What are your talents?

Before you start reading this article, I think I must warn you that it contains two very dangerous ideas.

The reason for the caveat is that once you’ve read them and realized their implications, you may never want to do what you’ve been comfortable doing most of your life again. You can change your career, your image, your partner, move house, have children, adopt children, have your children adopted or simply leave the country.

I suppose that prospect sounds attractive to some of you, but I suspect that for most of you it is dangerous even just thinking about it.

We are facing difficult times in life and work right now. People around the world seek innovative solutions to remain employable and at work. Those who will be successful in an increasingly competitive global market are those who have identified that they have a talent that is in demand.

As the war for talent continues to rage, companies are increasingly aware that they must step up their talent management activities or lose. In fact, 80% of top executives believe that attracting and retaining the best people will be the main force influencing business strategy in the future. And it is not surprising: globalization, growth in the BRIC countries, falling birth rates and an aging population in the West, margin pressures, technology markets and new knowledge economies have caused a Talent drought that many organizations were unprepared for. .

But what is talent?

Most people think that a talent is about performing on stage or being an artist. Research has revealed that more and more young people want to be famous for being actors, singers, writers, presenters, dancers, pop stars than for anything else. And more and more of them are pursuing a career in the entertainment industry believing, even knowing, that they have a talent for it … or so they think.

However, the interesting thing is that many of these talented people who offer their services to the industry, they will not make a lot of money, but they are still forced to express themselves through the business. They offer their talents at low rates just for the opportunity to do what they do and share it with the world. Anyone who works as an actor in the theater attests it well.

But why do so many people these days want to appear on stage and on television where the prospects for opportunities are often so daunting?

The reasons are complex but fundamental. It is an impulse. A compulsion that makes certain people sincerely believe that they have a talent for the job. Many also sincerely believe that they have something to say to the world. Show business seems to be the best platform and getting famous seems like a good prospect.

However, there are two types of people who will seek their fortune through fame.

The first type has a genuine talent for something and wants to share it with the world. Their journey is often frustrating, but when they succeed and their talents are truly recognized and rewarded, they can acquire a relative sense of peace and accomplishment.

The second category is people who have little or no talent, but need attention. And the reason they need attention is because they are full of anxiety and doubt. He doubts who and what they are, what their life is about and if they are worth anything. This category of individuals believes that if they could become famous, the world will tell them who they are and what they are worth, simply by celebrating them.

So, they enter reality TV shows like Survivor, American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, The X Factor, and Big Brother. They hope that by appearing on these shows they will feel noticed, loved, and respected. But this won’t solve your personal dilemma, because without a discernible talent, “we,” the people, and the fame-hungry seekers themselves, won’t be able to say exactly why they’re famous. This will only make their doubts and anxiety worse, and in addition to that, they will lose the freedom to walk the world without being disturbed by the gaze and attention of the general public, which will point out to them how little talented they are at all times. chance.

So talent is not just about the show.

Talent is becoming commonplace in all areas of life. And there has never been a better time to be truly talented.

But what are your personal talents?

Before reading further, take a moment to think about your unique strengths, capabilities, and abilities and write them down. These thoughts can help you identify them:

1. What do you do or know that is unique, valuable or scarce?

2. What do you do spontaneously, with little effort?

3. What can you easily learn?

4. What activities relax you?

5. What would you like to be able to do more of?

Now answer these questions to help define whether these qualities even qualify as talents.

Make your personal qualities:

• Do you create value for yourself and others?

• Are they unique and / or rare?

• Are they sustainable for a long period of time?

• Do they fit a specific need (or set of needs) in the world?

The next step is to ask yourself this question:

They are your talents:

• Who are you?

(Your talent is genetic, innate, and requires little to no effort or maintenance. In other words, you just need to show up.)

• What do you do?

(Your talent is expressed as a specific behavior or action that requires some effort).

• Or just what you’re good at?

(Your talent is a learned and / or developed ability and has reached a high level of personal mastery)

For example, when I did this exercise with a customer who works in a restaurant recently, he identified the following.

1. She identified that her natural ability to tell everyday stories and make people laugh was unique, valuable, and rare. Also, this talent is innate and comes with who she is.

2. You love to tell stories to friends and co-workers about everyday events that you have noticed. This is done all the time, spontaneously and with little effort.

3. You can easily learn and memorize people’s names and faces. She is naturally good at this.

4. You feel relaxed around new people, as you like to hear their stories.

5. I wish I could meet more people, hear their stories, and make them laugh by telling yours.

She identified herself with a set of talents that would allow her to become a communication skills coach and is about to change her career.

Apparently only 1 in 3 people can tell you what they’re talented at, so this is a powerful exercise to do.

When you’re done, you should have some notes or a list of qualities in front of you that will give you a clearer definition (if you don’t already have one) of what your unique talents and potentials are. What if you now suggested that the talents you just identified might actually be a partial expression of much greater potential and that perhaps more are available to you?

Maybe you have more to DO.

Before continuing, we need to explore the meaning of the word REALIZE for a moment.

What does it mean?

Realization – Noun

1. Come to understand something clearly and distinctively.

2. Make reality or give the appearance of reality.

3. The act of creating something by thinking.

4. The act of making something complete or fruitful.

5. An act of co-creation that is a hybrid experience of discovery and creation.

So, realizing something could mean making up something that feels like a discovery. Physics, for example. When scientists try to describe subatomic particles, they are basically making it up.

It is like a story. A fairytale. They can’t see these things, they can only measure their effect on the world, but they give them names like quarks, gluons, and photons because they know something must be happening. However, their story was powerful enough to put men on the moon and later led to the creation of the Large Hadron Collider at Cern, where they can recreate the ‘Big Bang’ in a small tunnel.

So, in many ways, scientists claim to have discovered things in the world, but in reality they create models and narratives in a kind of positive delusion that gives rise to a new reality. In fact, when it comes to the quantum world of physics, where particles just appear and disappear, the measurement of a proton relies on an “observing” scientist to collapse reality with his mind to bring the particle to life. Less discovery and more “REALIZATION”.

This is an important part of my dangerous idea, so hold on to these thoughts because I will reveal everything to you shortly.

The four key things we need to express our talents are:

1. COMMITMENT – A drive and passion, or compelling reason to perform an action or behavior to the best of our ability.

2. SKILL- The ability to coordinate “gracefully” our talents in four dimensions. Physical, emotional, intellectual and motivational.

3. STRATEGY – A holistic course of action or behaviors that addresses the “big picture” and long-term goals.

4. THE COURAGE TO “ACT” – To get things done and get things done.

If we think in terms of ‘talent’ as an energy and intelligence that exists within everyone and reveals itself in what you naturally already do well, then all you need to do is recognize where your talent is best expressed and create a simple strategy. to express it more effectively. Once you’ve identified your talents, you may be able to re-combine or reapply them in an area that you first thought you had no talent for. A good example was the client I mentioned earlier, who went from waiting tables in a restaurant to starting her own business as a communication skills coach.

So finally, here are my two dangerous ideas.

Idea number one: start fooling yourself!

Most of the talented and successful people in the world imagined they were successful before they did. They behaved in a way that made other people believe that they were already successful. They ‘realized’ their success before it actually happened. It could be said that they were in a constant state of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual self-deception. But this state of delusion is a positive delusion that makes them believe that they can do almost anything that they are passionate about. They believed it so that others would also believe it. They used their talents to create (or realize) a reality that allowed them to exceed expectations and perform at an exceptional level. Lady Ga Ga’s meteoric rise to world fame is a good example from the entertainment industry. However, you must have identified and developed a real talent before you begin to fool yourself. And that’s the tricky part.

Idea number two: you don’t have time, but the present moment.

Or rather, you still have time no matter how old you are, because time is an illusion. In fact, we exist in a moment “without” time. A moment literally surrounded by nothing but infinite possibilities.

Think about this sentence for a second.

Where is the actual cut-off line (or point) between the past and the future right now?

It is not there, it does not exist, because the past and the future are a psychological illusion created by the memory functions of the brain. Therefore, there is no predetermined destiny, destiny or ready-made future “out there” waiting for us. Sure there are plans in people’s brains right now, but nothing is established or guaranteed. We are at the forefront of our own reality, expanding towards what we decide to move. And it is a future in which we have identified and accepted our limitations or identified and realized our talents. As long as you are alive, you will have time to fulfill your talents.

Allow yourself a positive delusion and begin to “realize” how talented you really are.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *