Talent, the most wasted resource

If we have a special skill by nature, it means that we know to do something well without having learned it, or without much effort. If we add training, and learning efforts to such a talent, we can even increase our abilities. It becomes evident, that if the strive is for being the best in something, you should chose an activity where you are talented it. You will never be an Olympic runner, if you have not an innate predisposition for it. Does this mean, we should only do things we are gifted for? I don't think so.

Talent vs Demand

There are two advices often given to young people entering their professional life:

Chose a career according to my talents and chose it within a field of high demand!

This advices results often contradictory in real life.

What if I have a unique talent in a bredless activity?

Being an artistic painter was a great career in Europe, only 15 years ago. Now you can hardly make a living by teaching to paint.

What if I cannot afford the studies according to my skills?

For a European it can be a great challenge to become an expert in audiovisuals or medicine; two very different studies that require long times of study and often expensive courses. But, most of the young people, unfortunately, are even less lucky. They live in a refugee camp in Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Uganda or somewhere else.

What if my skills are not recognized?

It is anecdotal that Einstein worked in such a boring position as a technical expert at a patent office. In a similar way, many women's talents were and are still not recognized because they do not fit into a position due to gender prejudices.

What if my talent is not my passion?

There is probably nothing worse than being forced into doing something one doesn't like, just because one knows to do it well.

What if I have to care for a heritage?

Conversely, it is equally unpleasant if one carries the burden of the duty to take over a family office or step into the fathers feet, without feeling the slightest talent for it.

Yet, there is way out of the dilemma.

Talent and Passion

Current educational theories suggest that training our innate abilities is the best way to exel. Actually, to become the best in some field, it is essential to be gifted, hard work alone will never bring you to the top. But, in those days with a spirit of excellence, it is easily forgotten that being the best in something will not lead automatically to personal success. Everything comes with a price, and most people prefer to have a satisfactory family live, in a nice home, with sufficient leisure time to enjoy with friends and to work in an environment where they feel at ease with their colleagues and are respected by their boss.

There are a few advices that can help to overcome the anguish to combine opposing goals;

material success and personal development of your talents.

Stay in the field

If you don't have the opportunity to become a physician, you might chose to become a nurse assistant first. If you don't see any future in painting like Goya, you might enter into the field of graphic design or architecture. It will not develop your talent or special spirit, but it will develop other skills that can enhance your core talent.

Einstein's strategy

Against what mainstream opinions advise, it is not always a pity or loss of time, when a very talented person sits in a understimulating position. Boredom can lead people into drug addiction and violence, but it can also stimulate creative processes! A boring job can give you a living. It is one of the greatest misconceptions of our times to think that a person's value depends on their job position or social status. It is the attitude with which we face things, that makes us special. If you have real passion for something, nothing will stop you!

Boredome can stimulate creativity!

Become creative

A talent is inborn, it is not something we have achieved by learning.

There are no talentless people.

If you feel, that you have no talents, search for them, But if you feel, that your talents do not fit into your current environment, find ways to make it fit.

Talent, the most wasted resource

While the planet is fighting about oil, precious metals, food products and other resources, the most important resource for the future markets lays astray. Whereas, current discussions struggle with solutions to keep control over an ever growing mass migration,

I think, that the root of many of our problems lies in our blindness to see true value.

No technological improvement and no discovery of unexpected resources will solve the efficiency dilemma that causes current scarcity. To be successful in complex societies and problems that demand creative solutions, is not a question of good education and social background, but of being able to integrate unique talents.

The still unanswered challenge of our century is to bring democracy to the world in its practical way, and not only in its constitutional form. I have the premonition that the best solutions will not come from currently successful leaders but from the "ordinary" people out there. So, if you have a talent, never give up. There is a meaning for it! And I am confident that, this time, we will be able to use it for something more constructive then the atomic bomb.