Chapter 14 Building Hobbies around Your Talents for Maximum Success.
It is heartening to see that youths are naturally bent toward pastimes which bring knowledge, skills, joy, friendship, patience, relaxation, mental and physical health. Have some hobbies, they are fun. Basically hobbies are:
1. Playing games and doing things.
2. Learning and analysing.
3. Collecting things, and
4. Making things.
To give you a good insight and thorough selection, I am listing a few dozen hobbies here: Aerobics, Antiques, Aquarium, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Ballet, Basketball, Bird Watching or Keeping, Bonsai growing, Botany, Bowling, Canoeing, Carving, Chess, Coin Collection, Computer, Cookery, Cycling, Drawing, Dress-Making, Fashion, Fishing, Flower Arrangement, Gardening, Golf, Guides and Scouts, Gymnastics, Hockey, House Plants, Insect Study or Rearing, Jungle-Trekking, Knitting or Crochet, Magic-Showmanship, Model Trains and Planes, Music, Netball, Painting, Pets, Ping-Pong, Poetry, Pottery, Puppet-Making or Showing, Sailing, Scuba-Diving, Singing, Skating, Skiing, Soccer, Softball, Squash, Stamps Collection, Swimming, Tennis, Toy-Making, Wood-Working, Writing. Enough to keep you busy and to send all your worries packing!
If you know what your talents are and you build your hobbies around them, you will have a beautiful combination and a fulfilling life. You are simply killing three birds with one stone! While you are enjoying your hobbies, you are continuously building your talents and your career. Your talents and hobbies reinforce each other and continue to grow, building your skills, your mental and physical power. Do not miss this superb arrangement.
This coalition coincides with the experts findings, that many people with special liking for something often developed some obsession for it. They stuck to it and eventually the opportunity came and BANG, they became rich or famous, or both. Just read about Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Louis Pasteur, Steven Spielberg, Abba, the Beatles, all the soccer and tennis champions, and hundreds of others and you will know what I mean. Geniuses? Yes, but developed ones. Their special interests, hard work and performance actually boosted their talents in return! Aristotle wrote, ‘Theres no genius without a seed of madness.’
Now, I can almost visualise Pa ul, of the Beatles, dashing to Johns house with his guitar. Likewise, others like Per and Marie of Roxette, and Emma and Mel of the Spice Girls were obviously doing the same. No one can argue that hobbies have taken wings and led to fame and fortune for many people, who hardly expected their pastimes to turn into championships in the fields of invention, science, art or Music!
Harvey Mackay suggested, „Do what you love and youll never have to work a day of your life. Just keep at the things you enjoy, and work hard. If fame and fortune do not appear soon, or if they do not appear at all, does it matter? In the meantime you could cleverly position yourself onto a waiting position or stepping stone. If you love nature for example, and aspire to be a naturalist who combs the world photographing wild life and writing about them; before you have the funds to launch your expeditions you could work in the local zoo or in the library, reading and learning your dream. If you have good looks and talents in singing and dancing, work in a music shop and keep enjoying your songs and dances. Your auspicious opportunity and that big promoter will appear one day. Besides, your parents like most parents, will go all out to help and guide you, because your well-being is their greatest concern.
There is a word of caution here. There are certain jobs where it is obvious that little development or reward will come to you. You must not fall into this kind of dead end, trap or „talent-confinement. Find something related, or totally different where you have some abilities too. For those of you with little or no talent - which is unlikely - you should wisely choose an area where success does not depend heavily on giftedness. In many cases around the world, peoples self- image, optimism, hard work, desire and determination, etc, were so powerful that they nevertheless succeeded. I know too, that you will somehow find success and happiness, regardless of the difficulties on the way.
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent..... Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." - T. Watson, builder of IBM, one of the world's greatest computer companies.
"Hobbies take your mind off things that are worrying you, allow you to recharge your batteries, expand your horizons, increase your self-esteem, expose you to new ideas, and let you have fun with people you like." - C. A. Leatz.
"Ah! Beat on your heart, that's where genius lies." - A. de Musset."Genius is quite simply the ability to reduce that which is complicated to something simple." - C. W. Ceram.
"Genius is only a greater aptitude for patience." - Buffon.
"It takes very little talent to succeed in most cases, but it is vitally important that you use whatever you've got to the maximum degree..." - Michael Korda.
"If someone seems to progress without an error others ascribe it to some kind of genius. Success depends more on common sense than on genius." An Wang, founder of the well-known Wang computer company..
"Time must be found for relaxation or you would break down nervously." - Al Koran.
"He who would have beautiful Roses in his garden must have beautiful Roses in his heart." - Dean Hole.
"If people knew how hard I worked to acquire this talent, they would no longer be surprised." - Michelangelo, the famous artist.