Talent can’t be taught, but it can be awakened. – Wallace Stegner
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. – Albert Einstein
Let me give you an example, my boyfriend is really good at fixing and building computers. He thinks it’s really simple and anyone can do it. Little does he know to other people like myself, it’s nothing but a bunch of wires and computer parts bunched up together that powers a computer. But it’s something he didn’t realize until I mentioned it to him.
Let someone else uncover the hidden talent in you. Maybe it just takes someone to point it out for you to be aware of your potential. So go out there, interrogate and discover.
Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible with talent is genius. – Henri Frederic Amiel
Go above and beyond, start reading or watching videos about topics you never thought would be of interest to you. Maybe it will end up uncovering something interesting as you sift through the different subtopics.
For example, back in college I always thought my Money and Banking class was the most boring class I ever regretted enrolling in. I would literally come to class late, sit right in front of the teacher and fall asleep with my mouth wide open (unintentionally of course) while he was lecturing. It also didn’t help that he had a monotone voice but I admit I was quite disrespectful. But back in college I was young, rebellious and didn’t have a care in the world. Who would have known that a few years later, I would end up doing research during my own personal time because of how interesting the topic was to me?
Slowly and carefully dissect every bit of information that is of interest and write down subtopics. The idea is to really get in there and uncover everything there is to know so you may have a good sense of what to focus on. Continue this exercise until you’ve found a topic that excites you and makes you happy to continue learning.
In my case, what really piqued my curiosity regarding Money and Banking was the subtopic of fiscal and monetary policy. I began to develop an interest in it after I started listening to the Rich Dad Poor Dad Radio show podcast.
There is so much out there that we don’t know about so the more information you can download into your brain, the faster it will help you to find your passion project. After all, you can’t discover your talent if you don’t know what it is you are interested in.
If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don’t hoard it. Don’t dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly, like a millionaire intent on going broke. – Brenda Francis
Experiment and try new things. If you guys have been following me on my journey, I mentioned that one of my goals this year was to pick up on a new skill every month.
Set a goal for yourself to learn one or more new skills every month. If you’ve never done this before it’s best to start with one skill just so you may develop the habit of working on that new skill every week. You can start with dedicating just 30 min or 1 hour a day to developing this skill. It doesn’t have to take up all of your day. If you dedicate simply 30 min a day, that’s close to 15 hours in a month! It gives you more than enough time to learn a new skill.
One important thing to note is be specific in setting a goal for your chosen skill. Don’t just put your goal for the month as “learn french” which is too elaborate. Instead, write your goal as “learn how to have a 10 min introductory conversation in French.” The more specific it is, the quicker and easier it’ll be for you to learn it. The best way is to write down some guidelines or a layout on how you will achieve this goal. Below is an example of a specific goal you may set for the month.
Learn how to have a 10 min introductory conversation in french:
- Introduce yourself – name, age, ethnicity
- What you do for a living
- Hobbies
- Favorite food, sports, movies, books, etc.
Remember, the clearer your guidelines the easier it’ll be for you to pick up momentum and keep going.
Make a bunch of smaller goals for you to accomplish that will lead up to the ultimate goal. The idea here is to motivate yourself to feel like you can get to the final goal by rewarding yourself every step along the way. Baby steps.
Get Hands On
Get hands on experience doing different things and helping other people. Do you have a friend that is currently working on a project? If possible, try to get involved and help out. You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn by sitting with them and getting to know what it is they are doing on a daily basis.
You might even get some inspiration from them to start something of your own. Maybe you may realize you are good at giving advice on certain aspects. If so, try helping other people out with their businesses and see if you really do have a skill in consultation. Why not? It’s worth a try.
Do you like to work out or play a specific sport? Try helping out a friend who may be interested as well or want to get started. Pay attention to the feedback you get from the people you help. It may very well be that spark to your new venture.
I am a gym enthusiast. Sure, I get lazy from time to time but now it’s become so much of a habit that I actually like working out and participating in different activities. I started working out regularly about 3 or 4 years ago and have been at it ever since. I would say that I am quite fit compared to the average person but I still have many areas I still need to improve on such as my cardio. My point is, at a certain point in time I actually considered becoming a personal trainer. It certainly did cross my mind because I used to train a few different coworkers at 3 different companies I worked at. It was on an occasional basis but I used to inspire them. I wasn’t a professional but I did do tons of research on fitness before I began to get serious about it. I really enjoyed helping them to come up with various exercises and correcting their forms. They always complimented me and many of them told me to become a trainer.
All of this to say, it sparked an idea in me and made me very close to pursuing a passion of mine. I didn’t end up going for it because I had other priorities at the time but it’s definitely something I would look into in the very near future.
Have Fun!
X.O.X.O.
– Fifster
