What is in your hand?
Over the years, one thing that has shaped my thinking and focus in life is the personal experiences of people l admire.
Advertisement
It is for this reason that just a few weeks ago, I wrote about the influence of role models in one’s life in this column. In that edition, l explained how role models shape one’s life, and contribute to career development.
I used examples too, drawing on how management thinkers have helped me, personally, to reflect on life at every stage, pause and re-energise for the next move.
You see, in all of this, l never mentioned some of the old teachings and texts captured in religion or the scriptures that have influenced me too.
So, today, l am going to use something l learnt in Sunday school, perhaps about 40 years ago, to illustrate a point that might be lost on many.
This is about how we can use our unique talent and skills to make the best of life. If you believe that you are unique and do possess unique qualities, you will be able to create the right connection here.
The Sunday school teacher used the story of Moses in one of our classes to encourage us to “examine our hand”. That line in the scriptures was about God asking Moses: “What is that in thine hand?”
The exposition here, as I understood it then, and through further research, is that each person only needs to examine what they personally have, and that it doesn't have to be grand, majestic or even what the next person has. Simply, what you have is enough for God to do something miraculous. This is the stewardship and work of God.
Well, if you have followed this column over the years (it is more than 10 years old), you would have noticed that l never dwell on miracles here! In fact, this is probably the first time l may be using the word “miracle” in this column.
What l rather tend to do is to encourage preparation so that you see and exploit opportunities when they arise. That could also be a miracle, couldn’t it? Well, it really depends on which side of the fence you sit in this context.
So, to prepare for your “miracle”, there is always the need for you to exploit some of the things that you do effortlessly, that which in your hand is unique; you can do without much shoving. Once you can do that, you will become a master at your own game.
In the past, I have written about this subject in different ways. I have used Tiger Woods, Serena Williams and other great sportsmen, including Andre Agassi, to explain how exploiting your talent to the fullest takes you to the height of success.
Almost 10 years ago, in the July 6, 2013 edition of this column, I wrote on the subject “Are you stimulated for success?” In that edition, my opening paragraph was this: “Have you ever wondered why some are more successful than others?
In other words, have you ever thought about why some are able to quickly come up with ideas and not only that; but also go ahead to implement those ideas, whereas others struggle to come up with just an idea?
Well, it is all to do with how some are more creative than others; the process of assembling ideas by recombining elements already known but wrongly assumed to be unrelated to each other”.
The idea of concentration in that article was about exploiting creativity-idea generation-and innovation, which is about the implementation of those ideas, to become successful in life.
Creativity has made people like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates household names. They had ideas and visions, and they decided to go ahead with them. In the end, they have been able to stand out from the crowd, becoming people of real influence.
That could also be you if you decide to apply yourself more to doing creative things. But, significantly, the story about all these great men is that they never tried to borrow other people’s ideas, to a large extent.
Of course, there are situations where people have looked at other people’s inventions and have made them better, in some sort of incremental innovation.
That also exists. My point here, however, is that no matter how little what you have may seem, you can still create something good out of it. Talent is talent.
Companies are encouraged to concentrate on the products that they have the least marginal cost in producing so that they can maximise profits.
In fact, countries, under a principle of comparative cost advantage, are also urged to produce goods that they have the least cost in producing so that through trade, they can exchange those goods for the ones that they don’t have the advantage in producing.
Based on this, Ghana, for example, produces a lot of cocoa, compared to the global average, and earns the foreign exchange that enables her to procure other goods.
Countries strong in the production of crude oil, palm oil, mangoes, etc. do the same; they produce and sell, using proceeds to procure what they cannot produce.
Now back to the story of the sportsmen. What do you think would have been the case if Tiger Woods had ventured into football or boxing or Lionel Messi had tried to be a basketball player of repute?
I know you would find the Messi analogy quite hilarious because we all know the physique needed to become successful at basketball.
Messi doesn’t have that, and even at the game of football where he has become the world’s best on many occasions, many doubted his ability in his youthful years.
But “Lion” Messi stayed the course, in this case, using what he had in his feet to achieve stardom. That can’t be described as only a miracle, but also the ability to exploit your talent to achieve great things.
The musician, footballers, dancers, poets and creative writers, to mention but a few, all use what is in their hands to achieve their goals. Artistes like Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger; sportsmen like Tiger Woods and Lionel Messi have taken creativity to a different level in their respective fields.
Bear in mind that it is not that difficult at all to discover what is in your hand that will make you great. The very simple things that you do daily could become your source of creativity. Consider the following exercises:
Think about one product or service you’ve used today:
- Can you create a better product/service?
- Can you develop a better process to access the product/service?
- Can you sell that product/service to a different market?
- Can you find a different way to make money from the product/service?
That is how it starts. Once you start looking at products and services this way, you soon realise that you can also provide that service and develop that product differently, based on your unique skills. You can also create value. Ready for it? Give it a go!