“What is my goal” is a different question from “what is my one outstanding talent”?
“What is my goal” is a different question from “what is my one outstanding talent”?
Am I aware of the difference?
Yes, I am.
A goal is something I choose for myself. An outstanding talent is something I developed over the years. Be also aware that you can get good at anything in life. Talents aren’t fixed if you have a growth mindset that allows you to learn and change anything you want (as opposed to a fixed!!! mindset).
Regardless of being able to acquire any skill we want, there is a talent in each of us.
Something that feels so much easier to do than other things. It’s enjoyable for us, and pain for others. It’s where we can help and serve others.
For me, it’s teaching.
It makes me proud if I can help others and see them grow. Yes, there is a lot of Ego involved — yet also caring and love to serve others. To help them discover and unleash their real talent (which always comes from doing, not by thinking).
We simply cannot think about what we are good at. Though it’s an intellectual mindgasm and it might indicate where to look for our real talent, it will never give us clarity and a deep conviction and belief that we found our real talent — unless we discover through doing, building, crafting, …
I am aware that our goals might change as well as our talents. That’s fine.
I have been too obsessed to find this one thing, this one vision, this one calling, this one mission, this one ah whatever word you find to describe a direction in life. Let others label and struggle with that. I decided that as long as I have a direction (even if it’s fuzzy at times), I should not be wondering about the other terms and certainly not wonder about other people’s opinion and thoughts.
Yet, it’s very hard. When I read the tenth article about why having a mission is key, I feel intrigued to come up with one. I not only feel intrigued, to be honest, I feel pressured.
In some occasions, I give in and write a few words down. Then, I sometimes realize that I haven’t been a strong observer of my ego. I gave in. Once again, I wasn’t aware of the rat race.
I am certain that as long as I am not self-aware and strengthen my observing power, I am guided by someone else. It’s not me.
And it happens to most of us. Do you feel similar? Do you feel pressured to achieve something to make your parents proud? To impress your friends? To separate yourself from your colleagues or other entrepreneurs?
To be different is separation from life.
It’s not you. Your need to stand out and your need to grow and learn to be better than others, it’s something else. Its origin is deep inside.
Why?
Mostly to satisfy your ego. Yet- your ego cannot be satisfied. It will always push you. In turn, you will be unhappy, feel pressured and emotionally unbalanced.
I don’t mean that we should stop growing and learning and thriving and getting rich. In fact, the opposite is true. I want everyone to learn and grow and thrive and get filthy rich. Yet, I want everyone to have a purpose and a self-awareness why they do so.
My purpose is to become a (better) teacher. Teaching makes me happy because I help and serve others while getting to financial independence and freedom PLUS living the life I want (right now a nomadic life). I am so happy to have the chance to reach people online and teach them how to be more organized, more productive and focused.
It gives me so much gratitude. I can’t even express this warm feeling in my heart.
By teaching and not limiting myself to building companies, I am not limited by how many people I can reach. If I teach entrepreneurs how to build “great companies to work for”, I indirectly reach a lot more people than building my own company. Even if I build two or three, I will always be limited. Teaching is limitless.
And similarly important to knowing my purpose, I must work hard, really hard, not to forget this purpose and remember it daily. As strong as it might read for you now — and even though it feels very deep and compelling for me; it is easy to get side-tracked. Especially when I read the 12th article on goals and vision. Then, as I said, I am not a strong observer, I give in and act randomly.
I don’t want to act randomly. That’s why I am writing this and distil a tweet-like version to make sure I always know why I do what I am doing. It might sound weird — yet I easily forget. I remind myself every day to read this tweet (using Mac’s reminder app) and put it into the beginning of my daily survey.
I even believe most of us are eager to come up with a mission statement for life or goals or a mission — yet we forget it. We feel hyped by the exercise. Some feel even more hyped by the results of the exercise. Yet a very few remind themselves of the results. Real belief and conviction come through acting on it (I mean your vision, mission, calling, goal, …)
And while acting, we easily forget why we started in the first place. That’s why I believe in support mechanisms like reminders or a daily practice where we visualize and remember the why we set out for ourselves. If you don’t have one, make it your why to find a why.
So what is my tweet like why version?
My why (purpose, goal, and direction) is to become a good teacher. Teaching makes me happy because I help and serve others — yet only if I can ensure financial independence and freedom PLUS living the life I want (right now a nomadic life, later I already feel it, to support my family).
Share your ❤ below — and respond with your thoughts.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
About Danny: I choose to be happy. I love fearlessly. I practice the Art and Science of Being Entrepreneurial to build businesses — & have a good life.
Originally published at dannyholtschke.com on Jun 3, 2016.
