All your life you have been instilling certain ideas, but it's time to step back and rethink your talents. A person can have an artistic, technical, mental, physical, personal or social talent. You can be a talented introvert, or a talented extrovert. This gift of yours does not necessarily have to be profitable, useful or conventional, but it will always and in any case belong to you, it will be an integral part of your personality. Learning to adequately seek out one's talents and cultivate them, transforming them into concrete skills and abilities, are actions that require more than a little effort. However, doing it creatively will allow you to explore natural abilities and discover innate talents.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Discovering Your Talents
Step 1. Stop waiting for talents to magically appear on their own
If you don't try to play the guitar, how can you be sure you are not capable? The same goes for didgeridoo, knitting, badminton and Tuvan singing. Find a business that you think is cool and find out everything you need to know about it. Try to understand what it requires and if you have the right characteristics to dedicate yourself to it. Remember that nothing ventured nothing gained. You can only find out what you're good for when you push your limits and raise your antennas to actively seek out new experiences. Face obstacles and search for challenges to find out what your hidden innate abilities and talents are.
- Trying something new once a week must be a primary goal. You probably won't discover an activity you're particularly good at tomorrow. On the other hand, maybe one day you pick up your guitar and find that you feel perfectly comfortable with this instrument, determined to want to know more. You may realize that you are very good at communicating with animals that live in a shelter. How could you have known without experience? Maybe you sit in front of the pinball machine in the bar downstairs and realize that you are an ace playing Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the starting point to understand what is right for you.
- Get out of the house and literally peel your knees. Experience real-world adventures and experiences. Try a variety of outdoor sports or hobbies, such as fishing, hiking, and climbing, to see if you have a talent you haven't yet tapped or a natural instinct.
Step 2. Try something easy
What comes naturally to you? What do you do without even standing there thinking about it? What do you like? Consider your obsessions and interests to trace your talent. If you'd spend whole days drawing, reading or dancing, there's no point wasting time hoping to become a master chef. Focus on the skills you have and what is easy for you.
- If you go to school, what are the tasks you do without problems? What worries you the least? They could be clues to your natural talents.
- Pay attention to what others notice about you. It often happens that people have insightful insights into the abilities of others, while perhaps those directly involved have not the faintest idea. Ask family, friends, and teachers to help you understand what is easy for you.
Step 3. Try experiences that challenge you
Are you terrified of just getting on stage or speaking in front of an audience? Write a story and finish it? Pick up the microphone or sit there until you've finished a story. Do what scares you. What talent do you dream of having? What would you like to do naturally, effortlessly? Take on the toughest challenges and find out what you lack to become good.
- Start learning all you can about different talents and skills to figure out if a business is right for you or not. Don't be prejudiced. Playing the electric guitar like Hendrix seems impossible. However, if you can't tell the G chord from the flatpicking technique, how do you know the real reason for this difficulty?
- James Earl Jones, voice actor of Darth Vader and well-known Shakespearean actor, has a deep and respectful voice. Many do not know that as a child he suffered from severe stuttering. He was terrified when he had to speak in front of the rest of the class. He learned to express himself well only by facing this fear. Today, it is widely recognized as one of the most beautiful voices in the world.
Step 4. Follow the trail of your obsessions
Generally, what are the topics you talk about all the time, exhausting others? What do they have to pull you out of by force? Use the things that haunt you to uncover skills and talents hidden beneath the surface.
Even if you are obsessed with a hobby that can hardly be associated with a talent, such as watching television or movies, don't give up. Maybe you can intuitively grasp the different angles of a camera and have a natural talent for directing. Maybe you are good at telling stories or analyzing stories. All film critics start their careers the same way. They channel their obsession with the history of cinema by studying it and making it a job
Step 5. Keep track of your little successes
If you think you have no talent, it may be because you tend to overlook what you do well. Try to pay close attention to successes, big or small, to identify your natural gifts. Think creatively: These experiences may relate to more meaningful skills and abilities.
Maybe you just threw a party that was on everyone's lips for days. Sure, it seems like anything but a talent, but if you know how to relate to others, plan and organize, then enjoy this success as well. Perhaps you have leadership and management skills that will prove useful in the future
Step 6. Ignore the television
Talent shows give very limited definitions of talent. If you are not a handsome young man with a rigorously crafted tearjerking story and a powerful voice, you are nobody. And that's what programs like this want us to believe. It is not so. Being talented doesn't mean being famous, handsome or a born artist. It means being dedicated to what you do, thinking creatively and paying attention to details. It means having an insatiable curiosity and transforming innate skills into solid skills. You just have to find them.
Part 2 of 3: Getting Creative
Step 1. Take a quiz to test your personality
These tests are often used in school or career guidance agencies and help you discover your natural abilities. They can help find their talent too. Learning more about your innate inclinations towards certain attitudes, ideas and behaviors can help you discover your talents. These tests do not identify skills in and of themselves, but they can offer a piece of the puzzle.
- One of the most famous tests is the Myers-Briggs, which divides people according to 16 different personality types and is based on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types. A result can be obtained depending on the answers given to a series of questions.
- The Keirsey Temperament Sorter separates people based on various temperaments, which are identified according to personal responses to different situations and questions. It is available online.
Step 2. Talk to friends and family
One of the best ways to understand what your hidden talents are is to discuss them with the people who know you best. We tend to neglect our abilities and belittle our talents, so we often don't even realize our potential. If you are lucky enough to have friends and family who care about you, they will have no problem making you notice them.
Step 3. To get an idea of your talents, examine both your strengths and weaknesses
You can imagine that a talent is some kind of innate superpower, something that comes naturally to you and that you make it look easy. On the other hand, you can also think of talent as the ability to overcome an obstacle. Was Blind Willie Johnson a particularly talented guitarist because he was blind? Did James Earl Jones Become a Good Actor Thanks to Stuttering? Did Michael Jordan start playing better after being dropped from the high school team?
Don't let your supposed flaws or challenges keep you from trying something new and developing talent. If others have pointed out to you that certain characteristics of yours hinder the development of your personality or skills, consider them. While being shy, could you become an acclaimed rock singer? Despite being particularly short, could you play basketball well?
Step 4. Give your talent a personal definition
Some think that Hendrix is the best guitarist of all time, yet he was unable to play classical pieces because he could not read music. If he had worked hard, he might as well have made it. However, many mainstream musicians believe Hendrix was an untalented amateur. Can you ride a scooter like a champion? Is grilled cheese the dish you do best? Don't let others tell you it's not a "real" talent.
Part 3 of 3: Cultivating Talent
Step 1. Make an effort to nurture talent and turn it into a real skill
Ryan Leaf was destined to be a big hit. Excellent American football quarterback, finalist for the Heisman award, second overall in the 1998 NFL Draft. Years later, he is considered one of the biggest disappointments of all time, because he has not been able to improve and go beyond. Having a natural talent means nothing if you're not willing to work hard to hone your skills.
Once you've found your talent, imagine it's a seed to plant. You're off to a good start, but you need to water the plant, fertilize it, get rid of the weeds that grow around it to make sure it grows robust. It takes work
Step 2. Find other talented people
Remember the saying "As iron sharpens iron, man sharpens man". A talented person can help another to become one. If you have a talent or are just hoping to develop one in a certain field, surround yourself with smart individuals and take them as role models. Inspired by their habits and their own way of cultivating talent. Learn all you can from them.
Find a mentor who is willing to teach you something and guide you in developing new skills. Budding guitarists need good teachers besides YouTube. Blooming singers need professionals to perform with
Step 3. Respect the complexity of your talent
Turning it into a concrete skill will be difficult. The more you know about a topic, task or skill, the more difficult it becomes. Make an effort to inform yourself as much as possible in the field. Accept the challenges to master the talent. Make it special. Make it real.
For Magnus Carlsen, playing chess isn't easy just because he's naturally good at it. He is aware of how complicated the game is. The more you know about a business, skill or industry, the more you will have to learn. The road is never downhill
Step 4. Practice
Even if you have no talent for playing the guitar, practicing two hours a day guarantees you a great improvement. A person who is committed, whether it be a sport, an art or another activity, will always end up being more talented than one who never picks up a tool, a brush or a pen. In short, the secret is to practice. Hard work far outweighs talent, in any single case.
Advice
- Never give up, even when you're wrong.
- Remember that it is important to consider three "O's" in life: you must take advantage of the opportunities that give you the option of achieving a change in your existence.
- Also try to be patient. It may take a lot of false beginnings and a long time before you find out what you are good at.
- Keep an open mind in the pursuit of your talent. It may happen to discover unsuspecting qualities.
- Try to have lots of experiences and read a lot. If an activity doesn't convince you at all, leave it alone; if it strikes you, explore it in depth.
