Before you start reading this article, I think I should warn you that it contains two very dangerous ideas!

The reason for the caveat is that once you’ve read them and realized their implications, you may never want to go back to doing what you’ve been comfortable doing for most of your life. You can change your career, your image, your partner, move house, have children, adopt children, have your children adopted or simply leave the country.

I suppose for some of you that prospect sounds appealing, but I suspect for most it is dangerous to even think about it.

We are facing some tough times in life and work right now. People all over the world are looking for innovative solutions to stay employable and in work. Those who will succeed in an increasingly competitive global marketplace are those who have identified that they have talent that is in demand.

As the war for talent continues, companies are increasingly aware that they must step up their talent management activities or lose. In fact, 80% of senior executives believe that attracting and retaining the best people will be the main force influencing business strategy in the future. And it is not surprising: globalization, growth in the BRIC countries, falling birth rates and aging populations in the West, pressures from the margins, technology markets and new knowledge economies have caused a drought of talent for which many organizations were not prepared. .

But what is talent?

Most people think of a talent as being on stage or being an artist. Research has revealed that more and more young people want to be famous for being actors, singers, writers, hosts, dancers, pop stars than for anything else. And more and more of them are attempting careers in the entertainment industry believing, even knowing, that they have a talent for it…or so they think.

What is interesting, however, is that many of these talented people who offer their services to the industry will not make much money, but are still forced to express themselves through the business. They offer their talents at low prices just for the chance to do what they do and share it with the world. Anyone who works as an actor in the theater can testify to this.

But why do so many people these days want to appear on stage and on television, where the prospects for opportunities are often so bleak?

The reasons are complex but fundamental. It is an impulse. A compulsion that makes certain people sincerely believe they have a talent for the job. Many also sincerely believe that they have something to say to the world. Show business seems to be the best platform and becoming famous seems like a good prospect.

However, there are two types of people who will seek their fortune through fame.

The first type has a genuine talent for something and wants to share it with the world. His journey is often frustrating, but when they succeed and his talent is truly recognized and rewarded, they can gain a relative sense of peace and accomplishment.

The second category are people who have little or no talent, but need attention. And the reason why they need attention is because they are filled with anxiety and doubt. Doubts about who and what they are, what their life is about and if they are worth anything. This category of individuals believe that if they could become famous, the world would tell them who they are and how much they are worth, simply by celebrating them.

So, they get into reality shows like Survivor, American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, The X Factor and Big Brother. They hope that by appearing on these shows they will feel noticed, loved, and respected. But this won’t solve your personal dilemma, because without discernible talent, ‘we’, the people, and the fame-hungry seekers themselves, won’t be able to say exactly what they’re famous for. This will only make their self-doubt and anxiety worse, and on top of that they will lose their freedom to walk through the world undisturbed by the gaze and attention of the general public, who will point out to them how untalented they are at any given moment. chance.

So talent isn’t just about show business.

Talent is becoming common currency in all areas of life. And there has never been a better time to be truly talented.

But what are your personal talents?

Before reading any further, take a moment to think about your unique strengths, abilities, and capabilities and write them down. These thoughts can help you identify them:

1. What do you do or know that is unique, valuable or scarce?

2. What do you do spontaneously, with little effort?

3. What can you learn easily?

4. What activities relax you?

5. What would you like to do more?

Now answer these questions to help define whether these qualities even qualify as talents.

Make your personal qualities:

• Do you create value for yourself and for others?

• Are they unique and/or rare?

• Are they sustainable over a long period?

• Do they fit a specific need (or set of needs) in the world?

The next step is to ask yourself this question:

Are your talents:

• Who are you?

(Your talent is genetic, inborn, and requires little to no effort or maintenance. In other words, you just need to show up.)

• What is your job?

(Your talent is expressed as a specific behavior or action that requires some effort.)

• Or just, what are you good at?

(Your talent is a learned and/or developed ability and you have reached a high level of personal mastery)

For example, when I did this exercise with a client who works in a restaurant recently, she identified the following.

1. You identified your natural ability to tell everyday stories and make people laugh as unique, valuable, and rare. Also, this talent is innate and comes with who she is.

2. You love to tell friends and co-workers stories about everyday events you have noticed. This he does all the time, spontaneously and with little effort.

3. You can easily learn and memorize people’s names and faces. She is naturally good at this.

4. She relaxes around new people and enjoys listening to their stories.

5. You would like to be able to meet more people, listen to their stories and make them laugh by telling yours.

She has identified herself as having a set of talents that would allow her to become a communication skills trainer and is about to change her career.

Apparently only 1 in 3 people can tell you what they’re talented at, so this is a powerful exercise to do.

When you’re done, you should have in front of you some notes or a list of qualities that will give you a clearer definition (if you don’t already have one) of what your unique talents and potentials are. What if I now suggest that the talents you have just identified may actually be a partial expression of a much greater potential, and that there may be more available to you?

Maybe you have more to DO.

Before we continue, we need to explore the meaning of the word REALIZE for a moment.

What does it mean?

achievement – noun

1. To come to understand something clearly and distinctly.

2. Realization, or giving the appearance of reality.

3. The act of creating something by thinking.

4. The act of bringing something to completion or to fruition.

5. An act of co-creation that is a hybrid experience of discovery and creation.

So noticing something can mean inventing something that feels like a discovery. Physics for example. When scientists try to describe subatomic particles, they are basically making it up.

It’s like a story. A fairytale. They can’t see these things, they can only measure their effect on the world, but they give them names like Quarks, Gluons, and Photons because they know something must be going on. However, his story was powerful enough to land men on the moon, and later led to the creation of the Large Hadron Collider at Cern, where they can recreate the ‘Big Bang’ in a small tunnel.

So, in many ways, scientists claim to have discovered things in the world, but actually they create models and narratives in a kind of positive illusion that generates a new reality. In fact, when it comes to the quantum world of physics, where particles simply appear and disappear, the measurement of a proton depends on an ‘observing’ scientist collapsing reality with his mind for the particle to exist. Less a discovery and more an ‘ACCOMPLISHMENT’.

This is an important part of my dangerous idea, so hang on to these thoughts because I will reveal everything shortly.

The four key things we need for the expression of our talents are:

1. COMMITMENT – A drive and passion, or compelling reason to perform an action or behavior to the best of our ability.

2. DEXTERITY: the ability to “gracefully” coordinate our talent in four dimensions. Physically, emotionally, intellectually and motivationally.

3. STRATEGY: A holistic course of action or behavior that addresses the ‘big picture’ and long-term goals.

4. THE VALUE OF ‘GIVE UP!’: see things through to the end and get them done.

If we think in terms of ‘talent’ as an energy and intelligence that exists within everyone and reveals itself in what you naturally already do well, then all you need to do is recognize where your talent is best expressed and come up with a simple strategy. to express it more effectively. Once you’ve identified your talents, you may be able to recombine or reapply them in an area you first thought you had no talent for. A good example was the client I mentioned earlier, who went from waiting tables in a restaurant to starting her own company as a communication skills trainer.

Finally, here are my two dangerous ideas.

Idea number one: start fooling yourself!

Most of the successful, talented people in the world imagined they were successful before they actually did. They behaved in a way that made other people believe that they were already a success. They ‘realized’ their success before it actually happened. You could say that they were in a constant state of physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual self-delusion. But this state of deception is a positive delusion that makes them believe that they can do almost anything that they are passionate about. They believed it so that others would also believe it. They used whatever talent they possessed to create (or realize) a reality that allowed them to exceed expectations and perform at an exceptional level. Lady Ga Ga’s meteoric rise to world fame is a prime example of the entertainment industry. However, she must have identified and developed a true talent before she begins to delude herself. And that’s the hard part.

Idea number two: you don’t have time, but the present moment.

Or rather, you still have time no matter how old you are, because time is an illusion. We actually exist in a moment ‘without’ time. A moment literally surrounded by nothing but endless possibilities.

Just think about this sentence for a second.

Where is the real dividing line (or point) between the past and the future right now?

It is not there, it does not exist, because the past and the future are a psychological illusion created by the memory functions of the brain. Therefore, there is no predetermined destiny, destiny or future prepared ‘out there’ waiting for us. Sure there are plans in people’s brains right now, but nothing is set or guaranteed. We are at the forefront of our own reality, expanding into whatever we choose to move into. And it is a future in which we have identified and accepted our limitations or identified and realized our talent. As long as you are alive, you have time to perform your talents.

Allow yourself a little positive illusion and begin to “realize” how talented you really are.