Why talent may not be enough

There seems to be so much talk on what “talent” means exactly. But right now, it does not matter. Honestly, it doesn’t. What matters right now is how you are able to channel whatever you are sure you think your talent is. Right?

Sorry, but “channeling” is not what it’s all about either. You’d realize that there are millions of talented people in the world who channel their talent everyday; the singer, rapper, or actor on Tik-tok who seem to stand-out in comparison to all the ones out there, the student in your class who seems to bring her own brain specially from “heaven”, and that weird person who knows everything about tech, or even weirder, everything about everything.

There is always that person that feels like he’s going to be the next bomb. Sweetheart. I am not against you, in fact. I am with you as anyone else would be and if you’ve not read my open letter to you- Dear Talented Person, you might have missed out on an “ancienty-wisdom-kinda-stuff”😉

Observe all the people I mentioned above. They all sound “Mad talented”? But what else is the hold up. “They dope, right?”

Opportunity.

That’s what they need. All it takes is for someone well established and famous in his field to identify another upcoming person in the field e.g. say with Steve Harvey and an upcoming comedian, or Beyonce to Chloe and Halle. And then, BOOM! People start saying they are so talented. But we all know they didn’t become talented just because they got the right opportunity. Their talent found purpose, through opportunity.

Now don’t get carried away. There is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed, and it is none other than how long you have to wait for opportunities. Let’s be honest, not everyone will get recognized by Beyoncé or Steve Harvey.

I will try not to sound like an expert right now, but I will categorically state, based on my experiences with opportunities and how well they have turned out so far, that you fondle opportunities. Here’s how:

There are some opportunities that you find yourself- that is made available to the general public to find anyone who is particularly talented in the field. There is always an Emilia Clarke to be made through a simple audition, a competition to put in for, and a nice job to apply for.

Talent becomes enough when you handle these opportunities as gently as you’d fondle your pet. And by handling them gently, I mean carefully ticking all the boxes to make sure that you make the best of the opportunity. Because if you don’t go gentle with the opportunity, it goes off and it’s then you realize, that your talent may not be enough to take you to your desired level.

Let’s be more exhaustive. Opportunities are as probability-based as ordering 5 pizzas and given the choice of picking the one with the sweetest flavor. When it seems like opportunities do not seem to present themselves….

Consult strategy.
There are several people in the world who are not rich or successful because they had opportunities alone. It was because they were strategic enough. Strategy creates fixed opportunity. It doesn’t matter what your career is or what you intend it to be. Even if it’s entertainment. Have a layout of what you want to do with your talent and start looking for ways to achieve them.

Like I said, the more realistic you are about your strategy, the more fixed opportunities start opening up. Better to have a solid plan than waiting endlessly with fire, for a pile of unpurified gold.

So there you have it. Your talent may not be enough when you don’t fondle the opportunities you have, or fail to have any strategies for your talent because of faith in opportunity. Faith is good. But remember, even faith needs action to work.

Oh, also, here is a letter to you, “Dear Talented Person”🌹

Dear Talented Person,

We’ve heard of your skills, how you are able to whip out that savvy ingenuity when it comes to that part you are gifted in. How you make the pen dance to your tune, the computers respond to your magical fingers, the seemingly hard tasks submit to the awesomeness of your brain. Yes, we have heard of it all.

But do you know what else we heard?

You think you are the deal now, and you are surprised everyone does not acknowledge that or believe it. Well guess what? They are not your family members and it is not their job to believe in you. It is their job to believe when they are sure you have what you claim you have.

Please do not think this is a motivational letter. If you know that you can’t handle some simple truths, kindly close this letter.

If you are still here, I believe you want to hear some more truths. Dear Talented Person, do you know that they can pass you up for someone less talented and smart as you? It happens. Meanwhile, the fault is not with you. Some people simply have problems with believing unparalleled intelligence when they see it. So, they aim lower and stick to the status quo.

But then, what are you going to do about it? Will you stick around till they come to their senses and unfortunately, find someone more talented than you are? If you believe you are talented, take your talent to where it will be appreciated.

Okay pause.

Wait a minute.

The problem now is not that people don’t believe you don’t have talent, but not everyone believes, and you weigh their criticism, even though constructive, and suddenly begin to realize that maybe you are not as talented as you think you are.

Constructive criticism can be wrong. But unfortunately, you don’t realize that. You are too obsessed with what everyone has to say about your talent and not the fact that if you’ve done it once, twice, and more than three times, and it is genius and genuine, then it is not a coincidence. That’s what talent is. But of course, you gotta wait for people, right?

I don’t know if you know, but Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star in 1919 because his Editor said, he “lacked good imagination and had no good ideas”. Now, that man with “no good ideas” has a company with a market cap of about $238.9 billion. (Investopedia)

I don’t think we’ve heard of Walt Disney’s editor from Kansas City star. Or wait, have you?

I am certainly not going to talk about the fact that even with your talent, you are probably going to wait for some time before you are discovered. Meanwhile, my dear talented person, it is not a period of waiting. It is a period of preparation. Once talent booms, expectancy from people about talent goes from 10 to 110. And during this period, trust me, you will not have time to prepare like you will when you had all the time to yourself.

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So why don’t you start sharpening your already good skills so it’ll be ready for the world to be obsessed with it? It might be innate, but talent is something that needs to be fed, so it’ll have healthy bones, a fresh skin, rotund cheeks and a happy countenance. Forgive the human Imagery.

Oh, one more thing. Can you please stop with that thinking that because you are so good in what you do, there is actually no one who can do it better than you. You are wrong baby. That thought is crippling and not only will it bring self-doubts to you, you will start projecting your doubts on other people who are “fortunate” to be around you.

Accept that you are good in what you do, but there is absolutely someone who can do it way better than you. Appreciate talent when you see it even if the person is your subordinate. It’s actually some cool stuff.

P.S: Oops, I just realized this might have been a motivational letter.