Adding Value: Juxtaposing Passion and Talent by Henry Ukazu

Dear Destiny Friends,

In recent times, debates about following one’s passion as opposed to focusing on one’s talent, have been on the front burner. Some schools of thought believe that success entails following one’s passion of which consistency will play a great role in bringing about a breakthrough. These schools of thought believe that a person’s passion will always give him the strength to persevere. As a matter of fact, they believe that when one is passionate about a cause, they will go all out for it; wake early every morning to pursue it. Passion is ordinarily loving the job one does, and diligently appearing at it every day.

However, if anyone is not passionate about a cause, their energy will be low. As a matter of fact, even if you are paid a fortune to do the job, you will do it just because of the money and not because of the love for it, and at the end of the day, tiredness and frustration will set in.

One of the best ways to drive home this point is stooping low to marry for the wrong reasons. Imagine marrying a lady for the looks as opposed to character, and imagine marrying a man because of money as opposed to vision, character and values he represents. When the money is finished, you will be saddled with an empty vessel.

There’s no doubt passion is good, but there’s more to life than passion. As human beings, we are all passionate about a cause. While some people have causes that are of interest to them like helping the less privilege, eradicating hunger, injustice and improving the lifestyles of human beings, some other minds are interested in good governance, accountability, education and promotion of good moral values.

To understand the relativity of passion and talents, we must understand what passion and talent are. According to Britannica dictionary, passion can be as defined “as a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something”. When you see someone who is passionate about a cause, you will see how they invest their time and energy into the cause. As a matter of fact, the energy will be palpable. But when someone is not excited about a cause, they rarely invest their time, money and resources into the project.

I can relate to this having studied Taxation Law in New York Law School, a major I detest with passion. One might be wondering or surprised at why I majored on a subject I never had interest in. Well, the answer is not far fetched, I misinterpreted my late dad’s counsel upon arrival in United States. According to him USA, is facing a recession and any major I intend to study must be relevant to secure me a job. I told him, I don’t like tax, and my brain is not wired for tax concept. As a matter of fact, I hated numbers with passion. If there’s no major to study for graduate school, Taxation law was the last major I would like to study. But I had to do it because according to him, that’s the only major I can do to survive in the United States because of the prevailing recession at the said time.

There are certain things that interests us as human beings. These interests can be described as passion. These can be sports, academic, religious, entertainment, traveling, writing, dancing, and even praying. Just like every taste bud is different; every human is also different. The ability to understand every person and what works for them can be the game changer.

On the other hand, and according to Cambridge Dictionary, talent can be defined as the natural skill or ability to be good at something, especially without being taught. Talent can be likened to gift. We don’t pay for it. At creation, God endowed everyone with different talents and gifts to use for problem solving. But many has used their talents and gifts for mere entertainment or pleasure instead of earning income.

It should be noted there’s nothing we need as human beings that we don’t have in our body. God gave us hands to eat, but we manufacture spoons, God gave us legs to walk but invented cars, bicycles and planes. God gave us eyes, but we manufactured goggles. The list is endless.

If I may ask, between passion and talent which one should a progressive person focus on? This is a very interesting question. There’s no doubt, both are very important, however, if I am to chose, I will go with talent because one’s talent is like one’s purpose. When you focus on your talent, it can be developed into passion, but when you focus on your passion and leave your talent to die, there’s a tendency for failure because a certain component is missing.

It is generally said passion does not pay the bills. So, regardless of how good someone is at doing something, if it is not generating income, strife, anger, pain and frustration is likely to creep in.

According to Professor Ndubusi Ekekwe, “I can say that following my talent (here, inborn natural ability), and not necessarily my passion, helps me thrive. And for financial success, passion does not generate financial outcomes automatically. What makes money for you is your talent or skill you have mastered.

But if your passion falls within your talent or skill acquired, that is a huge blessing. But note this, it must be in this order: discover the talent or what you are good at, and develop and nurture it, over time, that thing will become your passion, because you have a deep mastery of it. In other words, your talent which is unlocked will boost your personal confidence, deepen mastery and success, and over time, it will converge as a passion.

But if you begin with passion, without the necessary talent, you could be frustrated, financially. It is very possible that people will tell you to follow your passion, and over time, you would use it to unlock financial freedom. That is wrong. If you develop your passion and it cannot earn you income, you have not helped yourself. Do this: check what you can do really well, focus on how you can develop yourself best in it, and that possibly will cushion more financial stability because you will be successful in it, and people will pay you for it. But following a talent-less passion will lead to frustrations. Of course, you could be among the blessed: your talent falls into your passion where you have inborn natural ability in something you are passionate about.

I personally concur with this assertion. We need to step into the contemporary style of thinking. Though passion is good, we need to live because passion alone does not pay the bills, what pay the bills is the work we do.

In conclusion, as your journey through life, ask yourself are you led by passion or talent.