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Episode 433  – What are you doing with your talent?

• I have shared with you how for most of my life I didn’t believe I had any special talents
• When people asked me what I liked doing in my free time, I waved my hand and said – oh – I am boring – I read, I exercise but that’s about it
• When I thought of talents I imagined people playing instruments in orchestras, selling their paintings in galleries, singing and dancing in front of large audiences ,
  • anything that made people stand out of the crowd
• Today I know that we all have talents
• Some of us have found them early on in our life and developed them through extensive training
• Some of us have known about them but we haven’t done anything with them
• And others may still need to dig a little bit to find them
• We all have talents
• We have strengths
• We have gifts that set us apart from others
• For the last few years I knew this,
• but I realized recently much more clearly in my speaking workshop
• Now you would think – the people who signed up for this workshop are probably all great speakers or become great speakers
  • Their talent is public speaking
• That may be the case for some but not all
• but I discovered something else
• everyone had one or more special talents that they came with
• It was quite amazing to see the skills, knowledge and expertise people brought
• Especially towards the end of the workshop, we often sat together in groups planning wild adventures that would utilize everyone skills
• Together we saw us planning and executing huge events
• Let me tell you about some of the skills people came with
  • Several people are amazing writers
    • Taking their writing to the stage was just another area of their life they wanted to explore,
    • Some wanted to give speeches about the books they had written
    • Others wrote for companies and now desired to share their own story instead that of others
  • There were people with powerful voices
    • They incorporated singing into their speeches
    • They had an impactful presence on stage because of their voice
  • There were coaches and trainers who constantly motivated the group when we felt overwhelmed or anxious
    • They cheered everyone on
  • There were event planners, marketing experts, social media gurus, spiritual people
    • All of them brought their knowledge and the rest of us benefited
    • We learned from them
    • One of my AirBNB roommates gave me some great ideas on my social media strategy
  • There were people whose strength was connecting with people
    • It was easy for them to approach others, including the more quiet and reserved people like me
    • They reached out
    • They planned dinners and get togethers
    • They networked and they were great at it
  • There were people who had successful companies and shared their learnings, their theories and concepts in their speeches
    • Their gifts were the skills they already had
    • Speaking about them was simply a way for them to share their message with a wider audience
  • I want to ask you today – my lovely listeners –
  • What are you doing with your gifts?
  • How are you putting your talents to work for you?
  • How are you using them to serve a bigger group of people and create an impact in the world?
  •  

“Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” — Leo Buscaglia

• What are your gifts?
• Have you thought about doing something more with them?
• Sometimes we become comfortable with the thing we know we are good at
• But that can keep us small
• Sometimes, it takes learning something totally new in order to take our current talents to the next level
  • Like the people that learned how to speak in front of an audience in order to promote their ideas
  • When I created QFY I didn’t just record my ideas and then my voice
  • I built a website
  • I had to learn about social media
  • I networked
• In order to become a better podcaster, I need to learn other skills that one doesn’t think of immediately
• I shared previously with you that there is a Canadian Olympic athlete in my speaking workshop
  • Her talent is obvious
  • But what does she do? She is learning to speak about it so she can motivate others to find their talents and persevere in the face of difficulty
• Our talents are a message to the world and it is our job to bring that message out
• Think about the impact your talent can have on others
• Who currently receives your kindness? Your caring personality?
• Who enjoys your extraordinary cooking and baking skills?
• Your joy for cleaning your home and doing so in a way that gets you compliments from everyone who sees your house
• Who hears the poems you write?
• The stories and jokes you like to tell?
• Who benefits from your ability to fix things quickly and efficiently?
• Who comes to you with problems and receives your practical and insightful advice?
• Who could you help with your love for numbers, your understanding of the political climate, your expertise with cars?
•  
• We all have skills but –
  • We play them down – as meaningless, insignificant, not noteworthy enough
  • We keep them to a small circle of people in our lives
    • The companies we work for
    • Our family and friends
    • Sometimes only for ourselves
  • We often cannot see how much further we can go with our talents
  • I certainly didn’t see it
  • I played small all my live
  • And by playing small, I didn’t go out and experiment
  • My life today doesn’t even compare to the life I led for the majority of the years I have been alive
  • I have experimented with my life and as a result I have learned more about myself
  • I have discovered gifts I didn’t think I have
  • Owning our talents doesn’t have to imply that we are experts
  • so often we don’t allow ourselves to see our gifts because we know we are not really good at them
  • but that doesn’t mean the talent isn’t there
  • we just haven’t developed it
  • our jobs haven’t given us the opportunity to explore them
  • and maybe at home we don’t have the time or the resources
    • a desire to paint, for example
    • a feeling of happiness and bliss when painting
    • an interest to learn more about it
    • a fascination with colors, or nature, or art
  • there is a gift calling for our attention
  • what are you doing with your gifts?
  • I didn’t think I had any
  • So I set out to find them
  • After I launched my podcast and asked my friends to listen to it, they didn’t comment on my content
    • They commented on my voice
  • In my speaking workshop, the same happened
    • People loved my stories and loved listening to me speak
  • Maybe my voice is a gift?
  • I don’t know but I am in the process of finding out
  • The discovery of your talents requires courage
  • I had no idea about the impact of my voice
  • I never liked my voice – I told you that long time ago
  • But I also told you that my initial goal with my podcast was to find my voice
  • That took vulnerability as I had to summon the courage to record that voice that I didn’t enjoy hearing and broadcast out into the world
  • We hold back on our talents because WE judge them
  • Lets have the world judge them
  • We are not very objective – we don’t see or hear ourselves like others do
  • We are stuck inside of our body
    • We have our intuition but we also have a very critical brain that thinks it can explain everything with logic but thereby only holds us back
  • The singing you think isn’t good?
    • Sing for someone else and see what they say
    • If they think its great, take it to more people
    • There is a women in my speaming workshop that makes people cry with her powerful voice
    • And at the same time she cried because she cannot get over the effect she has on us
    • She had no idea
    • She wasn’t going to incorporate singing in her speech that talks about her singing career.
    • Can you believe it?
    • But after we all gave her feedback and she saw our tears, she know – singing needs to be part of her speech
    •  
  • Test your talents by being a little bit courageous and exposing yourself to others
  • Sing, dance, speak, write for others
  • Give it a try and watch their faces light up
  • Not everything will resonate with others
  • That’s ok, keep digging
  • The thing you discover that’s not your talent may lead you to one that is
  • In my speaking workshop I saw people transform themselves
  • They started out with one message but in the process of working on their speech realized that their message is a different one

• Start thinking bigger about your gifts and the impact they can have
• Usually when we display our talents, we are at our best and our most fulfilled
• By increasing our impact, we are also adding to our own happiness and fulfillment
• Sounds like a win-win to me
• So today
• Start thinking about your talents and what you re doing with them
• The job and the other responsibilities we have should not stand in the way of developing and utilizing our talents

Much love

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