Oh man, I was a great example of that in college. I got my degree in Chemical Engineering through a crazy amount of hard work. I typically only slept about 4 hours a night. (I went an entire week once on 2 hours of sleep ... total.) Hour after hour after hour of studying, homework and working problems and such.

Then there was Pat. He usually had his studying and homework done by 7 PM, would take a few hours to relax and was in bed by 9 PM. The guy just got it. He was a natural.

Both of us got our degrees, but I struggled and scraped to get my 2.8 gpa where he slid on through with a 3.8 gpa (there's a reason that didn't have to do with his work that he didn't get the 4.0).

Another example is the difference between NFL receivers Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens. Jerry Rice is known as the GOAT (greatest of all time) he had so many records that he probably just kept them in a banker's box in his garage. And the guy worked HARD! Always running drills, studying the game, working, working.

Then there was Terrell Owens. He was oozing with natural talent and could have taken every record Rice set. But he didn't work at it. He managed to grab one (or two) records to which Rice said, "I've got so many, he can have one."

So what I'm saying is that hard work can get you to X and talent can get you to X. But if you combine them ... you've got a superstar.

Now go be the superstar you know you are.