How do you recognise your talent/Gift if the traditional subjects at school like Maths, English, History etc are not really your thing?  Your Gift/talent could be speaking, directing, business,  storytelling , fire-fighter etc, but  how do you recognise and build on this Gift/talent rather than going to do  a general Arts, Business, IT or any other degree if it’s for the sake of just getting a degree?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against education; I just don’t believe it to be the one stop shops as the industrial educational institutions teach it to be.  The traditional and all
too common industrial script of life emerges for most people in the following form:
Go to school, then a tertiary qualification and then get a job and you will be successful – that formula does not equal success in the knowledge/information society we all participate in, just ask all those in the rat race.

Does a degree guarantee a job? Do you or someone you know have tertiary qualifications? Can you or they waltz in a company and be given a job because of a degree? Not at all.  But
even if they did, is that all we’re after…..a job?  A license to participate in the rat race.

Degrees are great to some, but purpose is larger than being awarded a paper tiger, which is what tertiary qualifications have come to be, especially when your Gift/talent lives
outside the traditional mould of education.

Fulfilling or delivering your purpose/Gift can sometimes come in unconventional ways. Academia is relevant but we need all kinds of people to make a world, and academia doesn’t serve the needs of everyone in the world.

For a different perspective I am very excited to share a video with you recorded at a TED conference in California.

Click on the link below and watch a very entertaining presentation by Sir Ken Robinson, author of “The Element”, presenting on the subject that ‘Education Kills Creativity’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Have a listen to how this PHD thinking mind explains the impact of education, especially if you were or still are the type of person whose passion lives in areas other than the traditional subjects.

How do you find your Gift/purpose and then have the courage to serve it and develop it?

This video is insightful for those who are looking to answer this question, specifically if you are a parent, manager, teacher, trainer, leader in your community or preparing to be in a  position where people will be looking up to you personally or professionally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Let me know what your thoughts are by writing your comments below.

To your journey of unboxing your Gift.

Rita  🙂