Are You Doubling Up On Your Talent or Are You Burying It?

I spent some time reflecting on the use of my talent and reviewed what I feel they are and in turn how I use them. To help with my reflection I turned to the parable of the talents in the book of Matthew in the bible (Chapter 25: 14-30). I have read this story plenty of times before but on this occasion, I wanted to focus on what I can learn from the individuals of the story. For those who haven’t read it, in a nutshell, the basis of it is about three men who were given talents according to their ability by their master before he went away and upon his return, they would show him what they achieved. One man was given five talents, another two talents and the last one was given one talent. The first two doubled their talent and the one with one talent buried it instead. When the master returned, he asked them all to share what they had achieved with what they were given, the master was pleased with the first two and thoroughly disappointed with the one who buried the talent given to him, he even questioned why he didn’t just save it in the bank because then he would have at least gotten the talent back with interest and he then proceeded to take his talent and gave it to the one with the five talents.

This story communicated to me the following:

1. We ought to exercise wisdom.
2. To minimise wasting time and maximise opportunities.
3. To have the willingness, courage and belief to go forth with actualising our ideas.

I then decided to ask myself the following questions:

1. How many talents have I been given? 
2. What are those said talents, I believe I have been given?
3. Which talents do I use, and which ones do I bury?
4. When the master returns what will I tell him I did with my talents?

According to the scripture, talents were given based on the individual’s ability, so by counting my talents I also need to reflect on my ability, as this would help me identify what they are and how many I have as a result. 

Thereafter, I spend time writing out what my talents were and with each one I marked them out of five. Five represented me using my talents to their full maximum and one represented me not using them at all. After marking each talent, it was quite clear although I wasn’t burying my talents, I wasn’t using them as I needed to. 

We are now in the last quarter of 2022, so I proceeded to outline how I will work on maximising my talents and what will be the key focus for each one. Doing this has allowed me to create realistic goals that if consistent with my daily habits of feeding into the goal, it is a high probability I will more than achieve what I have set out to do. I have then set within my schedule at the end of the month to check in with my talents and measure my progress, remarking them and then through that I can identify areas I need to improve to stay on track.

So, I challenge you to do the same, make time to sit with yourself and reflect on what could be your talents, be truthful about how well you are using them and plan on how to do so within this last quarter. If for whatever reason you feel you can’t put your talent to use maybe time then calls for you to invest in it through doing a course about it, personal study and/or research so that way your talent doesn’t die out.  

I hope this helps you achieve more and leads you to hit a home run on our last mile of 2022 so that when your master asks you what you’ve achieved with your talents you will report on how you doubled them not how you buried them.

“There is something special about you. You've got the IT factor; a talent or skill that is unique to you, and you have a responsibility to your life to bring it out.”  Germany Kent