<p>Regarding prep/practice/innate ability:</p>
<p>Prep and practice can improve a person’s skills in given areas. However, hard work alone can never supersede native ability. In SAT terms, this means that there are native single sitter 750+ students, and there are those who can perhaps study themselves to the 700+ range, but the two intellects are probably not the same. Similarly, one can not practice themselves into a Michael Phelps or a YoYo Ma, without the native ability, no matter how many hours devoted to the practice.</p>
<p>There is an entity called native or innate ability. Maybe I would have loved to be an ice princess, but I just didn’t have the native ability, no matter how much practice I devoted to it. So, one finds something else that s/he is better at. Practice is important, but all the practice in the world does not make all things equal.</p>