Discover the importance of self-awareness and identifying talents. Emphasizes the significance of hard work. Discusses the importance of self-reflection, seeking feedback, and trying new things. Highlights the need for seeking others' perspectives to uncover hidden talents.
Many people have hidden talents that require active excavation to discover and utilize.
Identifying and developing talents requires self-reflection, seeking feedback, trying new things, and recognizing early signs of potential.
Deep dives
The Importance of Excavating Hidden Talents
Most people possess numerous skills and abilities, but only a small percentage are able to identify their natural talents. Harvard Business Review suggests that aligning natural talents with work can lead to greater career success. However, these talents are often hidden and require excavation. Some talents are obvious, while others may show indications of potential or aptitude. But there are also talents that remain completely hidden until actively sought out. Excavating these hidden talents is crucial for understanding one's distinctiveness and making unique contributions.
Discovering and Developing Talents
Talent alone is not enough; it requires hard work and effort to be successful. Stephen King highlights the importance of hard work in differentiating talented individuals. To excavate talents, self-reflection, seeking feedback, trying new things, and reflecting on past accomplishments are valuable tools. Additionally, recognizing distant early promising signs can indicate potential talents. Once talents are identified, deliberate practice is needed to develop and enhance them. A powerful call to action is to ask 10 people who know you well what they think you excel at beyond most people, as their responses can provide valuable insights into your talents.
Key Points: The National Endowment for the Arts tells us that the average person possesses 500-700 different skills and abilities. Yet, Gallup tells us that only 10% of people are able to identify their natural talents. Everyone has special gifts, talents, and aptitudes– areas where their potential ability is two or three standard deviations from the mean. The problem is, many of us can’t see them because they are not obvious. No one comes with a list of their talents. They’re all discovered. We all require additional self-awareness, awareness that only comes with additional effort, discovery, experimentation, or in short, excavation.
Today's key action: Go ask ten people who know you well this question: “What do you think I’m better at than 9/10 people?”
Write down their responses.
See if you can find a pattern in the responses. Drill down, excavate, and then put in the work.
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