What role does talent play in your life? Do you feel like you don’t have a talent? Does it seem as if everyone else is more talented than you are? That self-sabotage goes on in our minds because we think that everyone else has some kind of an advantage over us. Maybe we weren’t born a particular way, or we didn’t have circumstances that allowed us to fulfill our dreams. So, we may blame external forces, or our own inadequacies but the fact is, we control our own talents.
Most of the time we don’t own the fact that it is us. If there’s a problem, it’s really us. Often, it just makes us feel better if we can blame it on somebody else. That way, we can feel comfortable in our own mediocrity. We can just blend back in with the crowd if we don’t have to try to excel. Because if we do, then we’ll be noticed, and heaven forbid if we fail. Then everyone will know we’re a failure.
You know, in the Japanese culture, there’s a saying that the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. So, a lot of times if we’re trying to succeed and perhaps, we fail, then maybe there’s a stigma that’s attached to that. I don’t know, it’s an emotional, mental thing that tends to keep us from reaching personal goals that we’ve always had. We allow ourselves to self-sabotage ourselves.
When we think about talent, we think that well, I wasn’t born with a particular talent. Talent can be developed over time by concentrating and working on a particular area of focus, of improvement that you want. You want to learn how to play the piano, then learn. Study it. If you want to play a particular instrument or you want to be good at a particular sport or learn how to paint, whatever it is, it takes work.
When we see athletes that perform extraordinarily well on the court, or on the field – we think they just have God-given talent. They’re so different from the rest of us. They were born in a certain way. Their bodies were stretched a certain way. They just have this intensity that allows them to be champions.
What we don’t see are the many hours, the sweat, and the effort that goes in behind the scenes when no one is watching. When there’s no crowd, no fans around them applauding them. Working out in the back, in the dark running, exercising, the early mornings and late nights. We don’t see that. We only see them when they’re on the stage to perform. We don’t see the hours they put in, honing their craft, pounding away, and just fighting and fighting.
It was Mohammad Ali that said he hated his workouts. He hated to train but he understood that by training he would get to be a champion someday. So, he just sucked it up and he trained. Eventually training just became a part of him. It was just part of his regimen, part of who he wanted to be. I don’t like to run but I took up running years ago because I wanted to change my life. Then running just became a natural for me. I could run long distances and do things that I never thought I could do before because I didn’t think I had it in me. Until I told myself that I could.
See when you tell yourself you can do something, you unleash this internal power within you to actually create miracles within your life. Whether you want to call it the law of attraction or something else, when you put it out to the universe that you want to do something, it delivers.
So, what are the talents you want to work on? What about financial talents or musical talents or physical talents like sports? Whatever it is, will you be able to look back at the end of your life and say I used my time wisely? I developed talents and I became the full and better version of myself. You see each of us has the opportunity to change, to mold ourselves into the person that we were meant to be.
I think my biggest regret would be if I say no when I look back at my life and ask, did I do everything that I could have done during this time on earth to develop the talents I was born with? Were there certain things that I enjoyed doing or excelled at? Did I pursue them, or did I let them fall to the side? I think when we look at our life in review on our death bed regret will be our own personal purgatory. That there were levels we could have reached, greatness we could have been, and we didn’t do it. There’s no makeover, no do over. We don’t get to come back and do it again.
We have one chance in this life to be the best that we can. And by being the best that we can, we actually benefit those around us. When we’re working on us to become the better version of us, working on our talents, then everything around us improves. The way we think about ourselves, the way we treat others, everything improves. What are your talents? What are those things you always wanted to do, what is on your bucket list?
Don’t wait until the end of your life. Well, I don’t have any time right now. It’s interesting when we say I don’t have time to work on my talents. In other words, it’s not a priority for you. Believe me we always find time for those things that are the most important in our life. So, what are the talents you would like to work on? What has always been there, and you just haven’t put in the effort to do it?
I have a friend who always tells me I wish I could play the piano. I think playing the piano would be great, but that’s such a hollow wish. They don’t really want it because if they really wanted it, they would do it. I don’t care how old you are. Using age as your excuse to not do something is actually quite ridiculous, because that just becomes a crutch. Well, if it’s not your age, it’s my job – aka crutch. I have too many responsibilities, another crutch. So basically, what we’re doing is not a priority for us.
Switch your priorities, change the way you see things and the world will change around you. Remember, develop your talents and your world will change. I believe this because I’ve used it in my own life, and I know you can too. Look at yourself in the mirror and say, am I happy with everything that I’ve become? And if you believe there’s room for improvement, then start today. Remember success is never an accident.
