I love deep thinking like this. I do believe some people are more natural at learning certain things making the “work” more pleasurable in spite of the agonies that go along with it. They are somehow able to be oblivious to the pain almost because of their love for the process. Maybe that natural tendency helps a person learn faster and therefore go further, but I assure you many have it and don’t do the work. Those people will never achieve what the hard working people will. That natural ability combined with work is the magic audiences pay huge prices to basque in the presence of. It’s almost a miraculous combination and people thrill in seeing it. Those people do what we call “the work.” They don’t realize they are “working.” They think they are having the time of their lives, thriving on the very thing others think of as torturous “work.” But I know for a fact putting in the practice/work time wins over talent any time. I have experienced that in my own life where my friend was more talented than me in music, but I went on to have a career in it while she dropped out and simply did clerical/admin type work. She could accomplish in one hour what took me five hours. The difference was I loved every minute and couldn’t make myself stop. She was just doing the “work.”