Turning your Talent into Wealth

There are no two persons that are exactly alike in their natural endowment. Even identical twins that grew from the same genetic pool have marked differences that establish them as separate individuals. The implication of this is that everyone is a store house of talent.

And talent simply put means the ability to do something in a unique or exceptional way. Unfortunately, many do not know there particular abilities and those who do don’t know how to harness their potential for pecuniary benefits.

Experts, however agrees there are some principles on the issue of turning one’s talent into money that work for all and may be learnt by anybody. It is amazing how little people generally know of themselves. Have you ever heard someone say, “Imagine I never knew I could do that” that person is merely re-echoing his ignorance about his own mind. A person begins to learn about himself from the age of self-consciousness. For this reason the first step to personal success is to “comprehend yourself”, you have to embark on a voyage of self-discovery. Self-discovery is central to this chapter; I can’t over emphasis it importance.

Having said all that, the development of identified talent is the next step to personal fortune. There is hardly any person that is not aware of one or more things they are good at, most time those potentials where only neglected and left undeveloped. Just as crude oil lying thousands of feet below the surface of the earth generates no national income to the owner nation so does an undeveloped talent.

Developing one’s talent or potential in this regard means bringing them to a standard above the average competence. Most bird can fly but not all can soar! You must determine to function above average before your potential can attract economic value. Developing your talent also involve the ability to withstand criticism against a particular venture. E.g. there was a time in this part of the world when it was believed that music as a profession was for social misfits, when buffoons (who we now know as comedians) where scorned, when playing football was frowned at by parents, but today reverse is the case.

For the the concluding part of this article follow this link
http://coachfaithonline.blogspot.com/2013/07/turning-your-talent-into-wealth-donts.html

Turning your Talent into Wealth - The Don’ts of Talent

When you set off the process of developing your talents and it starts to attract attention, here are some don’ts that should guide you.

1.    Don’t ever conceal it. Seek opportunities to showcase your potentials at every given time.

2.    Don’t expect to start off as high income professional; few ever do. Be content to begin as an amateur. Income should not be your priority at the onset, as you ought to concentrate your effort on fine-tuning your abilities and getting people to know your capabilities.

3.    Don’t be short circuited. To be short circuited is to have false sense of having arrived when you are just unfolding. Many talented persons get derailed just as their talent begins to shine. This is often caused when young talent allows their talent to get into their head and they lose focus of their ultimate objectives of developing their potentials in to established professionals. Pre-mature satisfaction is a dream killer; always aspire for a higher.

4.    Don’t be prodigal. You should not only invest in your talent but reinvest the proceeds of your talents; this makes you stable and established. Imagine for instance a young musician who employs the proceeds of his amateur performance to buy a posh car when he has not yet acquired musical instruments or recording appliances. Such a person may find it difficult to achieve his potential. Unwise use of resources in the early part of one’s career can make a journey of 1 year last 10.

5.    Don’t be the fool. Critically appraise any contracts or deals that was attracted by your talents, there are so many talent-scavengers who are dressed in suits and carry sweet titles as sponsors, producers, investors, etc., you may need a lawyer (or a more experienced hand) to help with unbiased and unemotional negotiations. Also history is replete with cases of upcoming stars that killed off their dreams by engaging in activities such as drugs, boozing and partying, betting and other activities perilous to the actualization of their dream.

6.    Don’t be discouraged. The first work of many musician of repute had in most cases once been adjudged unmeritorious and unremarkable and turned down by their respective recording companies. The fact that many of them turned into legends speaks volumes about the fact that there is no finality to failure, failing simply means try again and bringing once talent to a place where it brings in money often requires resilience, courage and self-belief.

7.    Don’t imitate. You should try to give yourself a distinct form of identity by inventing your own way of doing things. Doing your things your own way gives you a personal symbol. Don’t be contented with imitation, be different obviously you are, therefore don’t bury your uniqueness in another person’s brand. Carve a niche for yourself by being an ambassador of your own enterprise.

Finally, adapt technology where necessary, no matter how good a person may be at doing something, if he fails to keep up to date with modern trend, his skills may become irrelevant. A person should be ready to imbibe all the positive changes dictated by science and technology in his area of specialization.

Finally, we pointed out earlier that talent in itself is never enough. John Maxwell in his book Beyond Talent enumerates thirteen key choices that can be made to maximize any person’s talent. He said, Belief lifts your talent, Passion energizes your talent, Initiative activates your talent, Focus directs your talent, Preparation positions your talent, Practice sharpens your talent, Perseverance sustains your talent, Courage tests your talent, Teachability expands your talent, Character protects your talent, Relationship influences your talent, Responsibility strengthens your talent, and Teamwork multiplies your talent.

If you devote yourself to all these and put your trust in God, you will be able to turn your talent into profit. 

FOR HOW LONG WILL YOU REMAIN JOBLESS

Written every job test, exams,pre-interviews, interviews and post interviews to no avail.

At best you will be employed and confined to the four square wall of an office with AC, if applicable.
And thereby follow the terrains of the hero's past.
Who later depends in their later years on pensions,paid irregularly.
Or at best follow other corrupted hero's, changing financial figures to frustrate the populace.
not knowing they are frustrating their future and destiny.
There your capacity and capability may not be utilised.
For years your hopes and aspirations of what you want to be becomes a mirage.
Take a snap today and think of how you can live beyond the bonds and shackles of searching for what is not worth dying for.
I remembered how I almost got drown in Lagos to write an exam that almost 150, 000 people participated.
Later to hear that only ten people were shortlisted.
A Nigeria where half baked Universities in the name of private institutions help to produce more half baked graduates.
Note that no matter the University you attend in Nigeria, you don't have a guaranteed job anywhere.
No matter the class of your degree, graduate or post graduate, remember that masters and doctorate degree holders wrote exams to become drivers.
So going for more degrees is not the answer.
It's time we launch ourselves into new revolution, where skills and creativity rules our economy.
Not like the junks our Nollywood feeds us with, or the moral derailed BBA...Useless Brother Africa aired in our airspace.
Or the skills displayed in Rivers state house of assembly.
Skills that will cut boundaries of poverty, manageable or wild.

In this country, a third class university graduate, through hard work and mental skill revolution, runs one of the largest consultancy company in Nigeria, he never went to Harvard.(Google KUNLE SORIYAN).
Thanks to social network websites like facebook, twitter, and 2go that have employed many of our youths, they resume as early as 7am to leave 11:45 pm.
Soon Barclays Premier League will start, and our guys will start paying their dues to DSTV every weekend, who will then repatriate it to Britain.
A country where as a Nigerian, you will pay 3000 pounds( N750, 000) to visit
There they waste away their precious time, which they suppose to invest in either developing there mental skills or physical skills.
Not knowing that someone somewhere screw his mental faculty, to make fortune from their ignorance.
Those that are educated in recent times are at the mercy of the so-called illiterates, who tapped into there God given potentials to create their own world.
Wake up, sit up, reason up, get a skill, rebrand it, manage it and you will get paid eternally with fulfilment.
If you actually don't get a job, does that means you wouldn't survive.NO.
That was a message I sent to a friend sometimes back.
We shall only if we can pay the price and get what the best University in the world cannot give us.

Yours in destiny race

By - David Oluwatosin Gold

The seed of God, The seed of Greatness - Gen. 1:26-28

Sometimes ago I was on a visit to friends house. I saw a rare breed of Orange, which I learnt was imported from Europe. It produces about the same number of fruit a normal orange tree will, what made it special was the slim chances of coming across it seeds! I was told in a season, it really hard to get 50 seeds from all the fruits on the orange tree. The common orange fruit has about 10 to 15 seeds. As a result my friend’s family had to plead with visitors to return the seed if they by any chance find a seed in the oranges they took away. Funny isn’t it? Here is someone begging me for orange seeds, which I grew up spiting around.

When God blessed mankind he deposited a seed in her and commanding her makes a demand on that deposit, a command to nurture the seed and produce profit. If you want to see an orange plantation plant orange fruit over and over again. In the same vain there are seeds in everyman, the seeds are undeveloped potential, un-attempted capacities, usually small and unattractive tendencies, a masterpiece in rough sketch.

Channels of fruitfulness

All that man had at the time of his impartation was his mind, mouth, hand, womb and spirit. I am therefore persuaded to say His seeds – God’s blessings, fell on these soils of the human mind, mouth, hand, womb and spirit. These I call the Five Channels of fruitfulness. As such;

The Mind produces the fruit of thoughts

The mouth produces the fruit of words

The hand produces the fruit of labour

The Womb produces the fruit Children

The Spirit produces the fruit Character

It is unfortunate that in the religious circle, the compelling command “be fruitful” has been marginalized to just a small fraction of the whole. Most folks interpret being fruitful as procreating, though true but not the absolute truth. If fruitfulness meant giving birth to more children then it means the more children you have the more dominion you have! No! As much as the fruit of the womb is critical to God’s plan of seeing His image fill the earth, this is undoubtedly the lowest level of fruitfulness; in fact animals function absolutely well at this level even than human being. So what distinguishes His image from other creatures is a full utility of the other channels of fruitfulness. God desires us to be fruitful, John 15:8. Bishop David Oyedepo said “there is so much inside man! Only eternity I think can reveal the worth of the creature called ‘man’.” No fruitfulness no dominion!

You just have to be fruitful the seed is greatness is right there on your inside - see you at the top!

...#an excerpt from my book The 11 Parables of Naira

…are you M.A.D…???

Has anyone ever asked you that? Well, when I was younger, I got asked that question, and I was quick to respond with a phrase I had picked up at home. I said: “Yes! I’m Making A Difference (MAD)!”

I feel I should ask you if you are also MAD wherever you may be! Are you making a difference – positively or negatively? If you had to leave that place/house/locale today, what would you be remembered for? How much of an impact have you had, and what imprint are you leaving on the sands of time?

Your words and actions, not your thoughts and intentions, are the things that others hear/see and use to assess you! Do your words edify and build up, or do they obfuscate and tear down? Are your actions such that you would be proud to recount twenty years from now, or do you dwell on the mundane and act like one who doesn’t realize that today is the mother of tomorrow, and your (in)actions today will determine where you land tomorrow and how you land there.

To this end, see every day as a new opportunity to Make A Positive Impact on everyone you meet!

5 keys to Winning the Race of Life

One of my favourite sports is Car Race I could spend hours in a soft couch watching. It is a sport that has evolved so much with time. It is now a multi-million dollar industry full of hi-tech computerized equipments.  In the middle of all this high powered engine, fast turns, multi-million pay checks are some basic principles to winning your own race; life. 

Below are five of these principles, first explained in racing terminologies and then compared to life.

1. Mental Preparation

In a drivers mind the race has to start before he ever arrives on the track. The driver and his team have to be mentally prepared to endure whatever it takes to win. That is the No. 1 priority. No. 1 goal: Win!

In order for you to win, or overcome your everyday challenges you must be mentally prepared. I have found that mental preparedness and success in my days come from…

i.                    Preparing and planning the day before

ii.                  Expecting the best but being prepared for the worst

iii.                Remembering to keep God first in my day – long before my appointment and task.

2. Sound Car

Every racetrack is going to have its peculiarities and different set of problems to be solved, but the driver and the crew should identify them well before hand and factor that information into the set-up of the car. Adjusting the care to each track is the single and greatest challenge, week-in and week-out, for every driver and team. Every piece of equipment in the care must be thoroughly checked. The engine has to be lovingly massaged by every member of the crew that works on it. By the time the green flag drops, the car, the driver and the crew must be close to perfection.

The better we stick to our priorities the more successful we will be. If priorities are what keep us heading in the right direction, then our plans are the equipment that must be adjusted and analyzed meticulously.

The World is Watching!

After his Sunday messages, the pastor of a church in London got on trolley Monday morning to go back to his study town. He paid his fare, and the trolley driver gave him too much change.

The pastor sat down and fumbles the change and looked it over and counted it over and again. And you know the normal realization, "it's so wonderful how God provides" he realized he was tight that week and this was all he needed to break even or at least lunch.

He struggled with himself all the way down to his office. And finally he came to the stop and got up, couldn't live with himself, walked up to the trolley driver and said "here, you gave me too much change. You made a mistake" the driver said "no, it wasn't a mistake. You see, I was in you church last night when you spoke on honesty, and I thought I would put you to test"

NOTE: "watch you steps, the world is watching, the fun you're catching today may be your undoing tomorrow"!

Warning: Future Tense Is Tense!

Many people make big plans for the future.

They will write a novel, they will start a business, they will get a higher degree, they will travel….. They will…will… will …sometime… later… not now… in a while.

The problem is that very often all they do is talk – ONLY talk. Many think that stating their plans in public is enough. Many think that things may move forward themselves. Many are too lazy to actually start doing those things they plan to do in the future. Or at least start preparing the things, which may be done now…Many overestimate the power of thought. Thoughts without actions are not as powerful as you wish they were.

The scariest part is that often the future is destined to be in the future forever. There are always more urgent issues to solve, more important things to take care of … In short life happens and you end up dreaming for the future forever.

The thing is that there will never be ideal conditions. There will never be the perfect moment. Life will continue happening. Things will continue coming between you and your plans. Always!

You can’t predict the future, but if let it, life will predict your future instead of you.

So when is the right moment?

I guess it was yesterday, a month ago, year ago… But since that’s already in the past – the ideal moment is now.

Guess what? No matter how cruel it may sound – we don’t care about what you are planning to do.

Don’t talk about what you are going to do… please don’t. Do it instead and then show it or talk about the results. Avoid the future tense and stick to the past and present tenses.

Make the first step… it’s the hardest. But once you make the first step it will lead you to the second one…then the third… and so on. With each day you will get closer to where you want to be.

But if you keep sticking to that dangerous future tense you will stay wherever you are now.

Don’t let your entire life become a waiting room. Stop waiting and start acting.

And do not hesitate to share what you’ve done today to get closer to your dream in the comments below.

Paths Are Made By Walking

--by Nipun Mehta, May 14, 2012

[Offbeat Graduation Speech Gets Standing Ovation: 2012's Baccalaureate speaker at the University of Pennsylvania was an unconventional choice for an Ivy League school. To address their newly-minted graduates, aspiring to dazzling careers, they picked a man who has never in his adult life, applied for a job. A man who hasn't worked for pay in nearly a decade, and whose self-stated mission is simply "to bring smiles to the world and stillness to my heart". This off-the-radar speaker launched his address with a startling piece of advice. Following up with four key insights gleaned from a radical 1000 km walking pilgrimage through the villages of India. As he closed his one-of-a-kind Graduation Day speech, the sea of cap and gowned students rose to their feet for a standing ovation. What follows is the full transcript of the talk by Nipun Mehta. --DailyGood Editors]

Thank you to my distinguished friends, President Amy Gutmann, Provost Vincent Price and Rev. Charles Howard for inviting me to share a few reflections on this joyous occasion.  It is an honor and privilege to congratulate you -- UPenn’s class of 2012. 

Right now each one of you is sitting on the runway of life primed for takeoff. You are some of the world's most gifted, elite, and driven college graduates – and you are undeniably ready to fly.  So what I’m about to say next may sound a bit crazy.  I want to urge you, not to fly, but to – walk.  Four years ago, you walked into this marvelous laboratory of higher learning. Today, heads held high, you walk to receive your diplomas.  Tomorrow, you will walk into a world of infinite possibilities. 

But walking, in our high-speed world, has unfortunately fallen out of favor.  The word “pedestrian” itself is used to describe something ordinary and commonplace.  Yet, walking with intention has deep roots.  Australia's aboriginal youth go on walkabouts as a rite of passage; Native American tribes conduct vision quests in the wilderness; in Europe, for centuries, people have walked the Camino de Santiago, which spans the breadth of Spain.  Such pilgrims place one foot firmly in front of the other, to fall in step with the rhythms of the universe and the cadence of their own hearts. 

Back in 2005, six months into our marriage, my wife and I decided to “step it up” ourselves and go on a walking pilgrimage.  At the peak of our efforts with ServiceSpace, we wondered if we had the capacity to put aside our worldly success and seek higher truths.  Have you ever  thought of something and then just known that it had to happen? It was one of those things.  So we sold all our major belongings, and bought a one-way ticket to India.  Our plan was to head to Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram, since he had always been an inspiration to us, and then walk South.  Between the two of us, we budgeted a dollar a day, mostly for incidentals -- which meant that for our survival we had to depend utterly on the kindness of strangers.  We ate whatever food was offered and slept wherever place was offered.  

Now, I do have to say, such ideas come with a warning: do not try this at home, because your partner might not exactly welcome this kind of honeymoon. :-)

For us, this walk was a pilgrimage -- and our goal was simply to be in a space larger than our egos, and to allow that compassion to guide us in unscripted acts of service along the way.  Stripped entirely of our comfort zone and accustomed identities, could we still “keep it real”?  That was our challenge.

We ended up walking 1000 kilometers over three months. In that period, we encountered the very best and the very worst of human nature -- not just in others, but also within ourselves.

Soon after we ended the pilgrimage, my uncle casually popped the million dollar question at the dinner table: "So, Nipun, what did you learn from this walk?"  I didn't know where to begin.  But quite spontaneously, an acronym -- W-A-L-K -- came to mind, which encompassed the key lessons we had learned, and continue to relearn, even to this day.  As you start the next phase of your journey, I want to share those nuggets with the hope that it might illuminate your path in some small way too.