An analogy which may or may not hold water for you. I coached for decades, and the saddest cases were always those kids who developed tremendous athleticism at a young age. They were always complemented for that (again, something that was not earned) and they were never forced to learn the basics which the less athletic kids had to learn. As time went on, and the level of competition got higher and higher, the former top kids would fall behind because their athleticism had kept them from doing the work.