I never really believed that it was possible to play, and still make money until I started playing.
I played really hard for one year, but for some reason, I didn’t go broke!
Many people told me to get serious with my life and get a job. But being stubborn as I was, I played harder! Even my dog started to wonder who between the two of us was the real dog.
That’s what happens when you do what you love.
The idea of making money has gotten so serious that a lot of us now do it with frowns on our faces. Providing value in exchange for money starts to look like a herculean task and the only thing your eyes are on is, “when the heck will this money come in?”
Well, it doesn’t always have to be that serious.
You see, everyone, no matter how dumb, was born with a gift or talent (call it either one). In fact, a free gift! And this gift wasn’t given to you so that you bury it in the name of working for company XYZ. It was given to you as a resource, a sustenance, something that you can play with and find satisfaction doing.
Michelangelo knew this and used his gift to create artistic masterpieces. Even Beethoven refused to be left out. And you shouldn’t be left out either.
But it’s too bad that many people don’t use their talents as their primary resource for making money. This is not because they don’t know what they’re good at (a lot of people do). It is also not because they don’t know how to convert this talent into money. It is simply because of one thing….
They think their talent is worthless!
Why is this so? Well, it’s because you’re naturally good at it and can develop it to a level that’ll make people run after you.
There’s no point working hard at something you’re not naturally good at. You’ll only get frustrated and live an extremely unfulfilled life. It’s just like forcing a dog to climb the wall like a cat.
Realizing this fact would go a long way into helping you make the decision to follow your heart and do what you love. But making that decision is always the hard part. So, here are three reasons that will undoubtedly make you hand in your resignation letter at your office tomorrow.
1. Providing Value Becomes Easy and Puts More Money in Your Pocket
Talents don’t stay stagnant, they evolve. And the only way this happens is when your knowledge in that particular area grows.
The more you know about life sculpting, the finer your sculptures become. And as you know, a finer sculpture means more value. The same goes with writing, singing, dancing and even idea generation.
But the bad thing is that not everyone wants to read more about how to improve their talents. This is only the case when you don’t see worth in what you do. The moment you start to respect your talent for what it is and what it can become, your thirst to get better at it every day would grow.
The key here is not to just discover your talent, but to strive to get better at it. If you’re good at writing fiction, all you have to do is read the novels of the fiction writers you admire. You’ll automatically pick out writing techniques and unconsciously implement them in your novels. So you see, it’s that easy to give more value.
2. You Won’t Beat Yourself up Too Hard When You Fail
The truth is that when you use your talent as a means of service, you don’t actually fail. For instance, you happen to love writing and as a freelancer, you’re ghost writing a fiction novel for a client. On completion of this novel, you send it over. Unfortunately, you get the following reply from that client;
“I’m sorry Bryan but I don’t like what I see. The novel is too unprofessional and doesn’t really create pictures in my mind…”
In the corporate world, that’s failure. And you could get fired for it. But when you’re using your talent as a service, you’re your own boss. And so, you only take it as a disappointment and as a reason to become better at what you do (that is if you’re not the lazy type).
The point here is that your love for what you do helps you see the brighter side of life. When your work is rejected, always try to see it as an opportunity to get better. And then strive to get better by increasing your knowledge in that area. No fiction writer can become J.K. Rowling in one day. But you can be rest assured that you’ll get there someday!
3. Resources Become Available To You Making Your Life a Whole Lot Easier
There’s nothing better than being definite on what you want and knowing what you need to do to get it. This is what happens when your talent evolves into a service. All you have to do is know what you want.
I’ve noticed that good people always like to help other people with the goal of also doing good by providing value. That is what the goal of your service should be- doing good to others (your target market) by providing value. The moment you have this as your primary goal, even your clients would want to help you out. Trust me, I’m talking from experience.
You shouldn’t convert your talent into a service for the sole purpose of making money. That would make things a whole lot difficult for you. Make your goal nothing else other than providing value to those who need you and what you’ll get in return would even help you provide more value.
Most people see playing as a bad thing. You shouldn’t! In fact, it’s the best thing that’s happened to mankind. And your goal shouldn’t be to work harder every day, but to play harder and provide value every day.
I really do hope that you’ve finally found a reason to follow your heart and do what you love. If you haven’t, then you might just carry a frown on your face for a really long time. Why would you prefer to wear a frown to the office every day when you could equally smile to your clients on a daily basis and still make money? Every single day would feel like a new, refreshing day for you to get better at using your talent. Growth becomes easy and providing value becomes piece of cake.
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Written on 5/30/2013 by Lanre Solarin. Lanre Solarin discovered writing as a talent two years ago and converted it into online content creation. Since then, he has been providing nothing but value to bloggers and entrepreneurs who need quality web content that converts. |
