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Hello friends,
I received this enlightening article from Mark Victor Hansen (of Chicken Soup for the Soul and more) today and I would like to share it with you:
Mark wrote:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a brilliant man born with a God-given talent. He was composing at age five and performing before royalty by the time he was six years old. Early on, Mozart realized what his talents were, practiced and honed what he was born to do and used his natural abilities to create amazing pieces of music.
Mozart was not the first to be born with natural talents and he wasn't the last. We all have them - all of us. We only need to discover what they are and use them to the best of our abilities. You have been given amazing gifts that are meant to be shared with the world. Your job is to find out what those talents are and master them. When you focus most of your time and energy on your natural talents, you will find that you reap phenomenal rewards.
Lesson: Use What You've Already Got
Celebrating our natural talents should be an easy task. But for many people it's emotionally exhausting. Why? Because a lot of folks fight their natural talents for one reason or another. Perhaps their parents wouldn't approve of their artistic ability to paint or sculpt, because they want them to be a successful doctor or lawyer. Maybe someone's gift wouldn't seem to have the ability to bring the kind of wealth they desire. Sometimes people are simply afraid to pursue something that seems to come so easily to them - shouldn't success be difficult? No, it shouldn't and it isn't.
These are all excuses. And all the excuses in the world won't destroy talent. It will be there, waiting for us to fight through fear and "what ifs" until we realize what we should have been doing our entire lives. We have been given natural talents for a reason - to use them to the betterment of the planet and those who inhabit it.
Have you ever noticed that when you engage in an activity in which you are naturally talented, you feel energized, excited and optimistic? That's a sign that these are the things you should be focusing upon. For example, when I stand in front of an auditorium filled with thousands of people, and speak to them about fulfilling their dreams, my body is filled with energy - so much that I'm practically buzzing all over. I'm so excited I can hardly stand still.
Your job is to find out what makes you buzz and begin to perfect it. Discover your brilliance in life (see "This Week's Action Step" below) and practice, practice, practice. You must hone your natural abilities to perfect them - concentrate on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Look at the world's greatest athletes. They practice what they're naturally good at - and what they love to do - every day. You don't see Michael Jordan sitting around trying to decipher a strand of DNA. If that was something he was talented at that's what he would be doing. But it's not. He's a brilliant athlete and businessman. He sticks to what he does best and has reaped astounding rewards because of it.
There are only two steps to success - discover your brilliance and perfect it. Doing this will allow you to receive the wealth you truly deserve.
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"The only waste of human resources is letting them go unused."
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ACTION STEP
In closing I'd like to offer an exercise to complete in the
week ahead:
Differentiate between your strengths and weaknesses. Then forget about your weaknesses and concentrate on your strengths. Business coach Dan Sullivan once said, "If you spend too much time working on your weaknesses, all you end up with is a lot of strong weaknesses."
To make the definition crystal clear between your strengths and weaknesses, I want you to take out a journal or notepad and pen and ask yourself a few questions. What are some activities that you excel at without a lot of effort, study or preparation? What do you do well that most people find difficult? What can you do that people marvel at/make "wow" comments about? If you had all the money you could ever spend - meaning money is not a concern of yours anymore - what would you do for a career/hobby?
Now, you may have a list of 5 to 10 activities. On a scale of 1 -10, 10 being what you're most talented at, rank these activities. Your biggest rewards will come from spending the majority of your time honing your talents in the activities you've ranked 7 and higher.
Once you have your top activities - you should have 5 or fewer - choose the one you love to do the most and practice, practice, practice. Hone this talent on a daily basis. If you love to paint, set aside time to paint every day. If you love to golf, go golfing daily - even if it's in your backyard. If you want to write a novel or screenplay, decide how many pages or scenes you'll write each day and do it.
You have been given talents that no one else has, that no one can do quite the way you can. When you use them and perfect them you are celebrating being alive and giving thanks to the Higher Power who bestowed them upon you.
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You can subscribe to these enlightening messages from Mark Victor Hansen at his website here: http://www.markvictorhansen.com
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