you have chosen to do for a living?
3.
What would you do if nobody stopped you, you had all the money in the world and there was no chance of failing?
4.
If you had to say to someone in three words what you are about, what would you say?
5.
Where would your energy best be invested for great results?
I always see people struggle with these kinds of self-awareness questions. They draw a blank. The most important person to fully understand, is you. If people weren’t so busy running, shouting or keeping afloat, these are the kinds of questions that deserve thinking about.
Living from the outside in
Maybe you have always just felt that following the well-trodden path before you was what you were supposed to do. You built a life as modelled by your parents or grandparents and the community you grew up in, without questioning why. You were taught that things were done a certain way and that specific steps needed to be taken to reach your goals. You learned that a successful life is built upon experiences and knowledge acquired, whether from school, university, work experience, apprenticeships, travel… everything coming from an external source. Therefore, you were programmed to look outside of yourself for answers instead of listening to your itch.
My parents very much bought into the idea that you worked hard Monday to Friday 9 to 5 and never took a day off. If there was the very odd occasion that I was out with my parents during an otherwise normal working day, they would spend the entire time questioning where those people came from. “Don’t they have jobs to go to?” Later when I became self-employed and ran my own businesses, they never quite got to grips with the fact that I didn’t get a conventional pay-cheque. I worked with hundreds of clients and in companies where I achieved great successes with people. It wasn’t until for a short time I had a contracted job with a start and finish date, complete with monthly salary, that my parents sounded genuinely proud of me, as they understood the parameters.
Have you been programmed with a belief system that is based on “you start out a nobody and become somebody”. A system based on the conviction that people need educating, that medals, diplomas and certificates make us who we are? Do you measure by established standards and rush out for external validation? It prohibits us looking closer to home, relying on our unique talents and following our heart. It breeds low confidence and insecurities that become further obstacles to finding flow. Which is why answering some meaningful questions about one’s own life is terribly hard. We’ve hovered on the surface, trying to fit in, not wondering if it fitted us.
This is not to say that education and other forms of conventional standards and recognition aren’t important. Education certainly has its place and it is an important metric. But when engaged in this from self-knowledge and awareness of one’s talents, then internal motivation and the ability to learn are amplified.
Living from the inside out
The truth of the matter is: you are already somebody. You have your unique way of approaching things. There are things that you are in tune with, that make you smile and that you can naturally do so well, you wonder if it’s a skill at all. There are the things that you feel attracted to and immediately bring you into the itch-territory. You are already somebody with unique skills and talents. They need nurturing, growing and developing from the inside out.
YOU ARE
ALREADY
SOMEBODY
AND YOU WILL
BE A NOBODY,
IF YOU DON’T DO
ANYTHING
WITH THAT.
Natural talent
If you swap the letters of T-A-L-E-N-T, you see the word L-A-T-E-N-T. Talent isn’t something that is always immediately obvious. What is hiding inside you that is completely original, that you meant to bring to this world? What about you has been undiscovered and unrecognised? We understand the concept of a natural football player, an artist, or someone who is talented at mathematics. Talent doesn’t necessarily have to apply to the skills we are familiar with. You could possess a talent in your way of thinking, your way of negotiating, your feeling for colour, your attention to detail, your ability to care, your talent for leadership or the way you use words. How about if your special talent with children, with design, with teams, with problems or solutions could impact other people’s lives and change them forever?
Every single person has talent. We arrive on this planet alone and we leave it alone. In the time we are here we are responsible for unlocking those talents and putting them to good use. They often are the resources that aren’t capitalised on, but taken for granted. In a world where we deplete natural resources faster than ever, it could pay dividends to look a little closer to home for inspiration regarding innovation, talent and creativity.
TALENT = LATENT
Imagine being part of an education system that uses as its starting point the “you are a somebody” mantra, teaching (life)skills suited to the individual talents of the child. Of course all children need to have a degree of base knowledge, but it is pretty clear from the outset that children come with different interests. Instead of creating a hierarchy of ability (you are either academic or not), children can find their natural talents and build on from there.
CYNICAL SELF ALERT
You might think “easier said than done”. You might question what your talents are or be afraid to say them out loud, because you will be perceived to be bragging. You might struggle to think of yourself as a Somebody, if you’ve spent a lifetime in your own shadow.
Everyone has talent. But not many people’s talents are truly recognised. So time to recognise it yourself to begin with. Because if you don’t acknowledge it yourself, then the world around you will never find out.
Companies operating from this perspective benefit too. In a working world where creative leadership is key, let employees find their voice and resources. Instead of supplying everyone with coaches, courses and armies of change management experts, guide the process of allowing people to experiment and develop. At a time of transition, people need to be given permission to navigate their own ship. Taking responsibility, recognising their talents, scratch their every-year itch. Who knows what gold mine could be discovered? People who are able to have that degree of autonomy are often more fully engaged. It’s impactful and sustainable.
LOOK AT IT THIS WAY
Hopefully the wheels have been set in motion and you have started thinking about your dreams, plans and talents that you have dismissed. You might not have thought you were good at anything as measured by a conventional system. You are not alone. In the next chapter we will shed some light on why that is. Having a greater understanding of this will give you greater skill to gain a new perspective. Develop new eyes.
TOOLBOX
• I-T-C-H = your Innovative, Talented, Creative, Hungry
