Talents, Skills, and Being Extraordinary!
People often use the words talents and skills interchangeably, as if they had the exact same meaning.
I believe that talents and skills are different.
Talents encompass your strengths, your brilliance, and your genius. By genius, I mean in its original form found in the word – genie which means magic, more specifically, your magic!
Talents include your God-given gifts and when you’re aligned and utilizing your talents in your work…it doesn’t feel like work. For example, if you have the talent or gifted-ness of crunching numbers, when your crunching numbers, you don’t have to work extremely hard, it just comes natural to you. Whereas some of us really struggle to work with numbers.
Skills vs. Talents
Skills are a bit different, skills are the things that you work on, learn, develop, and continue to work on so that you can become extraordinary in your field or profession.
It is in the blending of your talents and skills that 2 of the 4 ingredients for greatness are found.
Michael Jordan was probably one of the most naturally gifted basketball players who ever played the game. One of the components that made him so extraordinary was his commitment to constantly sharpen his skills.
Even after winning 6 NBA Championships, if he missed foul shots during a game he would go out on the court after the arena was empty and practice free throws.
So that got me thinking …
Are You Working to Be Extraordinary?
In order to be extraordinary you need to be aware of your talents, be intentional about bringing them into the forefront of your work, and constantly honing your skills to a razors’ edge. Which leads me to ask you 3 questions:
3 Questions To Ask Yourself:
- Are you conscious and aware of your natural strengths, gifts, and talents?
- Are you utilizing them in your work?
- What are you working on (reading, learning, growing) today that is enriching your skills as a leader, as a sales person, as a teacher. etc?
An Extraordinary Bonus Question
Every single person on this earth has a unique set of talents and gifts. Identifying them and incorporating them into your work/life will bring you happiness and set you on a course towards discovering your purpose.
Additionally, if you continue to develop your skills by learning, growing, and constantly increasing your skill base…you will find yourself on the path to being extraordinary!
So one last question… are you on your path to being extraordinary?
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