Unleash Your Talent: How to Explore Your Most Treasured Asset.

unleash your talent

One major way to open up the gateway to success and have a fulfilled life is to unleash your talent. Understand that your talent is your asset as long as success is concerned. It is common to hear people talk about a talented musician, actor, singer, speaker, writer or what have you. But the truth of the matter is that each and every one of us is endowed with at least a talent. We are all talented.

I remember vividly, a song we used to sing way back in Primary school. It goes like this;

One talent have I,
to take to the world;
While others are blessed
with ten of the best;
why should I complain
from duty refrain;
No never, no never,
Not I.

The above song captures the very nitty-gritty of this phenomenon called talent. We can understand from the song that we are all endowed with talents. However, while some are multi-talented, others can boast of just one talent. But we are all loaded with talents.

And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey – Matthew 25:15.

Furthermore, this scripture verse buttresses the fact that we are carriers of certain talents. Hence, we can invade the infinite realm and succeed in life with a little creativity. Talent in this regard, is that special (unique) skill or quality that is divinely endowed on people that makes them do things with ease and very well. Talents are special gifts that help people in fulfilling destiny. One universal truth about talent is that it is for the public good. It is for positive impact. An endowment or a gift becomes a talent only when it is beneficial to the general public.

Understanding Talent

Talent is of great importance to human existence. One importance of talent is that it opens, and ushers men into the realm of greatness.

A man’s gift (talent) makes room for him, and brings him before great men – Proverbs 18:16

People with talents are ‘a greatness time bomb waiting to explode. So, your talent becomes a vehicle you ride in to achieve success, fame, and greatness. Understand that the tendency to unleash your talent depends so much on your ability. That is why even though we are all endowed with talents, some are ‘not talented’ because they lack the ability to unleash their talents. The ability here is the capacity to harness and express your talent. You must have the capacity to harness and unleash these special skills or gifts for maximum global impact.

Discover yourself

Taking the path to self-discovery is unarguably a window to capacity building. You must take the journey inward to discover yourself. Until you discover yourself you cannot live life to its fullest. It helps you to know your self-worth and unleash your talents. You must look inward to discover your strength, passion, and talents, and harness them for maximum impact in life.

By doing this you will build the capacity, and acquire the ability to unleash your talent. Have you discovered yourself? Do you have an insight into your own nature and character? Not until you do that you can ever unleash your talent.

You need a Push.

You need a push in life in order to build the capacity you need to unleash your talent. Note that for you to have the ability to unleash your talent you must be pushed beyond your limit. You must go the extra mile to build the capacity. For instance, an elastic band when pressured or overstretched does not return to its original state. In the same way, your talent when stretched beyond the limit does not remain the same. The elasticity of talent sets in. Each time you go beyond your limit there is improvisation to your talent. You will learn new ways of doing things with ease, and very well. That is innovation and creativity.

I remember vividly the time I wrote my thesis and each time I submitted my work for supervision. My supervisor then will ask me to elaborate on my work. Each time he will always tells me to write and expand my work. And it paid off as I got the best grade in my project work. My ability was overstretched beyond the limit and I build the capacity for writing. Today, I can write with ease, and I have so much developed my writing skill, such that I can write a script ten times, and each time develops new content is it.

You need Mentoring

Another way you can build the capacity to unleash your talent is through mentoring. You need to be mentored, trained, and facilitated by someone who is well-grounded in such a field for you to acquire the ability. You need someone who takes a personal interest in your success and is committed to helping you reach your full potential. Also, it must be someone who inspires you to succeed, someone who has done what you want to do and you aspire to be like him.

Mentorship encourages capacity building through the impartation of specialized skills and knowledge, and the wealth of experience of your mentor. It is your connecting bridge to fame and stardom.

Banish Fear

Let’s say your mind is a treasure box, and inside it is great potential, (talents) that you must freely express or unleash for you to be successful in life. Now, what fear does is that it closes this treasure box and buries these wonderful talents, and makes sure you don’t unleash them. This is one major reason why many are unsuccessful today. Not that they don’t have talents but because of fear of expressing their talents.

Fear strips you of all your abilities to unleash your talent by making you doubt your ability. However, you cannot develop your talents without taking responsibility to unleash your talent. Banish that fear now and give it a try. 

Finally, what are you good at? What is your passion in life? Or what do you feel so excited about? Chances are that this is your talent. And to unleash your talent you must go beyond your limit to build the capacity and acquire the ability. Do more if you must achieve more.

Imagine it, believe it, and dare to succeed.

Mystery of Tomorrow

mystery of tomorrow

Unraveling the mystery of tomorrow is an arduous task for anyone who envisages a blissful and rewarding future. All through human existence the ‘concept of tomorrow’ seems to have always remained a mystery. There are myriads of popular parlances pointing to the mystery of tomorrow. For example, ‘no one knows tomorrow’, and ‘tomorrow is pregnant and no one knows what it will give birth to.

Tomorrow holds a lot for mankind – either good or bad. The mystery of tomorrow is that it is bloated with some elements of uncertainty. Interestingly, many are sorely afraid of tomorrow. They are afraid of what lies ahead of them i.e. fear of the unknown syndrome. This suggests why many would rather feel helpless at the thought of tomorrow because they don’t know what it holds for them. Even today many are still skeptical about tomorrow because of the uncertainties surrounding it but no matter our feelings about tomorrow, it will always come.

In fact, the entire human race is living in view of tomorrow. All our efforts and activities today point towards a better tomorrow.

There is an inextricable relationship between our yesterday and today, and also between our today and tomorrow. Whereas our today is rooted in our yesterday, our tomorrow will be determined by the activities of today. More so, today is a bridge connecting our yesterday with our tomorrow. Hence, yesterday is a lesson, today is a challenge, and tomorrow is a mystery. It is a time when we shall sit back to analyze and assess how we have fared in life. Hence, our success today determines whether we will have a fulfilling tomorrow.

Furthermore, tomorrow is the time when we shall take cognizance of all the decisions we made, and the daring risks and, or responsibilities we took, to ascertain their effectiveness. Such a time to some will be a time to celebrate their success in life, and to some, it will be a time to lament and regret their failure in life. There is a thin divide between our today and tomorrow. It is called the night.

…weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning, (Psalm 30:5).

Are you in your night of adversity as it were? Are you enmeshed in bitterness and weeping? Hold on, soon you will step into your tomorrow. Nevertheless, you must possess an element of hope in your heart. It is very important to note that no matter how long or how dark your night (adversity) may be the bright dawn of tomorrow (your success) will always emerge.

Most importantly, you can decide how your tomorrow will be. You can dictate to which direction the pendulum of tomorrow will swing. Hence you can lay formidable foundations for a better tomorrow today. Sincerely speaking, you can allay the fears of the unknown, and avert the cry of had I known tomorrow. Yes, you can but you must secure your tomorrow today. Now I will present to you the bouquet of life-lines that will help you secure your tomorrow, as well as demystify the mystery of tomorrow.

Salvation


Your salvation is the most superior of all the lifelines. It is the spiritual aspect of your quest to secure your tomorrow. As we will all know, the spiritual controls both the physical and the material. It is the surest mean to secure your tomorrow because when the spiritual aspect is secured virtually all other aspects of tomorrow is secured. It goes without saying that when you are saved your tomorrow is secured, but when you are not saved your tomorrow is not safe.

For God, so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through him might be saved, (John 3: 16, 17).

This is the good news, the whole message of salvation. And it is the only escape route from all the fear of the unknown, and fear of judgment, and of eternal damnation. Salvation confers on you the status of a hybrid personality whose tomorrow is intact and not in doubt.

Positive Imagination


One of the greatest gifts of God to mankind is the gift of imagination. Imagination per se is forming an image about a particular thing in your mind. It is painting mental pictures about something. Imagination has with it the power or force that can transform such mental pictures or images into reality. And as such the power of imagination cannot be underestimated, even God himself, confirms the audacity of imagination.

… And now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined, (Genesis 11:6).

What do you imagine about your tomorrow? What picture do you paint about your tomorrow? You must understand that the power of imagination will propel you to actualize that which you have painted.
When a man has a positive imagination, he has everything it takes to actualize his tomorrow. Imagination helps you see vividly your tomorrow today. Imagination consists of hope, optimism, and enthusiasm. And these three elements turn your imagination into reality. Watch out for my post on the power of imagination.

Preparation

The place of preparation in securing your tomorrow cannot is unfathomable. It is of utmost importance. A wise man once asserted that ‘’preparation brings manifestation’’, there is no doubt about this assertion. Hence, if we dream about a blissful tomorrow then it is necessary we prepare today. Adequate preparation is one factor you need to unravel the mystery of tomorrow, as failure to prepare for tomorrow means you are preparing for your failure today. Indeed, it is very needful we are fully prepared so that we will not be overtaken by the events of tomorrow. You must also brace up for the challenges and the demands of tomorrow. Prepare today to avoid the embarrassment of failure tomorrow. Thus, preparation entails planning for a better tomorrow.

Preparation entails intense planning, as you must take a feasibility study of your situation. Plan how you can rise above the challenges of such situations and secure your tomorrow. You must also take into consideration how you want your tomorrow to look. In addition, you must weigh every possible option needed to actualize your ideal tomorrow. Note, that the more prepared you are the more secured your tomorrow will be.

Investment


An adage says you must ‘’save for the rainy day’’. But I say let it not end with savings, you must go beyond savings, you must also invest for the rainy day. There is a connection between savings and investment; there is a high propensity that a good saver can become a good investor. But there is a massive difference between the gains of savings and that of investment. The gain of investment is profit, and it pours in a torrent; whereas, that of savings is interest and it trickles in drops. Note that when you invest, your resources or money will work for you. In other words, you are sending your money on errands to fetch more money.

There are investment opportunities everywhere but look out for the one that is most likely to yield a high return on your investment. However, I will advise you to be wary of all these get-rich opportunities lurking around. In the words of John Wesley;

Make all you can, save all you can, give all you canJohn Wesley.

In the meantime, I will further advise you to invest all you can. Invest your money, time, talent, strength, etc and the returns on your investments will accrue to you tomorrow. And with all these returns on your investments, you will secure your tomorrow and will never be in doubt. Moreover, you must diversify your investments as every opportunity to invest is a quantum leap towards a better tomorrow.

Finally, for you to have a blissful and rewarding tomorrow you must unravel the mystery of tomorrow.

Imagine it, believe it, and dare to succeed.

Up the Ante: The Right Choice for Every Role Model.

up the ante

Up the ante should be the success mantra of every enterprising soul. It should ring like a bell in the consciousness of any individual who wants to have a rewarding and fulfilling life. With this consciousness, such an individual is well-disposed to raise the stake or standard of the game. It fires you to always go the extra mile and stretch your capability in every value-adding venture. You will do everything to get exceptionally good because people are looking up to you for inspiration.

And to illustrate this is a story of Mr. Dave who returned from the office at about 8 pm one fateful night. It happened that there was no light in the neighborhood as a result of the power outage. So after dressing down, he went outside to put on the generating set but it was not responding. As he bent down trying to fix the generating set his little daughter touched his biceps. And in consonance, she said, “My daddy is the strongest daddy in the world”.

Immediately, Mr. Dave was stunned beyond his imagination. He was immersed in deep thought. He has to reason within himself that even though he may not be the strongest man in the whole world, to his daughter he is. In her own little world, her father is the hero. This random incident taught him a bigger lesson in life. From that moment he resolved never to look down on himself since someone was looking up to him. He also resolved to up the ante, and succeed in order to make his daughter proud.

Someone’s Role Model

Understand that there are people looking up to you. Without mincing a word, you are someone’s role model that is the reason you up the ante. You must not look down on yourself for you not to disappoint them. One reality of life is that no matter your level in life there are still people who look to you for direction. To these people, your life or achievement has become a source of inspiration. And the only way not to fail them is to up the ante in everything you do. However, to do this you must try harder, and never give up or quit. Also, it is required that you abide by the principle of consistency of purpose. In addition, you must improvise. In other words, you must be fantastically sophisticated in your approach to capacity building and the quest for success.

Aim Higher

One major way that you can up the ante is to aim higher. You must always evaluate your performance within a given time frame. Then raise the standard or goal to build your capacity. Don’t settle for a life that is lesser than the one you are capable of, set higher standards and goals.

There is no passion to be found in playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living – Nelson Mandela.

Obviously, this is a golden rule of success. Life is in phases, and every phase in life has its own corresponding capability. So, to up the ante, your capability must match the current phase of your life. Do everything possible not to settle for anything lesser than your capability but rather go beyond your capability.

Another way you can up the ante is to unleash your talents. One fact about success is that there is a network of destinies connected to your own if you can up the ante and succeed in life. I did say earlier that a lot of people are looking up to you as their mentor, hero, and role model. Therefore, unleashing your talents will endear them to you because through your talents you will be able to reach out and touch their lives in a unique manner. Moreover, through your talents, you will wield a strong influence over them.

It is interesting to know that before people can look up to you they must have seen an overwhelming or unique (talent) or quality that will attract and compel their loyalty to you.

Self-Confidence

Self-confidence is also another way you can up the ante. You must possess this attribute within you or no one will repose their confidence in you. So, for people to look up to you, you must earn their confidence. And the way to do it is by exhibiting an attitude of self-confidence. Carry yourself with an air of confidence around you. People must know your ability or capacity to handle challenges and handle them well as they come. You must understand that no one will repose or mortgage their confidence in you if you are a person of low self-esteem, or bedeviled by an inferiority complex.

Like Dave, you must boost your self-esteem. It is your self-esteem that will inspire people to admire and look up to you as their mentor or role model. Finally, let me close with this

If the ante is lower, then you’re going to play hands you probably would not play – Ken Clemmer.

Endeavor to raise the standard in your approach and quest for success. You must increase your effort to rise above the challenges of life. And in every phase of life, you find yourself up the ante if you don’t want to play the second fiddle.

Imagine it, believe it, and dare to succeed.