We called Alan 'lucky'. At school we thought of him as an incredibly 'gifted' guitarist and he's since gone on to travel the world making a very good living at what he loves to do.
I became good friends with him and soon learned the truth. I stayed over at Alan's house one night and was awoken at 6am (on a Saturday morning) by the melodious sound of his singing guitar. "What are you doing?" I yawned. "It's 6am."
"I always start the day with two hours of practice and do three hours in the evening. If I didn't I'd be hopeless!"
Then it hit me. Alan was gifted, but this was a gift that had started out small, perhaps even insignificant, to which he'd added, built upon, and massively extended. Alan had made his own gift.
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