Surely you have idolized a celebrity before. You wished you could be as talented as him or her. You have probably thought, “He/she must have been born with that talent.” What if I told you that were not true?

I have been reading a book by Matthew Syed called “Bounce.” Syed is a two-time Olympian in table tennis for Great Britain, having for years been the best British table tennis player.

After just a few pages, “Bounce” had immediately become the most eye-opening book I have ever read. It completely destroyed the idea that the key to success is to be born with some special gift. Much like the Malcolm Gladwell book “Outliers,” it examines the stories of a diverse amount of successful people like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Venus Williams and Michelangelo.

Part of their success is due to opportunity. They were not born with special talent, but they had the resources to begin arduous practice at a young age.

But the other cause of their success is the arduous practice itself. Mozart had 3,500 hours of practice from his expert father before he was six.

Williams had seven-hour practice sessions at 4 1/2 years old. Michelangelo famously said, “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”

So why do we continue to believe these celebrities’ successes are something we could never attain?

“The talent theory of expertise is not merely flawed in theory,” Syed writes, “it is insidious in practice, robbing individuals and institutions of the motivation to change themselves and society.”

“Even if we can’t bring ourselves to embrace the idea that expertise is ultimately about the quality and quantity of practice, can’t we accept that practice is far more significant than previously thought? That talent is a largely defunct concept? That each and every one of us has the potential to tread the path to excellence?”

Abraham Lincoln once said, “You can have anything you want — if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish, if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.” He was more correct than we ever could have imagined.

We are all preparing for next week’s final exams. Some are seniors who will soon graduate and prepare for a career, perhaps as a teacher, scientist or engineer.

Never let the talent myth dissuade you from achieving your dreams. All it takes is hard work and purposeful practice. You simply have to motivate yourself to start and to never give up.

I recommend this book to everyone. It is optimistic, motivational and inspiring, and it has the power to change the way you look at the world. Success is possible for all of us if we just work hard and believe in ourselves.

On that note, have a great summer, and best of luck to the class of 2011.