Talents To Treasures

“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.” – Goethe.

“A treasure is worthless until it’s discovered” – Me (I’ll get better with the quotes don’t worry).

Often times, I hear people say, “well, I’m not really great at anything” or “I’m not too sure exactly what my talent is but I could learn something”. These statements weaken me!

First off, everyone is excellent at at least one thing. Donald O. Clifton rightly said that every person is capable of doing something better than the next ten thousand people. Some talents are rather evident and you need not search; others pose some level of rocket science because of course they’re much more unique and if you fall into this category, you should be somewhat excited.

Now let me make this clear, you CANNOT ‘learn’ a talent. You can develop it by training and practicing, certainly, but it has to be there first. Did you know that race horses were born run? You could train an ordinary horse to run all its life but it would never be able to beat an average race horse. Same way you can train your voice all your life and you would never be as good as a born singer.

Times flies when you’re doing what you’re talented at. Take the next one week to observe. You’ll notice what carries you away into another entire universe of peace for hours! And while you’re there, time becomes a mere illusion. It’s that thing that gives you joy by just doing it whether or not you’re appreciated. Whether or not it puts food on the table. It’s what it does to your soul first that matters.

I’ve got this new friend, Saminu, he makes great music. I had one of his songs on my favorite playlist before I even got to know who he was. One day, I asked Saminu why he’s not into music full time. His reply struck me; he said “the moment money became the goal, I started to suck at making music and I wasn’t enjoying it anymore so I’ll just put one or two tracks out there every now and then.”

That’s not Saminu by the way!

Your talent should be first put out there to make people happy. Do just that and you’ll be more than fulfilled. Then for people who have talents that they could eventually turn into treasure like Saminu, please don’t hesitate but be careful not to make money your goal. Keep doing what you do to serve others first, then accept the treasure when it comes for you cannot eat your talent mbok!

For others with talents that you can’t easily connect with treasure, here’s the gig:
Find it first. Then do it from time to time for the peace and fulfillment it brings to you. When I do something I’m excellent at, I automatically feel like I can conquer the world!

Now let’s be practical. If your talent is making people happy at their worst states, it means every single time you make a person happy, you feel like you can conquer the world, so if you make 3 people happy in a day, three times in a day, you absolutely feel like you can conquer the world. That’s basically every morning, every afternoon, and every evening, heck, that’s every time! And you keep doing it cos you never get tired of doing it.
Now when you channel that conqueror mindset to something else, just anything; your job, your studies, your marriage, your friendships even your relationship with God, the results will be tremendous!

That’s the true essence of talents. It’s where it all comes together. When you’re fulfilled all round, you’ll see the treasures that start coming because you’ll be excellent at everything that you do. So the treasure isn’t necessarily from your talent but through it.

Here’s an excerpt from the book “Talent is Never Enough” by John C. Maxwell. If you can’t read the entire post, just read this:

Belief lifts your talent.
Passion energizes your talent. (There’s a significant difference between passion and talent by the way)
Initiative activates your talent.
Focus directs your talent.
Preparation positions your talent.
Practice sharpens your talent.
Perseverance sustains your talent.
Courage tests your talent.
Teachability expands your talent.
Character protects your talent.
Relationships influence your talent.
Responsibility strengthens your talent.
Teamwork multiples your talent.