I definitely agree with you that talent is something that makes the lower-levels of something a bit easier to get through. That said, there's power in the faith that practice plays a much larger part. I would say that I have some talent with drawing -- I'm a pretty visual person and shapes and silhouettes make a lot of intuitive sense to me. That said, colors make a lot less intuitive sense, so it's something that I have to keep pushing myself to practice if I want to be good at it. On the other hand, words, especially fictional writing, isn't very intuitive to me. Every time I try to write fic, I just feel like I'm hitting my head against a wall. Repeatedly. But I still do it, because I know the only way that I can get good at it is to keep doing it, and I feel like that's what that message is for.

I also think that certain skills are interpreted by society/culture to require more natural talent, versus other skills. As someone who likes art, it's always frustrating for me to hear someone say "wow, I can't ever draw" with the implication that they are lacking some inborn talent and therefore will not ever try. This may be sampling bias, but I very rarely hear that in regards to writing. It's often "I'm bad at writing" or "I'm trying to get better at writing." As someone who draws comics non-professionally, I encounter a lot of authors who are looking for an artist to help them realize their magnum opus, and I'm always like "but you can draw it yourself" and they're always like "but I can't ever art" and I want to say to them "but surely you didn't start out knowing how to write stories."

So yes, totally agree with you, but also different skills have different perceptions of "must have this much talent to attempt."