Talent Development; Need for Positive Environment
Good day! I’m Nicholas, in case you’re just reading this for the first time. I welcome you to a new week and I congratulate you because God is set to favor you this week. Always remember He has plans for you and me.
Today, I will be espousing more on the need for a positive environment for our talents to thrive well. We’ll be digging deeper on the need for a good environment for our talents.
If you’ll ask me how much environment matters, I will say very much. Considering where I spent my early days as a kid, I appreciate the power of environment. I had a good family upbringing, but the question is the people I met apart from my family weren’t the best so to say. I learnt abusive words as early as possible, I learnt some weird things as early as possible, I mingled with various kinds of people with various strange mentality. It affected me until I changed my environment, that happened when I left our community for medical school. However, note sometimes the environment we need to change isn’t our physical environment, some of us need to change ourselves and the community of our minds.
It’s impossible to grow without changing, but it’s possible to change without growing.
It’s impossible to grow without changing, but it’s possible to change without growing but there are some things you can’t change, as poor as the community I grew in was, I couldn’t change it. It’ll definitely appear in my autobiography, you’ll definitely see Ajegunle. That’s one of the things we can’t change. You cannot change where and when you’re born, you can’t change your parents, you can’t change your height or DNA; but even though you can’t change all these, you can change your attitude about them. You can do your best to live with them. Your parents may be illiterate, but you must learn to live with that. Your family may be poor, but you must learn to live with and aim for a better family. What I’ve learnt in life is, we can always contain everything that comes at us (we can choose how we want to respond to whatever life throws at us). They can’t expand, but you can expand; you can be bigger!
The first step in changing your environment now is by assessing it. Change for the sake of change is not going to help you . If you’re going to make changes, you’ve got to make the right ones. That’s why you must start by assessing your current environment and why you want to make a change. The first sign of an environment that needs a change is an environment where you’re always at the head of the class (mates). If the environment your talent is currently is that, you need a change I must say. If you don’t, you’re gonna use the whole of your talent as a mediocre, an average, the best of the worst and the worst of the best. I must say that you’ll enjoy it, but in the long run it won’t be best the best. You need an environment where you can be the smallest fish in the pond so you can learn.
The other day I talked about curiosity, but this can only work in an environment where there are people better than you. I’m not saying you can’t be the best where you’re, but I’m saying winning every time is a sign that others you’re moving with aren’t growing and before you know it you’ll be affected, it’s a bitter truth. In my early days, I was often hailed as the best poet by my classmates because there wasn’t anyone that could write poem like I could, but as I moved out of that shell, I saw that environment isn’t the best. I saw other great poets, people that have got something to learn from. To keep on improving, you must be in a growing environment and a growing environment isn’t one where you’re always at the top.
You need an environment where you can be the smallest fish in the pond so you can learn. Winning every time is a sign that others you’re moving with aren’t growing and before you know it you’ll be affected.
After assessing your state, you must learn that changing the environment doesn’t stop there, to maximize our changed environment we need to change ourselves too. It’s like a seedling changing an environment for a richer soil. As much as the seedling needs a better environment, we must be sure the seedling is good too or else the farmer will see his efforts become futile. We need to change our environment from within to the outside. It’s a key. If you change yourself without changing your environment, your talent will only be frustrated. If you change your environment without changing yourself, your talent will develop at a slower pace. If you do the two, your talent will develop at a faster pace.
What I’ve learnt early enough in my life is that I can’t soar with the Eagles if I’m still playing around with the chicken. It’s almost impossible. You must look for an environment where you’re always challenged, where you’re often out of your comfort zone, where you wake up excited and where people are willing to accept change.
I have written about this, but it’s expedient that I do again. You need to change those you spend your time with if they’re not the right ones. Note, I didn’t say if they’re not the good ones, I said the right ones. Some people are good, but they’re not right for you at the moment. So when I’m in a look out for relationship, I consider right before good. Your talent can’t reach the highest, if you want to develop it alone, but again it must be developed with the right set of people.
If you change yourself without changing your environment, your talent will only be frustrated. If you change your environment without changing yourself, your talent will develop at a slower pace.
So now you’ve changed your environment, what’s next? You must be proactive! You must take initiative and challenge yourself. Now you’ve room to fly any height possible, but you must be intentional to fly. Now you’ve got people to learn from, but you must be willing to learn from them. Now you’ve an environment where change is acceptable, but you must be willing to accept the change. If we drop two small fish in a pond, I’m sure both of them won’t grow at the same rate.
Changing yourself and your environment will attract criticism. Some will say you’re proud, rude or an ingrate; but you must move on despite that knowing fully well that you’ve got to make those changes for your good. When I started changing friends in my life, I received so much criticism, enough to have made me stopped, but no I moved on and today I’m thankful to God for the changes I was able to make. Their opinions about you doesn’t have to become your reality.
Changing yourself and your environment will attract criticism but their opinions about you doesn’t have to become your reality.
So this week, start by assessing your current environment and why you need a change, and after that make the change and challenge yourself in your new environment. It doesn’t mean you’re leaving your neighborhood, even though it could mean for some. It may be tough my dear friend, but this is your talent, your life we’re talking about; you’ve got to take the guts to get out of the ruts.
Thank you.
By Aderinto Nicholas
A young medical student with the passion of reaching lives with Hope.
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