Talent Is Never Enough

July 22, 2007

Don’t faint!  Two posts inside of a month.  I know.  It’s a miracle just shy of Biblical proportions.  When I started this blog, I promised myself that I would not post unless I had something to say.  Well guess what?  I’m ready to talk.

Over the next few posts, I’ll be sharing some things I’ve learned during these weeks . . . ok, months of silence.  In that time, I’ve written a new short story, started a novel (three chapters down . . . many to go), began reading a new book or two, and did some major soul searching at work and at home.  The later is where I’d like to start. 

As I browsed the round table at Borders not long ago, I noticed the latest release from Christian leadership guru John Maxwell.  Apparently, he’s now written a book called Talent is Never Enough.  This caught my attention.  Not so much because I think I have talent.  It might just as well have been titled Never Enough Talent, and it still would have applied.  But the actual title suggested to me a truth that (frankly) contradicts what I have always been taught.  Maybe you are the same way.

Were you ever really good at something?  Maybe it was baseball or football or basketball.  For those of you who were like me and less athletic (read: geeks) it might have been band or the math team (or the Future Farmers of America - no comments, please).  The point is, we all have talent, whether you’re Tiger Woods or Napoleon Dynamite.  Yet we live in a society that tells us if we have enough of this talent, we should expect to be discovered and swept almost overnight into a world of limos and fame and our very own monogrammed Future Farmer jacket (man, that would have been so cool).  But I digress.

Somewhere along the way, I bought into this charade.  I focused on using my talent to impress others in hopes of seeing my ship come in somewhere on the Alabama horizon.  I even left a forwarding address when I moved to Nashville just in case I missed the boat.  Boy did I miss the boat.

What I’ve learned since is that no one, not even the most talented of individuals, is immune from the basic facts of life.   There are some rules we all must follow if we want to succeed or at least avoid failure.  Talent is no exemption lottery, no get out of jail free card.  (Paris Hilton proved that getting out of jail doesn’t exactly require talent anyway).

Has anyone ever said you have “potential?”  I used to love that word.  It held such promise.  It was a blank check that I could cash at anytime.  If I had a bad day, no worries.  I had potential.  When I was lazy, or shiftless, I was not concerned.  Tomorrow I would just bust out some potential and ease on down the road. 

My college band director always said, “Potential just means you ain’t done nothing yet!”  This was usually shouted through a megaphone in 90 degree heat.  And he was right.  Somewhere along the way, people stopped caring about my potential.  They became more interested in my results.  Oh, results?  Why would you need to see those?  I have potential, remember?  It was like saying I must have money, because I still have checks.  God had planted seeds of talent in my life.  He had basked me in the light of mentors and teachers.  He had watered me with the love of family and friends.  All I had to do was to reap the harvest.  Instead, I just stood at the edge of the garden, potentially proud, terrifically talented, but with a crop wilted and wasted. 

So if you’re like me, if you too have failed to realize the true “potential” of your talent, hang out with me here over the next few weeks as I explore this book, Talent Is Never Enough.  I’ll do my best to hit the highlights.  Maybe some of you can contribute by leaving comments, feedback, and answers to some of the questions Maxwell poses.

Now, let’s crack open that book . . .

Posted in Books, Life in General