Make it your goal to try something new every week. You might not discover something that you’re super-talented at, but maybe you pick up a guitar one day and find out it feels comfortable in your hands and decide to learn more. Maybe you discover an ability to connect with animals at the shelter, something you’d never experienced before. Maybe you learn you’re an ace at the Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball machine at the laundromat. That’s the start of talent. Get outside and scrape your knees. Go on adventures and experience the world in its natural habitat. Try out different sports, outdoor hobbies like fishing, hiking, and climbing to see if you’ve got an untapped natural ability or an instinct for it.
If you’re in school, what homework comes most easily to you? What worries you the least? That might clue you in to natural talents. Pay attention to what other people might have noted about you. It’s common that others might have a keener sense of what you’re good at than you will yourself. Ask your family, your friends, and your teachers to help you figure out what you make look easy.
Start learning everything you can about different talents and skills to demystify the process. Shredding an electric guitar like Hendrix might look impossible, but if you don’t know a G chord from a flatpick, you don’t really have any clue how hard it is. James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader and noted Shakespearean actor with a booming, godlike voice, suffered from terrible stuttering as a child. He was terrified of speaking in class and only learned to speak properly by facing his fear. Now, he’s widely recognized as one of the most talented voice actors in the world.
Even if you’re obsessed with something that’s hard to connect to a talent, like watching television or movies, give yourself some credit. Maybe you have a talent for telling stories, or analyzing narratives. Maybe you have a talent for appreciating camera angles. Every film critic gets a start in the exact same way. Channel that obsession into learning about film history and learning how movies are made.
Maybe you’ve just thrown a killer party. Might not sound like a talent, but if you’ve got the people skills, the planning, and the organization abilities necessary to pull it off, celebrate that as a success. Maybe you have leadership talents and managerial skills that will prove useful down the road.
Myers-Briggs is possibly the most famous of the personality quizzes, separating people into one of sixteen types of personalities based on answers to a variety of questions and research performed by Carl Jung. [4] X Research source The Keirsey Temperament Sorter separates people into various temperaments, identified by your responses to a variety of scenarios and questions. It’s available online. [5] X Research source
Don’t let perceived shortcomings or challenges keep you from trying new things and developing talent. Look at things that someone else might have identified as challenges in your personality or your ability. If you’re a shy person, might it be all the more impressive if you were a great rock ’n roller singer? If you’re especially short, might you be a great ball player?
When you find your talent, think of it like a seed that you’re planting. You’re off to a good start, but you’ve still got to water it, mulch it, and weed around the edges to make sure your seed grows into a big plant. It takes work.
Find a mentor who’s willing to show you the ropes and coach you in developing your new skills. Blossoming guitar players need good teachers beyond YouTube. Blossoming singers need other people to play music with.
Playing chess might not get easier for Magnus Carlsen, just because he’s a phenomenal player. Now he knows just how complicated the game can be. The more you learn about a game, a skill, or a field, the more there will be to learn. It never gets easy.
