You have a talent? So you get the best out of you!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Dr. med. Preckel, why do so many people think they are completely talentless?
Dr. Franzis Preckel: Often a self-esteem problem is behind it. How we assess our abilities depends only in part on what we actually do well. The comparison with others, whether we are better or worse than the people in our environment, whether we are just reaping successes or failures? it all matters.
How can I, as an adult, find out if any undiscovered talents are sleeping in me?
New talents are discovered when you dare to try something new. When you go to your personal limits. And it does not always say that you can not do this or that, just because you have never done it before.
That said, I say the best at the next meeting:? I take over the management of the project? Just to try it, if I can do it?
It does not have to be the case right away. One can first try out in playful situations: Organizational talent can also be seen when organizing the flea market for the school. A communicative talent or leadership skills can also be discovered on the board of the allotment garden. You just have to try a lot and be attentive to what works well and is relatively easy at the same time? then you are on the track of your talent. If you do not dare, you can also ask friends in a first step what talents they see at one. Or work with a coach on it.
If I am really talented for one thing: Am I automatically very successful in that?
Talent alone does not help you, frankly, not much. You have to train it. All who become very good at a thing and succeed, have practiced extremely much and keep on practicing. Studies show that an outstanding athlete, like a very successful scientist, needs an average of 10,000 hours of practice to develop a basic talent for excellence.
That sounds like a lot of time.
Yes, 10,000 hours is about ten years, during which you train your talent for three hours every day. Without practice even from the greatest musical talent no star violinist. And a person of intermediate ability, on the other hand, can become very good with practice and ambition.
Is talent innate?
For a while, one thought that gifts were synonymous with innate intelligence. This is how the idea of the human being born to genius came into being. About 30 years ago, the theory came up that with just enough practice, anyone could develop any capacity for excellence. In my view, however, something in the middle is appropriate. There are people with particularly favorable prerequisites, for example in music, mathematics, sports or other areas, ie the gifted. Achievement and success, however, only arise with them from the interplay of investment, personality, support and promotion of the talent.
Does every human have abilities that he could develop with practice in such a way that he is at least very good at it?
Definitely! There is no zero of the gift. We all have skills and are able to learn. And that is already the most important requirement for us to be able to develop our talents.
Can you later promote talent?
Suppose, in fact, it is only in my early thirties through a theater workshop that I discover that I have a talent for acting. Can I still get really good at it?
Yes, for sure! It may be a bit harder than if you were in your early 20s. Usually you just have less time, for example because you have small children or a job. Also, with age, it becomes more exhausting to learn new knowledge. But otherwise it is certainly the case that at any age you have the chance to discover something new and to develop new skills. There are famous examples of so-called late bloomers, people whose talents became visible only very late. For example, the composer Anton Bruckner, who only started composing at the age of 40, or the actress Kathryn Joosten, who only started acting at the age of 40, and then acted as an actress in the series Desperate Housewives? became world famous.
If you finally discovered his true talent in his early 40s, could you quietly quit his job and start afresh?
Of course there are such stories. In general, however, it must be said that if you as an adult are very far from your previous life and education, it will be difficult. After all, success does not just depend on talent. For many professions, there is also a formal education that you have to go through.Who, for example, starts studying medicine at the age of 40, later on in the job market competes with all the other people who also have a gift for it? and additionally a time advantage in their learning history. That needs a lot of strength, that should not be underestimated.
That sounds a bit disillusioning.
But ultimately, it's not about everyone trying to become a super talent. Much more simply makes it more enjoyable when you bring it into line with your talents and you realize that you are developing, developing competence. Maybe you will no longer be a comedy star, but the expert for presentations with joke in your company. Or the talent in the healing treatment of people does not lead you to medical school, but in a training as a consultant.
Conversely, there are also gifts that have some sort of expiration date. No matter how good a person was as a young person in his sport, at some point the body can no longer perform at its best. And then?
Anyone who embarks on a career as a competitive athlete has not only the basic sportiness, but also the personality for it: To include above all stamina, a large tolerance for frustration and the belief in their own possibilities. And this achievement orientation does not disappear simply because one withdraws from the active sport. If you look at, for example, Steffi Graf, who continues to be successful as an entrepreneur after her sporting career, then you can assume that her focus, perseverance and performance-oriented attitude are still there and that she makes enormous use of it. They are now simply inspiring other talents who were behind the sport in the second row.
And what about lost talent from childhood, for example, musicality that was not promoted?
If the interest in music is still there? and not only the mourning for missed opportunities?, then it makes sense to continue there. But at another point. Of course, you did not train fine motor skills or your hearing for years, just like someone who has promoted his talent. Yes, certain conditions can be lost? but not completely.
You hear again and again that even difficult fates can lead to a person developing special talents. For example, that a child who has to be self-employed early on, because the parents work a lot, learns to think very independently.
Solving problems requires intelligence and can lead to talent development. This applies to children as well as adults. However, it is very important here that the problem appears solvable and there is trusting support. If a child grows up between quarreling parents and just has to endure, that is not conducive. However, when a child grows up in a conflict-ridden environment and gets support from trusted people, it has the chance to talk about these conflicts, see many different perspectives, train their language skills in contention and, in the end, experience a consensus. then of course that can be a good learning field. And with such a talent, even a gifted conflict researcher may grow up.
How can I promote giftedness in a good way with my child?
As an adult, one can easily foster the desire to think of a child by really answering questions rather than simply giving a standard answer. If you show him that it pays to look somewhere, if you do not know something, instead of saying, "Nope, I do not know, does not matter !? It is similar with other talents. Taking interest, creating learning opportunities and a good learning environment: that's what it's about. Then talents can develop. But you can not force a will to perform. As soon as a gifted or clever child realizes that it is no longer about themselves and the fun of the matter, it loses interest.
That's not different with us adults. , ,
Exactly. Of course you can force yourself to practice with self-discipline. But that really needs a lot of energy. In the consultation we have a nice suggestion: If something does not work? do something else! If something works well? make more of it! That sounds very simple. But it is actually helpful.
Prof. Dr. Franzis Preckel teaches psychology at the University of Trier and has there the only professorship for highly talented research and promotion nationwide.
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