Picasso





Lionel Messi

Paul Cezanne





Paul was a "typical" person, who went to school and college at the usual age, and who grew up in a "typical" family. In the Metropolitan museum in New York, there are 4 portraits of his wife. Basically, they are all 4 "drafts" where the 2nd and 3rd ones are more finished than the 4th. He did not work in sequential order mainly because he has no idea what the final one should be. He basically trialed multiple times, and all 4 of them are considered treasures. According to Malcolm, to draw portrait of his art dealer, Ambrose Villard, he brought him to the studio for about a 100 sittings. Usually it takes only about 4-5 times to draw one portrait.





Cristiano Ronaldo won exactly the same amount of Ballon d'Ors as Messi; however, they both could not be more different. CR7 started playing football by the age 8 and transferred across 2 minor clubs and 1 major club in Portugal before he impressed Sir Alex Ferguson at age 18 and signed for Manchester United. Afterwards, it took him 5 years to become the captain of the team. At the age of 24, he was transferred to Real Madrid, where he established his throne for 10 years as one of the best players the history of soccer has witnessed. What Lio Messi has achieved earlier, CR7 achieved later.





Mo Salah started his career at the age of 12 where he played for 2 minor clubs until the age of 14 when he transferred to one of the weakest clubs in the Egyptian Premier League. It took him about 6 years to move to a Swiss football club after which he was transferred to Chelsea who loaned him twice to 2 different Italian clubs then he was transferred to a third Italian club and then finally transferred to Liverpool, where he shined by the age of 24. In his first season, he became the top scorer of all time in the English League since it became a 38-league game, and lead his team to the Champions League final. He lead Egypt to the World Cup after 28 years of absence. He is currently the highest African scorer in the Champions League in 1 season. He is currently the best African Soccer player for the 2nd year in a row.





Do you see the difference between both types?! Messi shined the moment his foot touched the ball. His talent is inherent, his goal was clear, and all he needed are resources and someone to realize the treasure they own. He is a Picasso. CR7 and Mo, on the other hand, had to go through multiple different phases, drafts, trials, seasons and experiences for years to achieve highly desirable ends, that, when they started, these ends were not clear and articulate. They are a Cezanne.

Let me start with saying that I have the utmost respect for Messi and what he has offered to the world of soccer since he first touched the ball against Porto in November 2003. However, I have never related to Messi and all his success, and I never really understood why!!!. He is magical. He is one of the few people in history that has truly turned the game into an art. He is, as some might say, inherently talented.....and may be this is the reason I relate more to CR7 and Mo Salah, rather than him.I was listening to Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History (which if you have not subscribed to it already, you're missing a lot) and I stumbled by his episode named Hallelujah . During the episode, he was discussing the idea of creativity and genius and how there are 2 types of them.The first type he referred to was exemplified by Picasso. It is the type we are all familiar with. It is the one that is very apparent and does not take much time to develop., for example, showed interest in drawing from very early age. His first words was"Piz" which is short for la'piz, which means pencil in Spanish. At the age of 7, he was formally trained in figure drawing and oil painting. He joined the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona by the age of 13. At age 14, he painted Portrait of Aunt Pepa which was commented on as "without a doubt one of the greatest in the whole of Spanish painting." By the age of 16, he was accepted into San Fernando Art School in Madrid, which was considered the best in the country, if not Europe at that time. He basically came up with new types of arts like constructed sculptures and Cubism, which I do not even understand.is another example of that type of genius. At age 6, he joined an Argentinian club called Newell's Old Boys, and during his 6-year-stay, he scored 500 goals!!!. He was so good at playing soccer that by the age of 13, he impressed Barcelona FC so much that they signed him into the club (which was not usual to sign for foreign players at such a young age), paid for his medical treatment for growth hormone deficiency (which is a ton of money), and relocated him and his family to Spain. Within 3 years, he cruised through the academy and joined the primary team in 2004 season. At age of 22, he was the main reason Barcelona FC won La Liga, Cupa del Rey, and the Champions League all in the same year, which qualified him to win both Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player Of The Year.Basically, people who belong or relate to the first type know exactly what they want, the goal is clear and targeted from the beginning, and they pretty much know exactly what needed to be done. Their best work happens early on.Now, the second type of creativity is the exact opposite. People who belong or relate to the second type usually have no idea what their goal is, they work by trial and error, and they keep editing gazillion drafts of their project until they are satisfied, which takes forever. That kind of creativity is exemplified by an artist called, who is as every bit of a genius as Picasso but they cannot be more different on how they became creative.