Now is the time to rethink talent. Talent can be artistic or technical, mental or physical, personal or social. You can be both a talented introvert and a talented extrovert. Your talents do not have to be profitable, useful or conventional, but are always your own, part of what makes you who you are. Learning to look for talent in the right places and building those talents into skills and qualities can take some work, but by tackling this in a creative way you will be able to use the qualities that you have been given naturally. explore and find your innate talents.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Looking for your talents
Step 1. Stop waiting for your talents to come to you
You will never know if you have a talent for playing guitar if you never try to play the guitar. The same goes for didgeridoo, knitting, badminton, and Tuvan throat singing. Find a talent that seems cool to you and all you can about it. Find out what you need and what you have. If you never try, you'll never know. You will never find a talent without trying something. You can only find the qualities, skills and talents that come naturally to you if you put yourself to the test and actively seek out new experiences. Don't shy away from obstacles and look for new challenges to find out what innate skills and qualities you may be hiding.
- Make it a goal to try something new every week. You may not discover something you're super talented at, but who knows, one day you might pick up the guitar and find it feels great in your hand and decide you want to learn more. You may discover qualities in yourself for dealing with animals in the shelter, something you have never experienced before. You may find yourself beating Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball at the self-service laundromat with ease. That is the beginning of a talent.
- Go outside and get your knees dirty. Go on an adventure and experience the world in its natural habitat. Try different sports, outdoor hobbies such as fishing, walking in the woods and rock climbing to find out if you have an untapped natural skill or instinct for something.
Step 2. Try things that are easy
What comes easy to you? What can you do without thinking about it? What do you like? Look at your obsessions and interests for potential talent. If you love to spend all day doodling, reading, or dancing, there's no point in wasting your time wishing you had a knack for baking. Focus on the talents you do have by focusing on what comes most easily to you.
- When you are at school, what kind of homework is easiest for you to do? What are you least concerned about? That could be an indication of your innate talents.
- Pay attention to what people have noticed about you. It is not uncommon for others to have a better idea of what you are good at than yourself. Ask family, friends, and your teachers to help you determine what you make seem really easy.
Step 3. Try things that are difficult
Are you afraid of being on stage or maybe you are afraid of public speaking? Writing a story and finishing it? Grab a microphone and put your pen on the paper. Do what you fear. What could be your talent that is on your bucket list? What would you love to be naturally good at without trying your best? Take on big challenges and discover what it takes to be good at something.
- Start by learning all about different talents and skills to demystify this process. Playing an electric guitar like Hendrix may seem impossible, but if you can't tell a G chord from a pick yet, you really have no idea how difficult it is.
- James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader and a famous Shakespearean actor with a thunderous, divine voice, suffered from a lot of stuttering as a child. He was terrified of speaking in front of the class and only learned to speak properly by facing his fears. Now he is widely recognized as one of the most talented voice actors in the world.
Step 4. Follow your obsessions
What do people sometimes get tired of if you just can't stop talking about it? Where do you have to drag yourself from? Take advantage of the things you obsess about to discover your qualities and talents that may be hiding beneath the surface.
Even if you're obsessed with something that's hard to relate to a talent, like watching television or movies, give yourself some credit. Perhaps you have a knack for storytelling or analyzing storylines. Perhaps you have a knack for appreciating camera angles. Every film critic starts the same way. Channel that obsession by learning more about movie history and how movies are made
Step 5. Keep track of your small successes
Do you feel that you are talentless, perhaps it is because you have not paid close attention to your own successes. Try to pay more attention to successes, both small and large, to identify things you may have an innate talent for. Think creatively about these small successes and how they could relate to more significant talents and skills.
Maybe you just threw a great party. This may not sound like a talent, but if you have the interpersonal skills, planning, and organizational skills necessary to accomplish such a thing, then celebrate it as a success. You may have leadership talent and management skills that you can put to good use along the way
Step 6. Ignore the television
Shows like "Holland's Got Talent" have a very narrow view of what it means to be talented. If you are not an attractive young person with a crafted life story and a loud, distinctive singing voice, these shows will make you feel like you are not talented. That is incorrect. Being talented has nothing to do with being famous or attractive, or being a performer. It means dedication, creative thinking and attention to details. It implies that you have an insatiable curiosity to turn certain innate qualities into skills. You'll just have to find them.
Part 2 of 3: Getting creative
Step 1. Take a personality test
A personality test is often used by employment agencies to determine where your natural qualities lie. It works the same way with talent. Learning about your natural tendencies for and against certain ideas, attitudes, and behaviors can help you learn more about your talents. These kinds of tests are not able to bring out talents, but they can give you a certain insight that will help you solve part of the puzzle.
- Myers-Briggs is perhaps the most famous of the personality tests, which divide people into one of sixteen types of personalities based on answers to a number of questions, and research conducted by Carl Jung.
- The Keirsey Temperament Sorter divides people into different temperaments depending on how you react to a variety of scenarios and questions. This is available online.
Step 2. Talk to your friends and family
One of the best ways to find out what kind of hidden talents you might have is to talk to the people who know you best. We often tend to overlook our skills and hide our abilities, often missing out on what makes us great. If you're lucky enough to have friends and family who care about you, they won't be too shy to point them out to you.
Step 3. Look at both your strengths and weaknesses for talents
One way to think about talent is to think of it as some kind of supernatural ability to do something, making it seem like that something is easy to do. Another way to think about it is as the possibility of overcoming some hurdle. Was Blind Willie Johnson a more talented guitarist because of his blindness? Was James Earl Jones a Better Actor Because He Stuttered? Was Michael Jordan a better basketball player because he was kicked out of the team?
Don't let perceived shortcomings or challenges stop you from trying new things and developing talents. Look for things that someone else may have recognized as challenges in your personality or abilities. If you're a shy person, isn't it all the more impressive that you're a famous rock 'n roll singer? If you are very small, can you become a great basketball player?
Step 4. Decide for yourself what your definition of talent is
Some people think Hendrix was the greatest guitarist of all time, but he couldn't play a classical piece on his guitar if his life depended on it because he couldn't read sheet music. He would have been able to do that if he had kept himself busy with that, but a classically trained musician might consider Hendrix a talentless bastard. Don't let other people tell you that being an excellent Razor scooter rider isn't "real" talent, or that making a really good grilled cheese doesn't count.
Part 3 of 3: Developing your talent
Step 1. Dedicate yourself to developing your talent into a skill
Ryan Leaf was considered the great new American football talent. A great quarterback, finalist for the Heisman, second-choice in the NFL draft. Fast forward a few years and Leaf is considered one of the greatest failures of all time, having accomplished nothing at a high level. Natural talent for American football means nothing if you don't put your heart and soul into developing it into a skill.
When you have found your own talent, consider it a seed you have planted. You're off to a good start, but you'll still need to water it, cover it with mulch, and weed it around to make sure your seeds grow into a big plant. You will have to work on it
Step 2. Find other talented people
In the same way that iron can sharpen other iron, one talented person can sharpen another. If you have a talent for something, or just hope to develop a talent in something, surround yourself with talented people and model yourself on their behavior, way of practicing and attitude they take towards their talent. Learn everything you can from talented people.
Find a mentor who is willing to teach you the tricks of the trade and coach you in developing your new skills. Budding guitarists need good teachers outside of YouTube. Budding singers need other people to make music together
Step 3. Respect the complexity of your talent
Developing your talent into a skill and your skill into an ability will not be easy. The more you learn about a subject, task, or skill, the more complicated it will become. Dedicate yourself to learning all you can in your field and challenge yourself to become a master at it. Make your talent something special. Make your talent a reality.
Chess may not get any easier for Magnus Carlsen just because he is a phenomenal player. Look, he now knows how complicated a chess match can be. The more you learn about a game, skill, or field, the more there is to learn. It will never be easy
Step 4. Practice
Even if you don't have a talent for playing guitar, practicing two hours a day will make you much better. Someone who practices, whether in sports, art or any other field, will always become more talented than someone who never picks up an instrument or brush, so someone who just never practices. Hard work will always win over capacity.
Tips
- Never give up, even if you fail!
- There are three K's in life….. Take a "Chance" to create a "Chance" for "Chance" in your life.
- Also be patient. It can take a lot of time and many false starts to discover what you do best.
- Be open minded about what your talent may be. It may not be what you expect.
- Try to do many different things and read about many more. If something doesn't click, move on; If it sounds like something to you, then dive into it more.