).
In athletics or other pursuits, the effects that cannot be accounted for include meeting the right people at the right time, recognizing and exploiting opportunities, finding the right trainers and simple luck.
I personally am somewhat close to your hypothetical scenario. I’m very average in every respect that matters. The only innate ability I seem to have is being able to achieve a workman-like competency level in many activities. I’m never close to the elite levels of anything, but I am very trainable and can usually appear capable except to the most discerning eye.
I’ve selected a few of those activities to pursue and done OK at them. I’ve made a living in three very different careers so far and then departed when I felt I had truly plateaued. Good and bad things about that to be sure. All in all, I’ve had a very adventurous life and achieved far more than I ever expected. But in the end, I’m just an average Joe who put the time in on a few things.
If they’re average in every way, I suppose that would mean an average level of ambition, average goals, and an average job.
But if you mean in every way except the ways I mentioned, then the sky’s the limit. I believe there are many examples of people who seem otherwise unremarkable, but who simply would not be denied.
This reminds me of someone I knew in college. He claimed his IQ was 100. He was also determined to get a PhD in biology. That would have required taking a course in PChem and that would require taking calculus. He was prepared to get his BA and then take a year doing nothing but getting through calc and a second year doing nothing but getting through PChem. I lost track of him when I graduated so I don’t know if he succeeded, but who’s to say its impossible. Of course, one thing he was not average in was drive.
I believe the average person has the potential to excel in nearly any endeavor, given the right conditions. If someone starts at an early age and has a hypothetical dream team of tutors, coaches, and mentors guiding them 24/7, the possibilities are endless. This team would include top experts in their fields, providing personalized and continuous instruction. Importantly, the team would need a top psychologist to ensure the individual maintains a well-balanced upbringing and avoids burnout.
Under such ideal circumstances, the average person could reach impressive levels of competence and success. While they might not reach the absolute pinnacle (reserved for gifted savants and top physical specimens), they would undoubtedly excel far beyond typical standards.
They might not become the next Einstein, Beethoven, or Usain Bolt, but they’d be able to hold their own in nearly any arena, demonstrating just how much untapped potential the average person truly possesses.
This one I can answer: Yes. Most sales jobs do not require an excess of brains or athletic ability, but they do require hard work and the ability to take being told No a dozen times for every time you get told yes.
And from the couple of self-made millionaires I’ve known, it also means putting a spouse and children on the back burner while you’re working nights and weekends. But if you’re willing to sacrifice, it’s possible.
How much money has he got? The average global personal income is $9,733 per year.
Also, where they are from matters-In some places speaking up can get you places, and in others in can get you buried in an unmarked grave.
Enough practice and skilled tutoring can get you to your own personal potential, but there are many, basically about half of all humans, whose own personal potential is higher to much higher, as they are not average, who are also optimizing their practice and training.
Those who excel will have both.
Virtually anyone can put in the time to train to run a marathon and finish it with enough drive. Only a smaller portion will run a marathon fast enough to qualify for Boston and fewer yet for the Olympic team, no matter how much effort and skilled coaching they have.
Effort and grit coupled with opportunity is enough to gets us each far, but no, I couldn’t have become an NBA star, or a star on a NFL defensive line, or a major symphony violinist … if only I practiced hard enough for enough hours with the right trainers. My potential is not endless.
Most of us are not reaching anywhere close to our potentials in any way, some much less than others, but that is something different.
I concur. I came fairly close to qualifying for the Boston Marathon, and probably could have if I’d put in the effort. I probably could have done better than a D- in Algebra 2, but doubt I could have made an A. How common is it that someone has the drive to excel in something where their aptitude is mediocre? If they do, I respect that. For most of us, it’s probably just going to eventually result in frustration.
A large part of “not cut out to be a doctor or engineer” is “not being motivated enough to put in the long hours to learn how to be one”. It takes a lot of work to become an engineer, and if that’s not work that you love, you’re probably going to instead put in the time to become something else that you do love.
This is one I can definitely address directly. I’ve had A+ students who were definitely well below average in innate ability. Their grades were almost entirely due to just putting in the effort.
I got the D- due to putting in the effort and going to a tutor every day; I managed to get a C the last grading period and just pull it out. The big problem was that I could never tell whether I was getting it or not, and never got to the point where I could apply what I saw in a previous problem to an almost identical problem. I may try to learn it again when I retire after the upcoming school year.
I’ve definitely been a proponent of the idea that almost anyone can do almost any job.
And I base that on, among other things, around 20 years working in neurosurgery.
Almost anyone almost any job because
There are some jobs where the goal is relative to the rest of the population and you have to be in the X% most talented. Things like athletics, modeling, singing etc are the most obvious, but I’d also say some academic roles like theoretical physicist.
Someone with learning difficulties to the extent they struggle even to look after themselves cannot do most jobs
Would your average person also have an average number of shortcomings? Because some would be damn near fatal flaws for various professions. Someone naturally way on the lower end of the distribution curve for balance and proprioception is never going to be a top ranked gymnast or diver, and probably shouldn’t try to become whatever you call the guys who put together the steel skeletons of high rise buildings.
I have a more than moderate level of prosopagnosia (face blindness), to the point of occasionally not recognizing my own sister although we’ve lived in close contact for 65 years. My chances of succeeding as a salesman or politician are essentially zip. Heck, I doubt I could have made it as a waitress.