Why You Must Use Your Talent

“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.” --Albert Schweitzer

Everyone is endowed from birth with some form of talent which varies from individual to individual. How we use this talent is what differentiates us as humans in our quest for a living. The biggest burden anyone can carry is to have nothing to do. Our individual uniqueness is our strength in the use of our talents. Whatever you do, identify and use your God-given talent to earn a living. In the early 70s, people like Ali Baba and Basket Mouth would readily have been written-off as mad men. But these days, many talented young Nigerians like them have deployed their God-given talent for comedy into positive use. These stand-up comedians now rank among the highest-paid entertainers in Nigeria.

A major tragedy of human existence is the belief by some people (usually failures and never-do-wells) that they do not have what it takes to change their lives for the better. They believe that they were not born lucky. That they were not born into the right families, under the right circumstances and even in the right environment or country. Some even believe that God gave them the wrong sex. They regret all their physical attributes as the wrong ones. They accept their lots as predetermined before they were born and that destiny is simply taking its course in their lives. How wrong can they be? Unknown to these people, they are denying themselves a major gift from their Creator. There is no human being that was not born with at least one talent which he or she must be grateful to God for. It is your duty to identify this talent, hone it and use it to better your life. You are not a failure and you can never be a failure unless and until you accept, either from your actions and or inactions that you are a failure. Find your talent and use it. It is your inalienable right which no one can deny you.

Why You Must Develop a Positive Self-Esteem

“We are what we believe we are” –Benjamin Cardozo

If you think you can, you can. If however you think you can’t, you certainly can’t. Poor self-image is the primary reason why people are fatalistic in their thinking. They become incurable pessimists who always see the negative side of things. They think negatively thereby inhibiting their abilities even without trying. Your attitude must be sufficiently positive for you to be an achiever. Borrow from nature and be like the Bumblebee. The Bumblebee is by all standards a very big insect. Scientists have studied it and came away with the conclusion that it can’t fly. They believe that its body is too big and its wings too light and small that aerodynamically it should not fly. However, the Bumblebee does not know this and it flies. So it is with us humans. The only limitations we have in life are those we place on ourselves. What you think you can do is what matters not what others think. You can never escape mediocrity or get anywhere in life if you wait for the approval from other people before you commence. Believe in yourself.

You can’t afford to be like the eagle whose egg from which it hatched fell from the eagle’s nest and landed in the chicken’s nest. The egg was incubated by the chicken and hatched along with the chicken’s eggs. It was raised with the chickens with which it was hatched and it believed it was a chicken. It lived its life like a chicken. All through its life, it kept admiring eagles when it saw them soaring and wished it could fly like them. Unknown to it, everything it needed to fly was there but mentally it believed it could not and it never did until it died still believing it was a chicken. You will agree with me that the only limitations this eagle had were those it mentally placed on itself. You as a human being can always avoid this type of mental trap if you choose to. All you need to do is to believe you can and you will. That is positive self-esteem.