Chapter 13 Talents, and Discovering Your Share of Them.
I wanted to get you excited about talents, geniuses and prodigies, but I realised I should not sow any delusion (false idea), so I will be a poor suspense-story writer by letting the cat out of the bag in the 1st sentence of this lesson, and the truth is:
Talents are more common and less used than you think; for talents to lead to great success, they must be diligently developed, and manifested in the right time and place, to fulfil peoples needs.
Long ago I was a school teacher, teaching English and Art. I went through some 20 classes. In every class of about 40 students, there were always 2 or 3 (about 6%) who were good in drawing and painting; and another 2 or 3 with excellent English or Chinese calligraphy (handwriting). I was also one of them! Apart from the prizes I won in various art competitions, I havent made a single dollar from selling works of art, or from calligraphy! I taught myself to read music without a single music lesson, and play the guitar and piano. People say I am musically talented, but I know that I am only a little talented in art, the musical side was more of interest, not talent. So you see, enthusiasm can really magiccarpet us away.
In recent years, Karaoke-singing grew in popularity, and I found on every occasion that 1 in every 10 (10%) was a very good singer. With 10% of the world as very good singers (10% of 5,000 million), there should be some 500 million Elvis Presleys around. By the same token (6% of 5,000), there should be 300 million Picassos world-wide. Where have they gone? You may say there is no market for millions of singers, but Elvis, Michael Jackson and Elton John have made billions between them, and could have shared that with thousands of others. It is clear that a lot of talents are lying dormant, and my statement still holds: Talents are more common and less used than you think, and they must be diligently developed, and manifested at the right time and place, to bring great success. Elvis and the Beatles did exactly that.
It is often said that talent is wealth, and knowledge is power, but in reality, they are only potential wealth or power. They will not attract achievement and riches unless organised, and ingeniously directed through strategies and hard work to a goal. If you read about big talents like Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Soichiro Honda, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Steven Spielberg (who produced colossal hits like Jaws, ET, Poltergeist, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, etc), you will find that they did a tremendous amount of work behind their world-class achievements.
Whenever I hear about someone being talented, I automatically ask: What does he do? Does he work? The notion that a genius can have great accomplishments without effort, is trash to me. Since the dawn of time, almost all individuals of extraordinary achievements paved their years with frustrations, perseverance and hard work. They made full use of their talents and their will and relentless quest for excellence earned them a permanent place in the hearts of humankind.
I did much reading on the subject of talent. The conclusions arrived at by the experts hinged around the following points:
1. There are chicken-or-egg-first situations where innate gifts give rise to interests, efforts and special achievements, and conversely, interests, efforts and achievements also cause talents to emerge.
2. The majority of children are born capable of cultivating impressive skills for great performance in certain areas, if the environment and circumstances support these developments.
3. The evolution of special abilities is not a straightforward matter, with humans as complicated organisms, compounded by multifarious inputs of values, nursing, parenting, stimulation, environment, involvement and hard work.
4. Despite variations in infancy, the presence of appropriate opportunities, conducive surrounding and supportive parents are vital to the growth of skills and talents.
5. Prodigies were often inborn potentials, with developments going right on target, and coinciding beautifully.
6. In the cases of mathematical and memory geniuses, people were dazzled by their feats and overlooked their background of special interests, obsession, pursuits, lifestyles, and mathematical parents that engineered the unusual capabilities. (For example, a New Zealand boy in Christchurch who entered university to do mathematics at 12, is the son of a very proficient and soughtafter mathematics tutor.)
7. Musical talents had casual, yet frequent and delightful exposure to music in childhood, followed by their free exploration and enjoyment of music over a long period, coupled with practice, facilities, human support, deep-seated motivation and pleasure.
8. Special accomplishments are the fruits of enthusiasm, persistence, obsession, the unlocking, maximising and culmination of abilities.
9. In the past, great mathematicians and engineers lacked higher education, and were largely self-taught and swayed by interest.
10. The 4 keys that unlock talents are: Attitude of parents and child. Self-image. Problem-solving skills. Motivation in useful activities.
So you see? There you are, no lazy, sleepy talents, only enthusiastic and diligent ones! Before you identify our talents, let us look at the different types:
A. Cognitive, perception and imagery talent.
B. Artistic talent.
C. Expression talent, as in dancing and singing.
D. Communication, verbal talent, wit and sense of humour.
E. Sensory-Motor & physical talent as in sports champions.
F. Creative and problem-solving talent.
G. Musical talent.
H. Mathematical and memory talent.
The above are obviously inter-related in varying degrees. Your cognitive talent complements your artistic one by helping you to see things clearly before you paint a beautiful picture. Likewise a ballet-dancer blends expression with sensorymotor ability. There are smaller and less visible innate gifts such as: Inquisitiveness and focus, optimism, motivation, perseverance and will-power, and they must be cultivated for maximum results. The talent to recognise and use other talents are important too!
How do you discover your talents then? Simple, first you listen to feedback from your family, teachers, and friends on your cleverness. Secondly, you try your hands at various things available or conceivable: Tennis, chess, crossword puzzle, brain-teasers, intelligence or math tests, singing, dancing, music-playing, swimming, public speaking, debating, drawing, knitting, carving, pottery, story writing, computer-operation, computer games, growing flowers, building and creating things, or anything good and useful you can think of. After 6 months you should recognise what you are good at.
As I end this chapter, I am suddenly overcome by a deep feeling of indebtedness to my father. Before I started school, he taught me Chinese calligraphy, in addition to the drawing I enjoyed doing. Many nights this baby was pampered with beautiful melodies, of bedtime music that my father regularly played. I was the one at my fathers bed when he died in 1991. My Mum was a wonderful housewife, so cheerful and kind. My parents had triggered the growth of my interests and abilities. Likewise, I have also incited my childrens love for piano and music. I hope someday for the same reason, my children and perhaps some of you will feel indebted to me.
"We all love to win but how many people love to train?" - Mark Spitz, winner of 5 gold medals at the 1976 Olympics "We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." - Goethe. "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." - Thomas Edison.
"Someone in the audience said to a famous pianist: I would give up many things to be able to play like you. The reply was: That was exactly what I did. "Anonymous.
"I'm in no way saying that we are born businessmen instead of becoming businessmen. I would be the last person in the world to propose such a theory... I was in no way a born businessman." - J. P. Getty, world-class businessman and billionnaire.