Having a clear view and understanding of your talents, helps you bring more energy to your life. Talents are not about what you are able to do – talents are all about what you LOVE doing. How energized you feel at the end of the day, depends on which talents you give attention to.
Our individual mix of talents comprises of strong, half and small talents. Your strong talents are the activities you really love doing. The small talents are the tasks you would prefer to leave to someone else.
To make this clear, let me use the analogy of balloons. Huhh? Yes.
Imagine your body full of balloons. You have a number of big balloons in you, which represent your strong talents. Dying to find expression, these talents are fighting insight your body for a way out. You can release those balloons, by using them, being your strong talents. When you do so, there is a sense of liberation, relief and lightness. You literally bubble with energy.
You also have small talents, the things you would happily leave to someone else to do. They are like small balloons and releasing them requires a lot of energy and effort. But as they are your small talent, using them gives no sense of relief, but rather exhaustion. Those are your energy drainers.
What happens if you don’t use your strong talents? Well frustration, unrest and discontentment sets in – all in all unpleasant sensations.
What happens if you use too many small talents? You feel tired, unsatisfied and exhausted.
Of course, in between your small and strong talents, you have those half talents linked to activities in which you take pleasure doing from time to time.
Importantly when we talk about talents, we refer to what you love doing as mentioned above. It is not about what you can do. You might well be able to do all the things linked to your small talents, but the question is: does it give you energy?
And to take that one step further, you might love doing something, but not (yet) able to do it as you might not yet have developed that talent. This is where the nurturing concept comes in. Talents are like muscles, you have to develop them, to nurture them.
So, what should you concentrate on? Yep, your big balloons. Use your strong talents. And off and on, add a half talent. The positivity ratio of Barbara Fredrickson (Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), essentially tells that for every negative experience, we need three positive ones to compensate and have a positive balance. This means that for at least 75% of your time, you need to be working with your talents, doing things that give you energy. And that does not mean solely in a professional setting, but more in your life.
Start being aware of what brings you energy. Fly off with your big balloons!
Any questions or comments, please share below.
If you would like to read up on Barbara Fredrickson’s theory, I can recommend her book ‘Positivity. Groundbreaking Research to Release Your Inner Optimist and Thrive’.
