We have recently witnessed the 2020 Summer Olympic Games (in 2021 due to COVID-19). This sports spectacle allows athletes from all over the world to compete in a variety of sporting events that allows them to vigorously demonstrate their talents and abilities in the sporting world. It always fascinates me how these incredible athletes, through their hard work and practice, exhibit their perfected competitive talents. I marvel at the amazing feats that they can execute. Even the ones that may not win a medal excel in their chosen sport.
These Olympic athletes are the epitome of manifesting one’s talents into strengths. Gallup defines strengths as the ability to use your talents to consistently provide near perfect performance. The competitors in the Olympic Games demonstrate what it looks like to perform at the highest levels at near perfect performance. This is truly an amazing thing to witness. While the Olympics is a place that highlights this abundantly, it is not the only place. The Olympic spectacle itself is an amazing accomplishment. To make these international games materialize is a monumental task. I know that to pull off this incredible event, there are an incredible number of people that are behind the scenes that make this extraordinary tournament possible. These individuals are also using their talents and strengths to make the Olympics a success.
You witness this phenomenon all the time. In the world of entertainment, we see masters at their crafts show us how they have perfected their talents. In the business sector we see many creating innovative technologies every day. We see it in healthcare, politics, in the arts and virtually every sector of our society. Outside of athletics and sports, people use their talents in all facets of life and work. We have recently witnessed civilians being launched into space. This new era of space travel is being made possible by many, many people using their skills, talents, and strengths.
Talents are not restricted just to the Olympic athletes. You witness people excelling in their excellence all around you. It is the singer in the church choir that makes you shed a tear; it is the teacher that gets your child to a breakthrough moment. When you see that movie that touches your soul; that is evidence of people working in their strengths. When you see a sports team win that championship; they are demonstrating their strengths. When you hear that song that you cannot forget; some exceptionally talented people have worked in their strengths to make that happen. Watching people work in their strengths is magical. It shows the power of human creativity and productivity. It shows how teams work together to create great outcomes.
Achieving near perfection in using your talents requires dedication and work; just like the athletes.
You must first hone in on what your talents are and discover your talents. This is a crucial step in perfecting them. Just as Olympic athletes learn that they have abilities of speed and agility and then master those talents into track and field and other games. Understanding that you have talents in communication, strategic thinking or relationship building lets you focus on advancing these talents into strengths. People that are working in their strengths, then embrace their talents and declare to themselves and to others that they have these abilities and are now ready to cultivate them to near perfect proficiencies. Through coaching and practicing techniques, you can expand and develop your talents into strengths.
Most Olympic athletes have coaches; state of the art training centers to help them achieve their goals.
You too, can perfect your talents using Gallup’s Clifton StrenghtsFinder’s Assestment.
Based on Gallup’s 40-year study of human strengths, they have created a language of the 34 most common talents and developed the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment to help people discover and describe these talents. These talents can be viewed as your talent DNA. And, just like your biological DNA, your talent “DNA” makes you unique in why you do the things that you do in your work and other life activities.
Just as the Olympic athletes, your talents make you unique. The chance that two people share the same top five talents is an astonishing one in 33 million. So, you need to know that there is tremendous diversity in how people express their strengths. Applying these talents, just as the athletes, depends on many factors including knowledge, culture, experiences and practice. To master your talents, you must cultivate them and nurture them so that you can flourish to achieve your goals, build higher self-awareness and confidence and are more engaged and productive.
To do this, you must develop those talents That is why the sports analogy works, especially using the Olympics as an example. To be proficient, Olympic athletes get a great coach to help them refine their talents and techniques. Then they practice their sport while developing their minds to compete at the highest levels. When they are working in their strengths, amazing things happen during Olympic competition; records are broken, and stars shine on the world stage.
You too can shine when you develop your talents and work in your strengths. When you are working in your strengths you are strong. Working in your strength’s cultivates excellence. Working in your strength’s garners positive attention. Working in your strength’s bring self-satisfaction and joy into your life. Working in your strengths makes you a better person when you do what you love and let your talents shine!
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Larry Hammond, Sr. - V1H Consulting, LLC