Do you know the famous speech „Acres of diamonds“ by Russel Conwell?
The central idea of the story is, that no one needs to look elsewhere for opportunities or chances—the resources and solutions to achieve the desired outcomes are present in one’s own environment. The story uses a fable about a man who longed to find diamonds so badly that he sold his property and went off in a fruitless search for those. However the new owner of his home discovered a rich diamond mine right on his former land (acres).
Conwell’s moral of the story is that in order to find your luck, you do not have to travel the world, but „dig in your own backyard!“.
This could very well be translated into „search within yourself.“
And once we did.
When we were children, we knew exactly what we enjoyed doing most. And because we put our focus on these activities in most cases we developed a special expertise in that field. It may be playing a certain computer game, practicing a dance or playing an instrument. If we keep doing these things without environment pressing us in a scheme (school, parents, friends) it’s a clear hint, where our interest and probably also natural skill set is. If we are lucky our environment just silently observes and supports our growth in that field. But many times we have been told that is a waste of time and we need to focus on other „important“ things in order to succeed in life.
Many of us give in to that kind of “chanting” by well-meaning individuals surrounding us at some stage. We think they are more experienced and know it better than we do. The price is losing slowly the connection to sensing what we really want and enjoy and developing a pattern of looking for what the market or society needs outside.
However – does society really need another „cloned 0815 worker„, who got cut off from his natural talents at an early – mostly subconscious- stage of his life. And can that person ever deliver at a level of a person, who is playing in “the zone” doing that exact job?
Fact is, if you work in a job which doesn’t suit your natural style and interest you will always come in second behind the person, who is playing in their sweet spot.
Personally, I often wondered why I did certain things in my career the way I did them. Sometimes even knowing better by the time.
For example in conservative working environments constantly looking for the change to the better, finding new creative solutions to an old problem. Where that kind of thinking is not well nourished.
Or trying to come up with brilliant new concepts in tests and exams, where only “public associations” are valued, not “private new associations” (not yet acknowledged by the public) to a topic.
For me just repeating old patterns and pumping information through “clogged pipes” was always a waste, monkey business and should not earn any reputation of intelligence.
But … that was my very private view, where supervisors in those environments only give credit for “proved concepts”.
Coming across Roger Hamilton’s Genius Test and Wealth Dynamic Profile Test finally gave me the answer I had been looking for so many years. Why I constantly looked for new ways, while following the old ways was much simpler and more rewarded, too.
I found out that I am the „creator“ kind of personality.
Creators are best when „their heads are in the clouds. At altitude, they can see the big picture“. Common knowledge and repeating know how patterns bores a creator.
That was my big Aha, my “Heureka” moment, finally understanding my against all odds actions in some situations earlier in my life.
Since I know I am creator, I can focus much more on my pure, unique talents, more deliberately choose my working environments. Where my „seeds for growth“ have a chance to making it over the winter.
Does that mean I constantly play in the creator’s mood?
No, being a lawyer has put much analytic style and steel energy in my being. But another benefit of being aware who I really am is that I let my Dynamo creative energy grow ideas without being instantly challenged by my inner censor of steel energy.
My analytic steel energy is now rather used to hold the structure and conceptualize the growth of my new ideas. If I had known my tendency based on my natural style before, I could have played it much more wise, depending on the situation and the needed outcome.
Hiding in the subconscious blind spot of my personality before, I took some wrong choices. I think it is crucial to know, who you really are and what talents reflect your natural style best. And who is the best addition to our talents, so we can finalize our projects. As kids we knew. And we should learn to remember.
Take the test here if you want to find your „acres of talents“ and remember your unique talents. You will be glad you did.
PS: You can find the „acres of diamonds“ speech of Russell Conwell as free downloadable pdf document on the internet.
