“Talent is cheap; dedication is expensive. It will cost you
your life.”
― Irving Stone.
How many talented people have you come across who are not
living the life you expected them to live? What keeps many talented people in
the rut of struggle? How many times have you heard the term struggling artiste?
There is nothing more common than talent without success.
Talented people are supposed to be living the dream life and
some of them do? What then separates the two groups? Why do some people seem to
find a way to hack their talents and live the good life while others can’t seem
to get it right?
In the words of a book by John Maxwell I begin by saying
Talent is never enough. Left on its own, talent doesn’t get you very far. You
need to look at it as a first step on the staircase of success and fulfilment. Zig
Ziglar said that the elevator to success room is out of order. You have to take
the stairs. There are certain things you can do that unleash the potential of
your talent just like there are things you do that keep your talent caged and
never able to express itself.
According to James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, success
with talent is a function of both nature and nurture. In this book he speaks
about how Michael Phelps one of the greatest swimmers of all time has a body
type that favors the sport he excels in. The point is that the natural makeup
component which speaks of raw talent is significant and cannot be ignored. You
therefore before anything else must ask yourself whether you have the natural
ability to do what you are pursuing. It is far much easier to push yourself in
the direction where your natural abilities are more likely to shine through.
Someone else said we make a mistake when we judge a fish by its ability to fly.
Fish thrive in the water. Take them out and they are at a significant
disadvantage. The same thing applies to us. We can only thrive where our
natural strengths are.
Having said that, there is the second aspect of nurture
which deals with what I want to share with us here. What are you supposed to do
to create an environment and conditions, favorable to the exploitation of your
potential? I hope by now we are clear that talent is raw material. Raw
materials are taken through a process of value addition before they come out as
finished products which meet consumer needs and expectations. It is by going
through the process that trees turn into paper, Think about the process of
extracting gold to the point where it is ready to be used to make beautiful
ornaments. When the gold is dug up out of the ground it is full of impurities
of all kinds. I checked out science.howstuffworks.com/gold to understand how
gold ore is turned into usable gold. I found the elaborate process I describe
below in their own words. The first step is to break the ore into smaller
pieces using crushers. It is then put through rotating drums where it is ground
into to a fine slurry powder. The slurry powder is thickened with water and run
through a series of leaching tanks. Leaching dissolves the gold out of the ore
using a chemical solvent like cyanide together with oxygen. The chemical reaction
causes the gold in the pulp to dissolve. Carbon grains are released into the
tank and the gold adheres to them. Filtering the pulp through screens separates
the gold bearing carbon. It then moves to a stripping vessel where a hot
caustic solution separates the gold from the carbon. The gold bearing solution
is electrowinned to recover the gold from the leaching chemicals. Then the
smelting process begins. This process involves heating the ore at very high
temperatures (1149 Degrees Celsius).
Flux is added to the molten material to separate the gold from the metal
used to make the elctrowinning terminals. Flux is poured out and then the gold
follows. Molds are used to transform the liquid gold into solid bars (dore
bars) These bars are then sent to refineries for further processing. Refining
involves removing impurities that remain after the smelting process. Workers
add borax and Soda Ash to the molten metal which separates the pure gold from
other precious and less precious metals. It is then taken to the lab for tests
or assays to measure the content of gold in it. This refined gold is then made
into bars ready for use. In some instances, there is need the pure gold to be
mixed with other metals to form alloys like white gold for specific purposes. It
is important for talented individuals to see themselves as a precious metal in
the rough. Left to themselves, they amount to nothing much or they are used for
mundane tasks. However refined and polished, they become such a treasure that
they are deployed for only the noblest tasks.
There are no shortcuts to the top and only those willing to
go through the process will make it. It is also important to note that the most
precious metals go through elaborate processes to be ready for use. Be it
Diamond or gold or any of the other metals we highly value, the process is long
but worthwhile.
Metamorphosis Alert:
Every Artist was once an Amateur-Ralph Waldo Emerson.
What kind of metamorphosis do your talents need to go
through before they are fit for noble purposes?
I am sure you have come across this phrase but if not here
it is. Charisma will take you to the top of the table but only Character will
keep you there. Character is the crucible where your talent is prepared for
deployment. There are a number of things that can help you build the requisite
character to get to the top and stay there.
1)
You need an education. Many talented people do
not see the value of educating themselves. While you do not need academic
knowledge, there are certain basic levels of education that are necessary for
everyone. Education is a powerful tool in shaping us and helping us in our
interaction with others. Through education, you learn the people skills
necessary for living and working with others. Education will teach you basic
communication skills which you need in dealing with other people. Beyond basic
education, you need to embrace talent or field specific education. If you look
keenly, you will find that every field has certain basic things which you need
to be conversant with if you will function effectively therein. This explains
why there are football academies, programs that train musicians, comedians,
thespians, actors and all kinds of talented people. You therefore cannot run
away from education if you will improve your odds of building a fulfilling
career out of your talents.
2)
Coaching. The need for a coach for your talent
is much like the need for oxygen for your lungs. A coach exists to teach you
the specific skills you need to thrive in your area of specialization. Such an
individual refines your skills and keeps helping you make improvements as you
go along. A good coach will identify the aspects of your talent that need work
and develop a program to help you work at them until you become proficient.
3)
Practice. There is no substitute for practice
when it comes to refining your talent. Practice makes permanent so goes the
maxim. The more you do what you need to do, the better you become at it. It has
been suggested that it takes 10000 hours of practice to become a master at a
craft. It is not just the passage of time that matters but what you do in the
course of that duration. In his book The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay
Stanier, speaks about deep practice which involves a variety of approaches to
practice. These include:
1.
Practicing small chunks of the bigger action.
Hungry for excellence.
2.
Repetition, repetition and repetition… and
repetition. Do it fast, do it slow, do it differently. But keep repeating the
action.
3.
And finally, being mindful and noticing when it
goes well. When it does, celebrate success.
4)
Discipline. The greatest aid to talent
development is the discipline you assign to it. Discipline will help you say no
to the more appealing things you can do when you should be working on your
talent. It will help you avoid the things that will impact negatively on your
growth. Discipline will keep success from going to your head and messing you
up. It will help you put in the work when every part of your body tells you
otherwise. Discipline will keep you doing the right thing when no one else is
watching or following up with you. It will get you back on track when you slip
up. Those who have played with Cristiano Ronaldo keep speaking about his
discipline. During his time at Manchester United, his teammates spoke about his
obsession with exercise. Carlos Tevez spoke about never being able to beat him
at getting out on the training field no matter how early he tried to come. He
was always the first one in and the last one out at the training field-No
wonder his phenomenal success. Patrice Evra was afraid of visiting CR7 at home
because he would challenge him to exercise even in the house. There was an
obsession about him. As a disciplined individual, you appear obsessed because
very few things will keep you from doing what you know you need to do.
5)
Financial Literacy. A lot of us are good at what
we do but we make avoidable blunders in other areas of our lives which are
equally important. There is only so much someone else like a financial advisor
can do for you. No one will ever care for your money more than you. It has to
be your business what happens to your money. I don’t mean this in a day to day
kind of way, but you need an understanding of the fundamentals around your
money so that you are not ripped off and left high and dry. There have been
many cases of high flying athletes who have found themselves on the wrong side
of the financial equation. Many of them came into a lot of money when they were
barely out of their teens. This meant they were short on understanding of
financial matters. While it is ok when you are getting started, the faster you
attain financial literacy the wiser you are in keeping things in place. Financial
literacy will help you get a grip on where to invest your extra cash, take care
of your family, avoid wastage, and many other benefits. There are individuals
who have done very well for themselves out of their talents. Jay-Z is one of
the best out there at this kind of thing. Though he isn’t the most talented (my
opinion) hip-Hop Artiste, he is very good as a businessman who has leveraged
his talent to earn a living. He recently became Hip-Hop’s first Dollar Billionaire.
Fun Fact-Most of his money has not come from His music though that has remained
a big part of his brand. We could talk about Shaquille O’Neal and Michael
Jordan in the same breath. Understanding endorsement deals and becoming a
marketable athlete/talent are huge lessons you learn through financial
literacy. Locally we have our MacDonald Mariga who has done very well for
himself in taking his brand beyond football. The significance of this cannot be
overemphasized.
6)
Hard work. I will begin this with a couple of
quotes.
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What
separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard
work.”
― Stephen King
“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is
nothing without work.”
―
“Hard work beats talent when talent
fails to work hard.”
― Kevin Durant
There is no substitute for hard work. If you do not put in
the hard work required, you can forget ever becoming anyone to write home
about. I know people like substituting hard work for smart work but I am a
proponent of both. We should not substitute one for the other. The person who
works smart and hard is guaranteed lasting success. I believe in massive action
like Grant Cardone puts it. Many of us underestimate the amount of effort
required to attain our desired goals. As such we put in very little action and
are surprised at our results. The only way to guarantee results is to go the
way of massive action.
7)
Selling and negotiation skills. If you are
like most talented people, you need to offer your services in exchange for
money. There will come a time for endorsement deals if you are not already
there. You do not need to be a master negotiator but you must have basic ideas
about what your value is and how to communicate. Selling is one of those skills
that everybody needs to make use of yet we fail to realize. We sell every day.
Convincing your friend to choose one leisure activity over another is a form of
selling. Adding these skills to your resume will serve you well as you go about
exploiting your talents. You could have a team in place to do this for you but
you need to retain the ability to argue your own case if it comes down to that.
I am reminded of what happened in Kenya in 2007/08 after the disputed general
election. The Grand coalition government was formed only when the two
protagonists met face to face. Their teams had negotiated themselves into a
deadlock. At this point what worked was how well each of them could argue his
case in person. The same goes for you, when your team cannot strike a deal, are
you able to step up and get it done? This is why selling skills are a huge
asset to have in your corner as you pursue success with your talent.
8)
Integrity. You must become a man or woman of
your word. People do not like dealing with snakes. They prefer dealing with
other people they can rely on. The idea of presenting yourself one way and
acting contrary does not sit well with people and once they learn you are not
reliable, you have just shot yourself in the foot. People of integrity do not
engage in doublespeak. They do not go back on their commitments however much it
hurts. They do not sign a deal and back out of it because there is a better deal
unless it was built into their original deal that they have this provision.
Integrity begins with a value system. You must remain true to your values
wherever you find yourself. Nobody wants to deal with a person who doesn’t
stand for anything. They want to know what your expectations are and what you
are committed to. Integrity goes a long way in positioning you for long term
success and respect from all associated with you.
9)
Positioning. Square pegs fit well in square
holes. “According to this law [the law of Dharma],
you have a unique talent and a unique way of expressing it. There is something
that you can do better than anyone else in the whole world--and for every
unique talent and unique expression of that talent, there are also unique
needs. When these needs are matched with the creative expression of your
talent, that is the spark that creates affluence. Expressing your talents to
fulfill needs creates unlimited wealth and abundance.”
― Deepak Chopra.
You need to identify
the place where you are a perfect fit and if you can’t find one, create one.
After all, you are a creative.
10)
Hunger. One of the other things that separate
average from premier talent, is the hunger they have for getting to the top.
Premier talents are ever challenging themselves and holding themselves to a
higher standard. They do not settle for just being the best in the group. They
look beyond their peers and find new challenges to overcome. “If you ever find
that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another
room.”
― Austin Kleon. Do not be
among those who are contended with the applause of your peers to the point of
forgetting there is much more land left to conquer.
