If You Are Super Talented, Then This Is For You

The question that might worry you the most is: What should I do when I know how to do a lot of things? Firstly, let me tell you something: You are not confused. I would tell you why and then I'll share two major pathways for you and if this spills over LinkedIn's limit, I am going to attach the link to the full article at the end of this post.

With the entrance of the information age, a lot of people have found themselves in a position of having the ability to do a lot of things surprisingly well but also having the uncertainty of what to choose or build their lives on because the many success stories we've heard have presented the individuals as people that are good as just one thing.

Let me give examples of this and show the misconception. Think about the richest people in the world and how they are perceived to know one thing. Take Bill Gates, you'll think, well he's so good at software engineering. I'm sure you also know about the Gates Foundation and how intentional Bill Gates is about health. So, it's not really one thing, is it? What about Elon Musk? You'll think that he knows a lot about rocket science or electric cars. Well, he also runs X (formerly Twitter), Neuralink and The Boring Company. Don't forget he was part of PayPal. One final example: Femi Otedola. I've had the privilege of studying his autobiography and I can tell you for certain. He went through diesel, microfinance, manicure, electricity distribution and now, philanthropy. So, you can see that you are not confused right?

Now, let's start from why. Before the beginning of the information age, we had the industrial age that focused on mechanical inventions, factories and manufacturing and as a result, once you found yourself in a particular industry, you were trained to function within that industry and would find it difficult to move into a new industry without having formal retraining. This all changed when the information age began. Knowledge became common, skill acquisition timeline was drastically reduced as training resources became easily available for free and lastly, the information age also created many new fields and career paths that didn't exist previously and those paths also create new pathways with their own respective learning paths that anyone, and I repeat, anyone can learn as long as they dedicate the required time and energy to learn.

So now you understand why you know a lot of things and can do a lot of things, the question then becomes which one path do you pick? I would be discussing two strategies you can capitalize and those are the strategies I use, and I have also noticed in successful people both in the religious and secular worlds.

The first strategy is a principle gotten from the most complete book of all time: The Bible. The principle states: Whatever your hands FINDS to do, do it with ALL your might. One of the worries about super talented people is how can they combine all the things they can do together. The reality is that you cannot do everything at once. However, in life, you would find yourself in opportunities that give you the platform to exhibit parts of yourself. It is at those moments that you should do those things because that is your season. Let me give an example. Imagine a season of your life where you are surrounded by business opportunities. You have a talent in marketing, and you gain the knowledge of how to get items from Dubai and sell them for good profit around the world. You see the potential, you have the knowledge, maybe even the funds are ready and your heart is clear. But then since you were young, you've had a passion for music, and you've always seen yourself as a musician. Maybe you even have a song or two and it's moving on gradually. Now your worry is: Should I leave my music career and pick up the Dubai business?

The misinterpretation of this first strategy is: Focus on your music career and put in your best until it manifests. The interpretation I am making today is: To everything there is a time and a season for everything under heaven. Once things are in place for the business in Dubai, take it. You are in the Dubai season. While that is going on, you would see more seasons for your music to manifest. You would have song inspirations. Go and record those and release. Then continue your Dubai season. One does not have to suffer for the other to succeed.

Let me use a story to illustrate this better. In the Bible, a story was told about a man that was travelling and before he left, he gave three servants talents. The first one got five talents, the second got two talents and the last one got one talent. I know we know the story of how the last servant hid his talent and the master was angry with him for doing that. I have a post on my Instagram profile about the last servant but in this post, let's focus on the first servant. He was given FIVE. This was not to confuse him or make him feel inadequate but because the master trusted him to be capable to utilize ALL five. Think about it for a moment. The Bible records that he traded with the FIVE. Like he did business with ALL FIVE. However, the Bible then mentioned that he gained five more. This is the interesting part. Yes, he did business with all five, but the Bible didn't say which talent gave him the most profit or if it was just one talent that made him gain the five more. What mattered was he traded with all five, and he had five more when his master came back.

So, you can see that none of the things deposited in you is a waste. You were entrusted with them, and the expectation of your Maker is for you to use every single one. Now, just like the story, there is no guarantee that when you trade the first one that you would receive two in return. The story does not work that way. But there is a guarantee that if you trade all, you will surely get returns. So don't shut any part of yourself down. As seasons come and go, put in your best in that part of you that's crying out in that moment. That's the time you should give attention to it. Don't be worried if you don't see your returns immediately. Instead, continue trading. Make the next move, find something you can do and do it excellently. Then lastly, do not be afraid to move on to the next project when the season of the current on is done even if there are losses. Go on to your next talent. The master would never be angry with you for losing. He was only angry at someone for never trying.

The second strategy is found in one word: SERVICE. A major misconception we have in the current generation is the misconception of assured profiting. This misconception states that: Anything I am doing that is not bringing money into my pocket is not worthy of my time. That's the mindset that has locked away a lot of the potential resident in us. I'll use myself as an example. Before 2023, all I felt I could possibly be, was a software engineer. I tried business and it turned out I was too nice to think of how to make profit. I think I'm better now. So, my entire mind felt like I could only succeed as a software engineer. However, in 2023, I was given a platform to serve in my local church and that was in the media unit. I entered having no knowledge of majority of the things required in fact, the major department was audio engineering, and I had zero knowledge on what it was. I only knew how to put on evangelism microphones.

But then, then I found myself in the role and with the first strategy in place, I knew I was in the right season, and I knew to give it my absolute best. Now, I call media engineering my alternate career and I can confidently teach any role in any of its departments because a season to serve came and I gave it my all. Another aspect of me that was revealed in service is Teaching. I didn't know this was in me until I noticed how I could be tired before a class begins but suddenly come to life once the class begins. I recently noticed another talent in service this Sunday, but I would keep that until I have began trading it. It's one of the ways of trading the teaching talent that caused me to begin writing here.

The message of the second strategy is simple: The chances for you to trade your talents would not always come with monetary increase. Sometimes, they come in form of service. They could be opportunities to volunteer at NGOs or internship/junior roles at organizations. In fact, a lot of the time, they come as urgent needs. For example, the main actor didn't show up for the play and suddenly you are asked if you can replace him. My message to you today is: Take that chance and shine well! That's the principle of the second strategy.

I understand this has been a long post. Maybe I should write a book instead. Well, as you've seen in this post, you never know. Once the season comes, you can expect to see a copy. However, until then, I hope you learnt something and feel more confident about where you are now and have less fear about how your future would turn out. Go with this one statement: There is no assurance that when you trade one talent, you would get returns but there is a guarantee that if you can trade all that's been given to you, at the end you would have more than you were give. That's true.

Until next time, I am Golden Ogbeka. I build software applications and I'm also a media engineer so social media management, live audio mixing, music production, video production, and many more are some of the things I do but in summary, if you have an idea and need to talk to someone about it, I am your guy.