How to Develop Your Talent.
What is talent? Is talent something magical?
This article holds the secret to developing your talent.
Personally, I found it baffling that after I spent my entire life working hard to acquire the skills needed to put my creative juices to work successfully, that someone would come along and explain it away by calling me "talented."
I suppose a lot of people would be flattered to be called "talented." Perhaps it makes them feel special. I remember how I felt. I did not understand the word "talent" and when I heard someone call me "talented" I would sometimes think, "Well I fooled them," and I would just let them think I was talented, so as not to burst their bubble or spoil the mystery about me or this mysterious magical power called "talent."
One day after having painted a small portrait of a child for his parents, they stood behind me in awe of what I had done and asked, "How did you do that?" I had done it so automatically after all of my practice over the years, I did not know how to answer that question and to be honest, I was as amazed at what I had done as they were. I simply answered: "I have no idea."
I have long suspected that some people believe that hard work, study, practice and passionate skill development is simply something magical called 'talent' Perhaps this belief serves to justify why they themselves can't do those creative things. After all, they will often say something like "I tried to do that once and I was just no good at it." I would sometimes ask them, "You tried only once?"
If you try something only once and fail, and then you quit, it has to be something that you don't really want to do. In all honesty, you aren't a failure, you just changed your mind about what you really want to do. People who say to me "I wish I had your talent!" or "I wish I could do that!" who have only tried it once or twice have actually made the choice that they would rather do something else with their time.
For some reason people will sometimes completely convince themselves that the only reason they can't do something creative better than someone else is that they don't have that magical ingredient called "talent." So when you hear a person say that they have "no talent" what they are really saying is that they have not discovered their true passion and taken the time to develop it.
That is not to say that I think "natural talent" does not exist in the world or in people. It very possibly does. There seem to be those rare talented people who have a natural way to tap into skill and knowledge that seems to be beyond their normal life experience. If this is true, then it is the best evidence for the existence of magic or the occult that I know of. What is "occult knowledge" if not a mysterious knowledge or experience that a person has or summons without the benefit of their own personal life experience and hard work? However my definition of magic is simply personal power and consciousness at work.
According to author Daniel Coyle, "The Talent Code" the way to acquire talent is to "practice deeply." When you "practice deeply" you are more focused on solving a particular problem or correcting your mistakes and adjusting accordingly. Your mind applies itself to the challenge with focus and determination. He says that the trick is to choose a goal just beyond your present abilities. It will give you a target or challenge which your brain recognizes as needing more attention and focus.
To "practice deeply" is a means of practice whereby you learn by your mistakes. In dangerous occupations such as flying an airplane, your mistakes can kill you, therefore he explains why training pilots is now done with a machine that simulate flying and allows you to make mistakes safely and learn to correct them.
Therefore "talent" and "magic" both seem to boil down to a mind set of intention, belief, and "practicing deeply." I believe that the key to practicing deeply is your intention to reach a certain goal and your focus on that goal.
