A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great.(Proverbs 18:16)
Before we dive into the topic, I need to apologize for being passive here. I have been writing a novel since the 19th of April. At the beginning of this year, I had other more dynamic plans; I wanted to travel a lot, attend classes in school, and do intense blogging. When COVID-19 struck, I was confined into my house with no content for my website (that explains why I rarely post here). And then learning institutions closed worldwide robbing us of the majority of clients. That gave me a lot of idle time. I have always wanted to write a book and there could not be any better opportunity to do creative writing than this season. So far I have made more than 80,000 words and counting. It is a dream come true. (The novel is live on my Facebook timeline. You can check on it).
My target is 100,000 words then publish the novel. I have discovered that writing is quite a great taste for me. Although it may sound fun, this is pure hard work. I’m not lying. It has been a season of learning new ideas, sharpening skills, and growing talent. So now, can I share with you some of the lessons I have learned about talent so far?
What is talent? A talent is a natural aptitude or skill. It is natural in the sense that you cannot create it. It is that thing you can do better than others with ease.
How to identify your talent. Your perception of yourself is very complex. Similar to how you cannot see your nose, you may often be blinded to the things that you are best at. I have met a bunch of people who don’t know their talent, and it is not a crime. Even as you read this now, you might be clueless about your talent. I will not cane you for that, but I will take you through key points on how you can identify your talent.
1. Open your mind to all paths. Because you are likely blind to what some of your talents are, a good place to start when evaluating your talents is to just open your mind to the possibilities. Keep in mind that talents extend beyond just playing the guitar or dancing like a pro. Talents come in all shapes and sizes and extend into many areas of life.
2. Look back on your past. As you reflect on yourself in search of your talents, start by looking at your past. Look at the things that you’ve done. Look at the things you’ve enjoyed. Look at the times when you really excelled. Ask yourself questions like “What am I most proud of that I’ve done?” or “When was I so proud that I didn’t care what anyone thought?”
3. Think about what you enjoy. The things that make you happy can also reveal your talents. Think about the things that you love to do. Do people ever give you compliments on it? Do they ever ask for your help with it? You might not think of it as a talent but it probably is.
4. Think about times you were successful. Look back on your life and think about times where you succeeded, times where you felt about to burst with the pride of your success. This can indicate a talent you possess.
5. Open up time for new things. Your life needs to have room for discovering your talents! If you spend all day on the couch after school or work or you spend all of your waking weekend hours at parties, then you’re going to have very little time for self-discovery. Your talents will often lie in activities that you’ve not tried yet and if you don’t make time for those things, then you’ll never expand beyond what you are now.
6. Build on your existing skills. You probably already have some basic skills. Any skill that you possess can be turned into a real talent, but you need to take the time to develop it and work on experiencing all of the different activities that go into that talent. You might have experienced only a small aspect of a possible talent and you will need to experience much more if you want to cultivate it.
7. Try things you would never have tried before. Sometimes you may tell yourself that you can’t do things, but you will never know what you are capable of unless you go outside of your comfort zone. Maybe you think you’re not good enough or not smart enough. Most often you see yourself as “not that kind of person.” However, you don’t know you’re that kind of person until you start becoming that person. You have to give life a chance to surprise you. You’re much more incredible and interesting than you give yourself credit for. Take a risk and try something different than anything you’ve ever tried before.
8. Travel to expand your experiences. Traveling is one of the most impactful experiences you can have. It will challenge you and teach you more about yourself than you thought possible. However, you can’t just take the easy route and go on a cruise or guided trip.
Go on your own. Go somewhere different from anywhere you’ve ever been. Immerse yourself in the experience. Try new things. You’ll find yourself struggling in some areas but you’ll also find that there are other activities that you can do with ease or that make you happy.
Want to add on something about the topic? Comment down below.
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