The challenges of being ignorant about your gift
Why do people seem to have an advantage over you?
The following are challenges that one might face as a result of being ignorant about their gift. I have seen these to be true in my own life (during my ignorant years) and you might resonate with them as well. They apply everywhere because ignorance about gifts and natural talents is a universal problem. It transcends race, culture, gender, etc.
You make a lot of mistakes
Not knowing your gift will produce unnecessary experimentation with your life.
If human beings do not know what to do, they experiment. It is completely natural for us to do this. Experimentation with “things” is good because it makes one get more knowledge on what to do and what not do for the thing to function or work. Areas that have benefited from experiments include technology and medicine.
Experimenting with your life is painfully agonizing.
The problem with experimentation with our lives is that there are consequences. These consequences delay us, make us spend a lot of money and leave us with a lot of questions that we cannot answer. Knowing your gift will reduce unnecessary experimentation with your life and this realization is what will discipline you and prevent you from making unnecessary mistakes because you know where you are going (due to purpose being revealed). You do not only know what to do, but you also know what not to do.
People seem have an advantage over you
Gifted people in an area you are trying to pursue will always have a gap over you which you will not close, no matter how hard you work!
Doing anything out of your purpose is the worst thing in my opinion. It causes people (who are gifted in a particular area that you doing) to have an “unfair” advantage over you even though you’ll are doing the same thing. You can be in a job for years and someone new can just come and replace you because they are gifted in that area, meaning that you were just a place holder all of this time. You will then most likely be replaced because companies and firms are all about making profits – they don’t care about how you feel. You can try to outwork them but you will never be at their level. In actual fact, gifted people do not work hard. We perceive them as working hard, while they see it as doing what they are destined to be doing. We see it as working hard while they see it as solving a problem, enjoyment, practicing and growing. I have never heard a person who was working on their gift say “I work hard”. They might occasionally face difficulty but working hard is not on the agenda.
You have consistent self-doubt
Is this really what I am supposed to be doing?
No one has to tell you that taking something that doesn’t belong to you (stealing) is wrong; conviction will inform you naturally. Similarly, when you busy grappling with things that are not in your area of gifting, you will always feel that something is missing. This will lead to constant self-doubt and in my view, this is supposed to happen naturally because our life is tied to a purpose, and if our purpose is not manifesting there will, from time to time, be that sense of emptiness of wanting to do more.
Doing anything outside of your gift will be a struggle. Something will always “trip you” or “get you”, and you will always be missing something that you cannot seem to put your finger on. This will lead you to think that you are not worthy and will add to the pile of you consistently doubt your abilities.
You’ll be a joke
Is this really what I am supposed to be doing?
If you carry on with being ignorant about areas of your natural talent and carry on being a place holder in areas where your talents are less visible, people will laugh at you. They are not laughing at you per say, they are laughing at your meaningless resistance to doing something that isn’t you. Mind you – there’s an area in your life which they cannot laugh at, an area which they cannot touch, an area which is so good that they cannot hold back but clap for you.
Have you ever heard someone speak on something that they know nothing about with earnest zeal? Most likely you will laugh at them and naturally think to yourself “is this person really this stupid?”
You don’t want to be in a situation where people are speaking behind your back saying “what is he doing here, clearly he struggling” or “she doesn’t know anything”. People will go as far as testing you just to make a joke out of you and prove that you are a punching bag because they are ahead or know more than you.
You’ll have envy for people who are doing well
The reality of “why am I not doing as well as I think I should” will always be lingering in your mind when you are not seeing the results.
Envy is a feeling of resentful “wanting” aroused by someone else's possessions or qualities.
The reality of “why am I not doing as well as I think I should” will always be lingering in your mind when you are not seeing the results. This is because you will not be as efficient as someone who is in their area of gifting. At times you’ll ask yourself why you are not doing as well as the next person. You will feel like you “lack” something which other people have – and quite frankly you will be right
Although envy is a trait that greatly depends on a person’s character, there is a big chance of it developing in you due to a lack of direction.