YOUR HIDDEN TALENT
Last year I wrote and released my second book, Hidden Talent: Uncovering What Really Makes a Champion a Champion. It’s all about the awesome stuff champions do that makes them unique, that sets them apart, and that makes them worthy of winning, in any area of life. It's the awesome stuff each one of us can do to become champions for ourselves. Here is the champion’s Hidden Talent:
I've called this talent “hidden” because despite the important role each one of these abilities plays in the winning identity of a champion, it doesn't usually get noticed, recognized, or acknowledged like it should. We have a tendency to magnify the importance of what we see on the surface – what’s easy to make out or measure. In sports, we usually point to the champion athlete's physical ability. We're drawn to their strength or their speed or their athletic skill. It's easy to do because all those things are tangible – they're easy to see and to celebrate. You can measure someone’s bench press. You can put a number on their 40 time or their vertical. You can even statify their sport-specific skill, like their shooting numbers, their exit velocity, or their completion percentage.
Hidden Talent, on the other hand, is harder to measure. It’s tough to put a number on someone’s passion or their effort or their toughness. You can’t use a stopwatch or a tape measure to mark someone’s coachability or selflessness, or their courage or attitude. When someone possesses those qualities, you just know it. There’s something unique about them – something that runs deeper and sets them apart beyond just their physical ability. And even though it may not get the same kind of attention, I’d argue that what’s on the inside is actually more important to becoming your best – and more essential to winning – in any area of life.
That’s part of what makes Hidden Talent so powerful – it’s so versatile and so durable. It's essential to winning in any area of life. Recognizing and developing their Hidden Talent is important for an athlete working to become their best, but each one is just as important for anyone else – doing anything else – working to become their best. Stop for a minute and consider the most important responsibilities you have in life today – those places you’re most committed to winning. At work or at home, personally or professionally. If you really want to win, in an area that's big and meaningful, you'll have to do what champions do. Your Hidden Talent will be required.
Of course as an athlete, that surface-level talent is important, but its value in life diminishes pretty quickly once our playing days are done. If you're a former athlete, think about its place in your life today. Your spouse probably doesn’t care a whole lot about how much you can bench press. I’m guessing, though, that he or she cares quite a bit about how good a teammate you are or the way you handle adversity. I doubt your boss is all that interested in your 40 time or your vertical, but I bet he or she cares a lot about your effort and your attitude. The value of our physical talent fades when the lights go out and the game ends. But when we work to develop our Hidden Talent, we separate ourselves wherever we are, for life.
As parents and coaches, we are in the talent development business. We are responsible for cultivating in our kids what’s most important to their success, both here today as athletes and as people who are prepared to win in life beyond the game. Fulfilling that purpose requires us to prepare their body, but it also requires us to prepare their mind and their heart and their spirit, too. It requires us to teach, train, and equip them in those intangible areas that don’t always get the recognition or acknowledgement they should, but areas we know they can’t be their best without. We are in charge of helping them learn how to do what champions do. To love the game and give their best. To overcome adversity, to seek improvement, and to get coached. To be a teammate, to take risks, and to choose a positive attitude.
The challenge for us is that before we can ever help instill these winning behaviors in our kids, we have to recognize and develop them first in ourselves. If we don’t model for our kids what we want, hope, and expect from them, our teaching will never be as effective as it should or could be. That’s why I say “champions breed champions.” It means if we want our kids to become their best in any of the winning areas, then we’ve got to work to become our best, too. Of course our kids will be the ones who ultimately have to decide for themselves who they’ll be and what they’ll value, but it’s foolish to underestimate the power of our example.
I want to challenge and encourage you today to do what champions do. To love the game and give your best. To overcome adversity, to seek improvement, and to get coached. To be a teammate, to take risks, and to choose a positive attitude. When you do, you become someone worthy of winning in your most important areas. By recognizing and developing your Hidden Talent, you set yourself apart...and help the kids in your care do the same.