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Did you go to art school or play music as a child? Didn’t you get an A in literature, and didn’t you learn to dance? So you think you’re worthless? Review your beliefs. Perhaps you just haven’t figured out what talent you have yet.
Perhaps, since kindergarten, you have been accustomed to believing that you are not endowed with any talents. The good news is that your belief is most likely wrong. You probably have abilities, although you probably don’t consider them abilities. According to a study by Netology, IKRA, MIF and #Sekta, only 39% of people consider themselves talented.
But everyone has a predisposition to a certain area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbactivity. And even if you consider your talents strange or even unacceptable, this does not mean at all that they will not be useful in life. How to find them and apply them correctly?
Theory: what is talent
Howard Gardner, American psychologist, author of the concept of «multiple intelligence», defined seven types of intelligence:
- verbal-linguistic (responsible for the ability to write and read, inherent in journalists, editors);
- digital (typical for mathematicians, programmers, analysts, marketers);
- spatial (designers and artists have it);
- physical (athletes and dancers are endowed with it: these people learn more easily in practice);
- personal (the ability to properly set yourself up, manage your emotions);
- interpersonal (people with this talent often become politicians, speakers, traders, actors);
- environmental talent (tamers, farmers, veterinarians are endowed with this talent).
We too often dwell on the first two types of intelligence, but the possibilities for creative development are much wider. Our intelligence is manifested not only in the ability to count, write and read. And it is he who allows us to reveal unexpected talents.
How to understand the type of your intelligence?
Pay attention to what you like. Don’t get hung up on «great» goals: start with everyday tasks.
Do you like to make tables, successfully move the furniture in the room, quickly remember names and dates? These abilities indicate the type of your intellect and can become a life’s work.
For example, Svetlana worked as a technical support specialist, while she was interested in everything that happened in the company. She was often told that she was too curious for the position she occupied. But it was curiosity that helped her to understand later that she was an excellent interviewer, she was interested in getting to the bottom of the matter.
In the end, she retrained as a product manager: such specialists strive to understand every stage of product development, communicate with users, find out what the problems are. As a result, Svetlana was invited to work in the company’s main office. And there she brings much more benefit, and solving problems in a new position gives her incomparable pleasure.
To find talent in yourself, you need to look at the familiar more widely, look for the interesting in the ordinary. Learn to discover your gifts little by little. Perhaps you love to plan your every vacation with the diligence of a startup founder. Or chat on social networks for half a day. Pay attention even to such seemingly trifles. They may well become the basis of future success.
You have been working, for example, as an accountant for 10 years. You have a good relationship with your boss, you get regular bonuses — life is adjusted. And in the evenings you enjoy playing computer games. And in a few years, they began to be so well versed in computer graphics that you constantly want to correct something in the design, you have developed a good “vision”.
You want to create entire computer worlds — and not for money, but simply because it’s interesting. You understand that accounting is not the calling of your life, but you don’t dare to go to study game design. It takes tremendous confidence, perseverance to overcome doubts and start something new.
But this is usually where stories about the search for vocation and talent begin. Dare, seek, strive! Perhaps your unusual talent, whether it be the ability to thinly slice a carrot, knit a sweater overnight, or win over any interlocutor, is your personal path to success.