Early in my career, I read George Will’s excellent “Men at Work,” which not only made a baseball fan out of me, but helped me understand professionalism. Hard work, practice, and development of skills apply to talent-related activities, not just white collar careers.
Is a creative person talented or professional? Neither. Both. The creative person has a different end in mind. For example:
If they give you a box of Legos and you build the little space-ship or car pictured on the cover, you’re solving problems; if you take that same box of Legos and make a trebuchet out of it, you’re being creative.
You have the same ingredients, the same effort, but completely different goals.