Every single person in the world has talent. The larger question at hand is whether or not you truly know if it’s a talent or not. With talent, there comes an air of certainty and confidence. That whatever it is that you are doing is something that you can do well, without even spending much thought on it.
The problem is the fact that many of hide away those talents through layers upon layers of insecurity or lack of self-confidence. Or maybe we are misdirected on where we wish to go in our lives.
Whatever the case may be, determining whether you have a talent – or lack of one – really comes down to how invested you are to figure it out. Because figuring out just how skilled you are at something is pretty difficult. However, the kinds of clues I’ve suggested below will help you piece it all together.
#1. You Have Talent If You Can Commit To It
The first thing to know is you have a talent if you’re willing to pour your time and energy into it. This is a pretty loose phrase because talents don’t just apply to your current self. You may have left a talent behind as a kid or a teenager and might be thinking of trying it out again now.
Even in the case of commitment, I consider that pretty loose in this sense too. Commitment does mean taking action in your life. But it also means having this thing on your mind. Something that you’re willing to try out and experiment.
Of course, the sooner you can take action and make it a consistent habit, the better. However, with identifying talents and potential habits, you need to look at what you are passionate about.
#2. It’s Something That You Enjoy
And by extension of the first point, it is something that you are passionate about. It’s something that you know you can pace yourself and continue to enjoy doing it again and again. It’s on par with a hobby that you have, but extends beyond that. It’s something that you leverage as the skills that you gain enhance other parts of your life as well.
Another way to look at it is that talent is something where as you progress, you give yourself more reasons to continue doing it. To keep yourself in a good rhythm for it.
#3. You Have Talent If You’re Critical About It
To be honest, it took me a little while to really get into self-improvement and figure out how I wanted to write about it. The first few years of my writing, it was more along the lines of personal blogging without much substance to it. Today, I know I have a talent for writing and an interest in self improvement because I am overly critical about the industry that I write in.
I’m aware of particular issues in this industry and I would love nothing more than to see some of those issues addressed. The only issue is I don’t have the massive audience to do much about it.
Even so, a clear sign that you are talented and good at what you do is if you’re so passionate about something you are critical of yourself and of the industry that you’re in. This doesn’t mean to think of yourself as inferior no matter how much time you pour into a talent or anything.
Rather, you are so passionate and you believe that your talents can shift the industry in some way shape or form.
If you’ve got a talent for cooking, maybe you’ll pick up a new technique or create an entirely new recipe. Or if you’ve got a talent for a particular sport, you would try something that few if any player has tried before.
Having talent is another way of having a love for what you’re doing so much that you want to leave a mark behind no matter how significant it might be. To somehow leave an industry behind better than when you first came in.
#4. People Ask You Questions On The Topic
Finally, the biggest tell that you have a talent for something is if people are asking you about the topic or making requests. It’s an obvious one because people know that you are talented enough to do something for them while others would have a much tougher time trying to do so.
But the thing about this is that this also extends to compliments or generally positive comments revolving around this. And this doesn’t have to be recent either. Anything from a previous workplace, at your current job, or when you were younger.
Finding Talent
Finding your talent is always tricky because a lot of us get in our own head about it. In my mind, that kind of mentality is a bit of a good thing as it allows us to be overly critical about something and to keep experimenting. Learning to set aside that negative voice while trying something out is key, but once you start practicing and growing, you can turn it into a good thing.
A good example of this is I remember my dad stopped playing the violin for a period of time in his life. It wasn’t until I was 8, did he start getting back into it and practicing. Today, he created a business out of it, playing for the town’s orchestra, at weddings, and becoming a local celebrity essentially. Not every one of your talents is going to evolve into a full-fledged business, but without practicing and trying it out, you won’t really know if you’ve got a talent for it or not.
To your growth!
Eric S Burdon