Talent is the ability you have nurtured for years. You can call yourself talented in that direction and, please, don’t let others kill your talent.
For many people, talent is something you are born with (for example, the ability to paint) and in the direction of which you must not put too much effort to have decent results.
But that effort will definitely be vital for the quality of your talent. Or, in other words, it will come to be defining for how talented you are.
At the same time, I would like to assign to talent the importance of financial independence. In the end, I think we all work in the same direction (conceptually speaking) and that we want to move towards financial independence and freedom.
Whether we invest in an ability that gives us these two things or not (financial independence and freedom), the way we invest in that ability becomes a defining feature of how our skill will be a talent.
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My talent and background
In my case, my talent is related to writing. And I say it’s related because my talent is not the writing itself and the way I use the words, but it’s a bit deeper than that.
It’s just that writing is the way I’ve succeeded in capitalizing on that talent and constantly working in its direction.
I have been writing for almost 10 years (in the autumn of 2009 I remember that I started writing) and until somewhere around 3 to 5 years ago, I thought my talent was writing because people were telling me that.
I used to encourage people to start writing and still do it. The reasons are varied, but I think anyone can get to write fantastically well, no matter if they have the talent I have or not – I will mention why in a second.
After all, I have been writing for almost 10 years, and the people I recommend to start, expect to write fantastically in just a few months. And when I tell them how much time I’ve invested in this ability, they think twice about how quickly they want the results.
Going back, my talent is related to writing, but it’s not the writing itself.
And I discovered it 3-5 years ago.
My talent is the ability to actively listen to and understand the needs and desires of people through the vibe they generate. I’ve been doing this since I was young (probably since I was 10 years old) and I do it because I’m curious. I’m always curious to find out what a man has to say, especially if I choose to collaborate with them in a specific direction.
Thus, I manage to connect this talent to the ability to write and deliver results to people.
And the process is the following: I understand the needs and desires of the people (client) through the vibe that they generate, and this helps me to create texts that are loved by them.
Then, to deliver results, I learned that these clients are delivering what I provide them to other clients, who are either companies or consumers. If they are companies, there are other clients or customers there. Understanding the whole chain, I began to focus on the way that I satisfy both my client and my client’s customers.
But all I have said here is just a small piece of all the effort made in these years. And for this reason, people will always look at my ability with superficiality. At least at first.
Those who do not understand the value of your talent will kill your talent
You will meet people who simply cannot perceive that you have spent an X-year effort in a certain direction and that you can provide value.
And these people will say that what you do is of little value. For the simple fact that they will not be able to notice it.
And it’s absolutely normal. Or at least I think so at the moment.
There were times when I was really frustrated because I was spending too much time (sometimes dozens of hours) trying to explain to clients the reason why valuable work (with reference to my writing ability) would bring added value to their projects and, eventually, results.
But people didn’t want to understand. They just didn’t care about more value, they were interested in doing it … and only that.
And even if I was going to fall into their budget and propose considerably lower costs than usual, just to help them see the results, they were still not willing to give a chance to the direction that I was proposing.
So, I had people who tried (intentionally or not) to kill my talent. And for a good time, I wanted to give up. If you’ll ever be in such a situation, please don’t let others kill your talent.
Because, in the end, a valuable thing gets to be valuable when people recognize it as valuable. And even if I found a few people, it was not enough to continue to trust that what I am doing is what I have to do.
I’ve come to encounter so many NOs and the ignorance of others that I’ve stopped for more than a year from everything that has to do with writing. When, in fact, I had to go on and find people who understand what they are talking about and who are willing to try.
Those who recognize the value in what you do will be pleased with the first draft of your work
The rest will be eternally unhappy.
This is a conclusion I came from following the work experience I’ve had with my clients so far. I had clients who noticed the value in my work from the first second, and then we made only a few adjustments. Just as well, I had clients who thought that what I was doing was a stupid thing and didn’t even respond to emails.
And for a long time, I thought things should be different. After all, why would people want to kill your talent?
I thought the value that I can provide can help anyone since it contributes to the results they want. But people look different at the same thing, and that happens in every field and industry.
For some people, you’ll be the best manager or leader. For others, you will be the most unpleasant manager or leader they have ever worked with.
For some people, you’ll be the best public speaker. For others, you will be the most boring public speaker they have ever listened to.
While doing things the same for all these people.
And if you understand this, you will end up making the effort in the direction that you have proposed. And you will continue to look for those people who understand what you are doing and are willing to pay attention and not kill your talent.
Find people who resonate with you
And, equally important, find people with whom you resonate.
After all, as much as you need some clients who understand what you are doing and pay you for it, just as much they need your skills.
Make the effort to look for those people and don’t settle for less than what you want.
I’ve learned that if I accept to work with those people who get involved in what I do just for the sake of getting involved, it will most likely not be a result I want for their project.
And most of the time I care more about the results of the project than just how good the client’s pride is nurtured.
With love and optimism,
David