The world’s divided into two camps. One camp sees the world as “ability” — the skill at which someone can do something. The other camp sees the world as “potential” — the skill at which someone can do something at a future date, variable according to which the “potential” is honed or practiced.
I belong to the latter, perhaps due to the fact that ever since young, I’ve always been a constant “has got potential to do better” student.
When I see the media touting the skills of yet another young prodigy, my first thought is always, “if he is that good at such a young age, imagine what he will become when he grows up!”
Then I stop myself.
How often does a child prodigy actually grow up to be a full-fledged master in his area of expertise? Not that often. Child prodigies are not guaranteed to be successes in life, and non-prodigal children are also not guaranteed to be failures. Which gives the rest of us “potential to do better” people some hope.
Some Resources on Child Prodigies
Donn, fragments 
Excellent thinking. Like when you get ZERO for your exams it simply means you have infinite potential 🙂