Eneh Akpan Writes: What Sir Taught Me About Talent

Back when I was a child (to coin a phrase and a swell one too if I may add), I would lock myself up in my room, turn my back to the world, set the muse to work and, explore all the depths of my creativity. There were times I skipped meals and just got lost in my muse creating lyrics. A feeling of nostalgia often accompanies my recall of those early days of trying and failing and you can readily associate if your childhood hobby morphed into a lifelong career.

Sir (if you have read my post “On Identity,” you know I called my father, “Sir”) was well aware of my obsession—how could he not, I spent more time writing than I did doing anything else. I recall one uneventful evening, that’s one day which has evolved into one of the most memorable of my entire life. An unusual hush garbed the entire household. The way I remember it I suppose my sibs were out playing soccer on some stubbed patch of undeveloped lot.

My improvised desk flaunted a clutter of school notebooks. I was buried in the pages of an exercise book flanking the heap when Sir invaded the privacy of my room.

“I haven’t seen you do too much song writing, lately,” He said, his fatherly aura eclipsing my tiny frame.

The smile, which abruptly, lit up my face, came uninvited and uninhibited because I felt I just had my legs pulled.

Don't get me wrong, though. Sir was a big fan-he loved me and loved what I did.

“Seriously.” He eyed me the way fathers do when they're trying to make you pay attention. “You've not been writing those lyrics of yours like you used to.”

Sir went on to tell me something that rearranged my overall psyche and triggered a new sense of purpose within.

1. Your Talent is ‘Who’ You Are

You can't discover the inner self and not find your talent. Towing the same line, you can't straddle your talent and not know who you really are.

“That’s one reason sloths can’t discover who they really are,” Sir said.

If someone has talent, they still have to work very hard if they want to be very good at something. Some people become quite good at something even if they do not have much talent, but if they are willing to work very hard at the skill. Some people “waste their talent” (they have talent but do not work hard at it, they do not “use their talent”). — Wikipedia

"Inspiration exists but it has to find us working." Picasso

2. Your Talent Ought to Define Your Career

This line rather blows its own trumpet. Nevertheless, that's not the situation much of the time. With unemployment and underemployment running the game and as we all know, a man's gotta eat, sometimes, we defer.
Fact remains you can't be waist deep in your talent and still be, metaphorically speaking, out of a job.

Once you find something you love to do, do more of it. You will improve your skills and refine your technique this way. WikiHow

You should consider making a career of it and help change the world with something only you could rightly show off.

3. Your Talent is No. 1 Priority

Here's what Sir said to me, "Education was invented so gifted people could learn from like-minded folks who have through drill perfected their craft." (I can name a few of my high school teachers who signed up for the job because they ran out of options, though.) "People get an education to polish raw talent. The intent wasn't to get a qualification you can't defend for beans so you can apply for a fine job that pays handsomely."

You should nurture your talent by finding a teacher, even if it's just somebody else with more experience at something who can give you advice. WikiHow

“Thomas Edison (electricity), Benjamin Banneker (clock), Garret Morgan (traffic light), Henry Ford (automobile), and Alexander Graham Bell (telephone) had 8th to 12th grade education.

Bill Gates (Microsoft), Ted Turner (CNN), Bill Lear (Lear Jet), Soichiro Honda (Honda cars), and Howard Hughes (Hughes aircraft) never earned a college degree.

These geniuses had average IQ but made the world a better place by using their intuition.” — The New York Times

That's my idea of a well-rounded education. As Sir said, “In a difficult situation where your talent is pitched against 'formal' education, choose your talent.” Put differently, do it in a heartbeat. No questions asked (to coin a phrase).

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan