40 Awesome Talents You Might Not Even Realize You Have

Think you don’t have any talents? Think again.

Photo by Stephan Louis on Unsplash

Throughout my life, countless people have said the same thing. ‘’I don’t really have any talents’’. Or, ‘’I wish I had a talent like that, they’re so lucky!’’. All I want to do is just grab them by the shoulders and shake some sense into them.

The biggest misconception about being talented is that your talent has to be something big and obvious. Being an amazing singer, being a great writer, or being incredibly smart can be your talents, but simply being a kind human being can’t be. This just sets a ridiculously false expectation, and I’m here to tell you that you are talented. You just might not be aware of your talent.

Here are 40 not-so-obvious talents that are incredible to have, and you just might be the lucky one.

1. Being great with people.
2. Public speaking.
3. Explaining complex concepts in a simple way. Would you be able to explain Bitcoin to a 6-year-old?
4. Naturally having a great sense of responsibility and accountability.
5. Being dependable. You keep promises and people can count on you.
6. Strategizing. Do you always see the big picture and are you easily able to derive strategies from that?
7. Being great with kids.
8. Writing. Not just writing in the sense of writing books or articles, but it could also be that you are good at clearly explaining things in an email, or that reporting to your colleagues comes easy for you in the written word.
9. Having a great memory. You remember names of people, details that they’ve told you or you’re great at remembering birthdays.
10. Empathizing with other people and being a good listener.
11. Having a naturally flexible body, making it easy for you to do yoga or other physical activities.
12. Asking the right questions — questions that add substance and value.
13. Problem-solving. Some people see problems as opportunities and are wired to see solutions more easily than others.
14. Having a creative and vivid imagination.
15. Having an optimistic and positive attitude towards life.
16. Having a great sense of self-control. You don’t give into minor distractions.
17. Being rhythmic. You have no issue turning pencils and your desk into a drumkit and dancing comes relatively easy for you.
18. Having a good sense of orientation and navigation. You know your way around a city fairly quickly.
19. Being a good leader. You’re not afraid to take the reins.
20. Being completely open-minded and non-judgmental. You’re naturally supportive of others and don’t judge people for having different opinions than you.
21. Being good at making decisions. You’re great at weighing out all options, assessing the cost/risk/effort vs. rewards, and know how to prioritize things.
22. Being great with animals.
23. Attention to detail. You’re great at spotting abnormalities in patterns or details that others might miss.
24. Remaining stress-resistant in high-pressure situations. You don’t get stressed out easily.
25. Having a good eye for composition. This helps in any artistic venture, such as photography or painting.
26. Having a good sense of humor. You’re always making people laugh.
27. Technical know-how. IT-related things come easy for you.
28. Critical thinking. You don’t get swept away in an ideal-world image and are able to keep it cool and think critically.
29. Research. You‘re great at researching information, whether it’s background information on your date for tonight or researching projects, events or concepts.
30. Visualizing things. You’re good at illustrating things or turning concepts into something visual.
31. Learning. You’re good at learning new things, absorbing information and applying them in real life.
32. Being organized. You have no problems taking care of your administration, keeping your space tidy and having a clear overview of what’s going on in your life.
33. You’re adaptable. You can feel at home anywhere and you have no problem adjusting.
34. Money management. You have a good grip on your money, are financially literate and have a great money mindset.
35. Ability to learn languages. You grasp lingual concepts fairly easy and you have no problem putting your shame on the side to practice speaking.
36. Being a great planner. You know how to plan realistically and stick to plannings.
37. You have a great sense of intuition. You listen to your gut and it always works out best for you.
38. You have a motivating spirit. You’re great at motivating yourself and others to be their best selves.
39. Negotiation skills. You know how to get to where you want by strategically placing your offers and getting to a consensus.
40. Coming up with ideas. Some people are just idea machines — you get one idea after the other.

The Best Part?

The best part of all this is that not all people are born with talent, and every single item on this list is something you can train. I’ve let go of the traditional and somewhat mystical conception that you can only be naturally gifted at something, and I’ve trained to be better at ideating, strategic thinking, creativity, public speaking, learning, explaining things and so much more. It has completely shifted my perspective of my own limitations. I’ve learned that these limitations don’t exist.

If you caught yourself thinking ‘’Man, I wish I had that talent’’ at one of the items on this list, you can cultivate that talent.

“Wouldn’t it be great to be gifted? In fact… It turns out that choices lead to habits. Habits become talents. Talents are labeled gifts. You’re not born this way, you get this way.”

— Seth Godin

If you got excited at any one of the talents you can cultivate, go get it. Make a plan on how you’ll acquire it and get to work. The great thing about talents is that they’re usually multifunctional. If you cultivate a talent of strategic thinking, that will help you train countless other talents: making graffiti art, playing chess, or coming up with business models.

Dedicate time to training multifunctional talents and you’ll be like a Swiss army knife in no time.