Hm, but by the same token, one must recognize one's limitations and it's better to stick to what you're naturally good at, if you can make a living out of it (and you can make a living out of almost anything, believe me, I know!). I've known people who've worked really hard at things and achieved a level of competency, but they still get easily pwned by someone with a natural gift for it who's barely done any work, and it can be very frustrating for them. And without that natural inclination you'll never reach the highest levels, because at that point both hard work and natural talent are required, but you won't have the motivation or dedication to put in that much hard work if you haven't got the passion.
Even with the passion though... I mean I know this guy called Stef and he's a real fan of the guitar. He's been learning for about eight years and really works hard at it. He practices every day and he's taken lessons and everything... but my sister got better than him within about six weeks of first picking up a guitar... so you can't say that people don't have natural aptitudes for certain things. I would propose that Stef was wasting his time dedicating all that effort to something he'll never be even half-decent at, when he could instead have been reaching high levels of something he
is naturally good at. But if he enjoyed it anyway then it wasn't a waste of time, as long as enjoying it was his only objective. I happen to know it isn't though... he
does harbour delusions of being a rock star one day...