Talent Makes Money- How to Get Paid for Doing Things You Love to Do

One of the greatest and least justifiable myths about careers is that you can simply go out and get qualifications and “create” a career out of thin air. You can get the qualifications and get the jobs, sure, but is that the best option? The fact is that channelling all your energy, and a lot of years of your life into anything is a massive commitment. What if you have other, higher value talents going to waste? For example- What if you had a genius from childhood for designing skyscrapers and hotels and your career qualifications were for accountancy?

Yes, architecture does pull in a bit more money than accountancy. The other side of the equation is that instead of doing something you love, you’re spending a few decades bored out of your mind and not doing the things you’re actually good at. Accountancy is, as advertised, a “good solid career”, but it’s definitely not for everybody. It may lead to an MBA and a role change down the track, but is that any sort of guarantee of career satisfaction and achievement?

The facts of talent

Talents are a person’s real strengths. These are the things they really can do brilliantly. The most difficult tasks for other people are easy for them. A talent can be anything. In some cases, people find things easy and don’t even recognize they have a talent nobody else has.

Some people develop even limited talents to the point they become careers. Henry Ford started out as a jeweller. He wasn’t a born car maker, but he understood assembly and had the business talent to recognize the value of mass production for his products. This is a “discovered talent”, developed from circumstances, but it illustrates how talents can find core career paths.

Talent can also break new ground. This is most obvious in the creative fields, but it also applies to the sciences, business and academic professions. Heinrich Schliemann was a talented archaeologist. Troy had been relegated to the status of Greek myth by most of the profession. Schliemann’s talent found not just one city of Troy, but multiple cities, built one on top of the other. This was an appropriate all-purpose kick in the head for the “antiquarians” of the time as archaeologists were known, and it was literally the start of modern archaeology.

Talent as a career option

Talent is your most reliable and most portable skill set. It can take you anywhere, and you can be confident of your own performance. Talent creates its own challenges, fantastic things nothing else can give you. Whether you’re designing statues, new modes of accommodation or terraforming Mars, you can take your talent anywhere.

The career options also expand exponentially when talent is the driving force. In any career, talent is a symbiotic relationship with your skills. To get to the stars, you need the motive power to get there. Talent is the warp engine of success. Use it.  You’ll never regret it. You might, however, regret not using it.

Posted on August 21, 2011