Skill is the 3rd component of our strengths package.
It’s so critical that you pull apart your natural talents and passion from the development of those talents and passions. There are two primary ways we develop our talents and passion. One is skill and the other is knowledge. And you need to tailor your choice of skills and knowledge to compliment and support your talent and passion. Many add skills and knowledge going off in all directions. Strive to be “Pointy”. An enormous synergy is created when you add skill and knowledge that is complimentary to your innate talent.
Our education system has been designed to turn out well-rounded graduates. But “Pointy” people become world class at something. World Class is where all the fun is and it’s where all the money is. I’m not saying don’t try new and different things. You should. You’ll uncover dormant or unknown talents. But spend 80% of your development investment on what you already know you are naturally good at. This is simply an expounding on the phrase, “Jack of All Trades, Master of None”.
Skills come in at least two kinds. One is generalized skill and the other is specialized skill. The distinction between the two is a moving target on the time line. An example of a generalized talent today is driving. Being able to drive to work is a general requirement for most jobs. This is especially true in car crazy California. If you live in New York City, many don’t own cars and take the subway. An example of a specialized skill is being able to drive a tractor-trailer rig. It requires additional skills that get certified with a special drivers license.
100 years ago driving wasn’t a generalized skill. Maybe horseback riding was. Horse shoeing was more of a specialized skill.
Computer Keyboarding has become more of a generalized skill required for all kinds of work. Writing computer code on the other hand is a specialized skill.
All of these skills, generalized or specialized have underlying natural talents. Some people have natural gifts in vision, hand and foot coordination, anticipation, and even caution that makes them safer drivers. Gallup has even verified this with there exhaustive work around talent identification.
Skills usually involve methods, models, and steps. These methods, models, and steps are developed by training, coaching, and hours of practice. It’s generally accepted that 10,000 hours of practice is a baseline requirement to master a skill. This often works out to about 5 years.
Just any kind of practice won’t do. There is sloppy practice and deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is very focused and intentional. It’s much more than just showing up and going along for the ride. Deliberate practice is very disciplined with the minute-by-minute intention of getting better. Deliberate practice is goal focused and very segmented and incremental in nature. Often it involves breaking a skill down into component parts and practicing each in isolation. Then deliberate practice might involve putting the pieces back together with concentration on segues (connections) or the whole.
Should you ever develop skills where you have very little underlying talent? Some generalized skills, yes. You should probably learn to drive even if you don’t have the underlying talent to be a world-class truck driver doing cross-country halls. But it would probably be a waste of time to get your class “A” license if all or most of your talent involved working with people.
I’ve made a big deal of the fact that 80% of your skills should be complimentary to your known talents. 20% of your time can be spent on new areas. One of the best ways to uncover a dormant or unknown talent is to try new things. Try to add a new skill now and then. See how rapidly you pick it up.
With children up to the age of 14 you might even reverse it. Give them plenty of room in their younger years to explore their talents by trying to learn new skills. But don’t force it either. Be on the look out for that single activity that just absolutely enamors your child. Encourage them and turn then loose on that.
By age 14 your brain wiring is fairly well set. There is a lot in magazines and newspapers lately about neuroplasticity. This is the idea that the brain remains fairly plastic or pliable into old age. It does remain pliable into old age. You can re-weight neurons and re-wire them with brand new connections. Regeneration is also occurring. That is new neurons or brain cells are being added. But this does not mean you can turn a non-talent into full-blown talent. You can uncover dormant talents. But there is no evidence I’m aware of that you can actually add talent.
Bottom Line: Discover your natural talents and spend the majority of your development efforts adding skills that support those talents.
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