By LeeAnn Bernier-Clarke MEd, NCC, NCCC

"The greatest value in the world is the difference between what we are and what we could become."
    -- Ben Herbster

One child may have a strong and clear voice, but unless this voice is recognized as an aptitude, trained in music and developed through practice, they will never have the ability to sing. Another child may move swiftly and gracefully on long, well-formed legs, but until this aptitude is recognized, the child learns to run and practices to develop this skill through competition, they will never be an athlete. Still another child may have a keen interest in the world around them and an inquisitive nature, but if the questions "why" and "how" are never answered and investigation never encouraged, the world may lose a key to unlocking the cure for cancer or the wonders of space.

The difference between aptitudes and abilities is the difference between what we are and what we could become.

Aptitudes and Abilities

An aptitude is a natural talent, inclination, impulse or preference that gives an individual the potential to excel at certain activities or fields of study. A commonly measured aptitude is the intelligence quotient or IQ, a well-known indicator of academic aptitude or the potential to do well in school.

With recognition, encouragement, training and practice, any aptitude can be turned into ability. An ability -- a term that is interchangeable with skill -- indicates something a person is able to do well. One can develop an ability to do something without the natural aptitude for it, through hard work and adaptation.

We all need to adapt to some things in order to succeed. Without aptitude, we can learn to do something well but it will always be a struggle. International executive search firm founder Robert Half once noted that hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.

It is a shame to never discover our natural aptitudes, but rather put all our efforts into activities which, physically, mentally or emotionally, stress and strain ourselves. We all know people who do work for which they are not well suited and we observe the strain under which they labor and live, sometimes in very overt ways. Parents and teachers play important roles in helping to develop aptitudes into abilities.

Turning Aptitudes Into Abilities

It is important for parents and teachers to make an effort to recognize aptitudes in children at an early age, name and praise them: "Jerry, you completed these puzzles so quickly. You really have a talent for figuring out spatial relations. That's great!"

When an aptitude has been recognized, consider real-world applications and things that can be done to develop the talent. "...I bet you would be a really good architect, Jerry. Come look in my magazine at these diagrams of houses that architects have designed. I have some graph paper and a ruler you could use. Would you like to draw a diagram of your room or our house..."

Help teens recognize the variety of subjects to study where their talents can be developed and research the career fields requiring these skills. The Internet offers a world of resources to research academic majors and career fields. You may start by doing a World Wide Web query using one career field or industry name.

Expose teens to those who share their aptitudes and have developed them into first abilities then careers by arranging networking, informational interview and job shadowing opportunities.

Developing Abilities

Whenever we learn a new ability, we must pass through the following four stages of skill development:

1. Novice:
   In the novice stage, we are just starting to learn about a skill. This stage can go quickly or take a long time, depending on the complexity of the task. During this time, we receive an orientation to the topic by reading about it -- or we are taught by a person who has mastered the subject. It's useful to see demonstrations of the skill being used to complete tasks.
2. Apprentice:
   During the apprentice stage, we begin the hands-on skill practice under the supervision of a person who has mastered it. First we assist the master, than perform the task under the master's supervision. We practise the skill over and over again until it becomes second nature to us.
3. Master:
   When the skill becomes natural to us and we can do it repeatedly and consistently well, without error, we have reached the point of mastery.
4. Mentor:
   The greatest pleasure in mastering a task is to get to the point where we can begin to share our skill by training others.

   Whenever we find ourselves in the "parent-of" skill development mentor role, it is helpful to offer our teens positive experiences at each of the four stages of skill development.

   Even when we reach the master or mentor stage of competence in the world of work, as new technologies and techniques evolve we must once again begin at the novice level. In today's rapidly changing workplace this circular process is inevitable.

Those of us with natural aptitude for our chosen career field will be challenged, renewed and energized by these new developments and the learning curve to mastery will be enjoyable and short lived.

If we are in career fields in which we have little or no natural aptitude, each change will be stressful and frustrating. That's another reason why a good fit between aptitudes and abilities is really important.

By helping teens understand the relationship and dependence between aptitudes and abilities, (and helping them recognize the difference between abilities developed by necessary adaptation and those we develop in compatibility with our natural aptitudes), we are providing them a wonderful service that will guide their career directions throughout their lives.

"The biggest temptation is to settle for too little."

-- Thomas Merton

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