"Find Your Talent and Drive It"
Toni M knew what she was talking about.
“Find your talent and drive it.”
Toni Morrison said that.
That’s not passive advice.
It’s not the ubiquitous “Follow your passion” we hear all over the internet – like your passion is leading a parade and all you have to do is fall in step behind it!
No, says Toni, be more discerning and more aggressive than that.
Find your talent and drive that mofo. (Okay, she didn’t say mofo but we’re going with it.)
This is stronger, like a muscular hope.
Talent Isn’t the Same as Passion
Passion might be something you love but talent is your innate ability or your natural skill. And you can have a passion and totally suck at it. (That’s okay — but it might not produce what you’re hoping for.)
Finding your natural skill is different. You have to figure out what you are good at, what skill you have an innate proclivity for. (And if you like doing it, too? Bonus!)
Finding your talent takes awareness and time. It won’t come running like a dog because you have bacon in your hand. (Mmmm, bacon.) In fact, you might not discover your talent as much as you might uncover it … because it’s under all those layers you use to hide yourself from yourself.
Then Drive It
After you find your talent, you’ll need to drive it. Again and again. That’s hard work. But maybe it gets you somewhere.
Because, remember, dying on the shore is no way to live. (Read “Don’t Die on the Shore.”)
Find your talent and drive it. Also, deadlift. But you already knew that.
“Writing was central to my life .. it was where my mind was, where I was most delighted and most challenged.” — Toni Morrison