If you are like me, there are some things you may feel you do
pretty well, and others that you would not admit to having done
even at gunpoint! I do play guitar adequately and I can make a
memorable enchilada dish. I also enjoy working with people and I
seem to have made it a lifelong project to learn how to become a
better listener.
I never thought of myself as one who has any great talent, but
like each of us, I have certain skills and abilities. Let me tell
you a story, however, passed down through jazz circles. It's a
story about a man who had real talent.
This particular man played piano in a bar. He was a good piano
player. People came out just to hear him and his trio play. But
one night, a patron wanted them to sing a particular song. The
trio declined. But the customer was persistent. He told the
bartender,
"I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want that guy to sing!"
The bartender shouted across the room to the piano player,
"Hey buddy! If you want to get paid, sing the song. The patrons
are asking you to sing!"
So he did. He sang a song. A jazz piano player who had not sung
much in public, sang a song that changed his career. For nobody
had ever heard Sweet Lorraine sung the way it was sung that night
by Nat King Cole!
He had talent he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of
his life playing in a jazz trio in clubs and bars, but because he
had to sing, he went on to become one of the best-known
entertainers in America.
You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel as if your
"talent" is particularly great, but it may be better than you
think! And with persistence, most skills can be improved.
Besides, you may as well have no ability at all if you sit on
whatever talent you possess!
Some people ask, "What ability do I have that is useful?"
Others ask, "How will I use the ability that I have?"