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So many people grow up being confused about their talents, goals and career.People do not know how to identify talents because they have spent so much time doing things that are less important to them. At the point when they finally ask themselves the “who am I?” and “what is my purpose?” question, they enter into a state of confusion. They also want to know how to identify their talents.
They begin to overthink the whole situation and compare themselves with other people. Success becomes something distant because they have pushed it farther from themselves and belittled themselves.
Now, some people will think at this point that they do not have any talent and then visualize this as the cause of their problem. Some others who are multi-talented will get confused on how to move ahead because they believe their problem is that they have so many talents and have to choose only one from the list.
We will analyze the two groups above in the upcoming paragraphs to give us a better understanding of what the confusion looks like and points to.
I Don’t Have A Talent- Why?
At one point or the other, people ask themselves this question. Perhaps they come in contact with people of the same age who appear successful or they have made a major attempt towards achieving greatness and have failed. The truth is that everyone has one or more talents. The problem is then not that of having talents but that of identifying them.
It is important to note that talents can be anything. The reason people end up saying they do not have any talent is that they have things in mind already. They believe that their talents must be one of the things they have in mind and must be something someone else out there is doing already. This list in their minds makes them count off every other thing that suggests itself as a talent.
How to Identify Talents
Identifying talents is not something difficult because most often than not, our talents manifest themselves as we grow. Even if we do not notice them ourselves, other people notice them and speak of them at times. However, if there are doubts within and there is a need to identify one’s talent, we should answer the following questions to give us a clue of what our talents could be.
- What are my interests, passions?
- Do I have any favourite sports/ how good am I in it?
- What is/was my favourite subject at school?
- What day do I consider the best day of my life, and why?
- Who is my best friend and what do I like about him/her?
- What was my career choice as a kid and why?
- What do I consider to be the purpose of my life/the purpose of living?
A sincere response to each of the questions above will reveal our talents or at least take us a step closer to the identification of our talents. If there are still doubts, pick up a pen and a piece of paper and write all the things that comes to your mind as you think about what your talent could be.
Do not hesitate to write down every idea that comes to you, no matter how insignificant or unreasonable it may seem to you. Go through the list and reflect on each of the items you have put down. Most often, the ideas you considered insignificant may end up being the building block of your talent. You can refer to this blog post for a detailed method.
What does it mean to be different?
People want their talents to be one out of the popular and known talents. However, having a talent that you consider inferior may be one of the best things to happen in your life. This is clear in the world today as the most successful people or those seen as icons started off doing something other people considered insignificant. Through such things, they achieved greatness in one way or the other
People usually limit talents to to such common things as; singing, drawing, painting, etc. However, these do not exhaust the whole idea of what talents can be. Whatever is unique to a person or whatever a person does in a special way can also be a talent. Such things like; being a superb listener, having a sense of organization etc.
When we see that we have an uncommon talent, and we accept it wholeheartedly, then there will be room to take the talent to another level. However, most people consistently deny themselves and deny their talents because they cannot recognize that being different can be a blessing to them.
Based on the exploitation of so many talents and the drive to be great, uniqueness is now a way of separating oneself from the crowd and achieving something no other person has achieved.
Talents Vs Skills
Talents are not the same with skills, although they are related. These talents are like gifts that we are born with and they show themselves as we grow up. Skills, on the other hand, are learnt and mastered. Most often, talents need to be developed by acquiring certain related skills.
A person can be talented with numbers and measurement but he has to acquire the skill of tailoring to be able to put it to good use. A person may be talented in painting, but he needs to acquire painting skills to scale his talent.
From what we have discussed, we can say that talents and skills are complementary. We can acquire skills even if we do not have related talents. It may take more time but it is not impossible to achieve.
People desire to gain one skill or the other based on their interest because people’s interests differ. This means that anyone can do anything because every skill is acquirable. The best way to identify talents can be through trying out different things and see what works best for you.
I am multi-talented: What should I do?
The second set of individuals, those who are multi-talented, usually ask themselves the question above. The reason is that the society we live in is one that repels extraordinariness without even knowing it. Such sayings like “Jack of all thread, master of none” and so many others cause this set of individuals to be afraid of trying out different things all at once.
The good thing here is that while others are asking “How do I identify my talents?”, the multi-talented man is asking “What talent should I focus on?”
They conceive that they have to give up some of their talents and concentrate on some. This brings up more and more confusion because they love their talents and cannot bear the loss of giving them up. This is all part of flowing with the given mentality of society. Check out our article on Transcending the old tribal wounds…. to know more about the ‘mentality of the society’.
This same society will eventually celebrate you if you end up exceptional and successful. We can consider the “don’t be a jack of all thread” mentality as a lazy one if it aims at discouraging multi-talentedness. Having multiple talents is a blessing and must be appreciated, not condemned.
The best approach is to take gradual steps towards the development of each talent. We can achieve this by allotting time to specific activities. A multi-talented person usually feels more attraction to one talent at one point or the other. We can also use this as a signal to focus on that talent during the period of increased interest.
To avoid getting confused or being unproductive, the multi-talented person should try and be a master in one or two of his talents before moving on to explore some others. This can be a source of motivation as he is productive in already mastered areas. There should be no room for half-baked talents.
The fear of losing talents
Everyone should be afraid of losing the talents they have received. These talents can take us to higher places in life. They can be our means of interacting with the world or ways of contributing to society. When we do not cultivate or explore these talents, then we may impede a particular work that we can achieve for the good of the majority.
The effects of losing talents are also massive on the individual. It may lead to the depreciation of self-esteem and will. These individuals may end up attributing every other thing going on in their lives to their unexploited talents.
Our talents can be developed to the point of using them to achieve things beyond our imagination. This realization should push us to develop and use our talents better. The world is silently seeking novelty, uniqueness and extraordinariness. Through good use of our talents, we can become much more than we may envisage,
Conclusion
Identifying our talents is a foundation task that helps us to discern our purpose in the world. If we can discover our talents and tap into them, we will get less confusion. The “who am I?” and “what is my purpose?”, despite not being answered, begin to take care of themselves through what we do with our time and how productive we become.
The identification and cultivation of talents is a process that we must allow to take place. It does not come by mere thinking or visualization of the desired future. The identification and cultivation must be intentional and strategic in order to achieve desired results.
It is also necessary to note that no one will do this for us if we refuse to take up the challenge and do it ourselves. The earlier we take up this challenge, the earlier we become what we hope to be. The best way to answer the question of how to identify talents is by following procedures to identify your talents the right way.