Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Develop multiple talents through practice
• Method 2 of 3: Stay focused on improving your talents
• Method 3 of 3: Increase your overall ability to acquire talent

It is a bold venture to increase your talents and skills in multiple disciplines. Yet it is easy to achieve. In fact, getting talented in multiple areas is much easier than you might expect. Practicing the skills you want to improve, having a positive attitude, and broadening your interest and knowledge can help you become talented in all kinds of ways.

To step

Method 1 of 3: Develop multiple talents through practice

1. Practice. Whatever it is that you try to be talented at, you know you have to practice. This is especially true if you hope to be talented in multiple areas. Fortunately, you may not need to practice as much as you think, and you can probably make the time to practice multiple skills every day. To make the most of the time you put in, you need to focus on what you hope to learn.
   • Practice two different skills every day for a month - 40-45 minutes per skill.
   • Don't worry if you occasionally miss a day to practice one of your talents. Practicing each skill almost every day for a month will give you about 20 hours of focused practice on improving each of the talents you hope to develop!
2. Deconstruct the talents you hope to acquire. In order to practice purposefully and efficiently, you need to make sure that you are absolutely focused while exercising. One way to help maximize the efficiency of your practice time is to break down the talents you hope to improve into specific skills.
   • Ask yourself, "What specifically do you need to be good at to improve at the skills you develop?"
   • Choose specific goals to achieve every time you practice something. Repeat a small task or process many times until you get the hang of it. For example, if you're trying to get better at a sport, choose an extremely basic aspect of that sport and focus on just that specific aspect of it for 45 minutes straight.
     • For example, if you're hoping to become a better soccer player, dribble one foot back and forth across the field.
     • If you're hoping to improve your talent as a basketball player, only do lay-ups.
   • Dividing your efforts to improve one talent will help you improve other talents as well. Following the sports example, doing something physically active will improve your fitness and coordination, both of which will increase your physical abilities in general.
3. Practice until you can correct yourself. Practice enough so that you are able to spot and correct mistakes in your performance of a particular skill. (Once you have completed a disciplined exercise routine, in which you practice almost daily for a month, you will likely have reached this point).
   • As you progress, your practice will become more efficient. This is because you have built a solid foundation of knowledge from which your talent will grow in a more natural way.
   • For example, if you're hoping to play your instrument better, practice the same single notes or chords so often that you automatically know exactly what you've done wrong if it sounds even slightly off.
4. Be consistent and persistent. Loving and practicing are different things. Jogging or painting twice a week is fun and healthy to do, but to acquire talent you need to be more disciplined in your pursuit of improvement. One thing that can help you to be persistent is to choose two very different talents to practice and improve over the same period of time.
   • Get used to exercising around the same time every day.
   • Try to practice skills related to two talents you hope to improve one after the other. Get into the habit of practicing one talent and then immediately practice the other talent.
   • For example, when you come home from your daily run, immediately resume your painting. Grouping your practice sessions will encourage you to do both consistently.
   • Work on two very different talents to increase variety in your daily activities. Following the example used in this step, do something active, such as running combined with something creative and contemplative, such as painting.
5. Avoid distractions while practicing. Do not rely entirely on your willpower to concentrate enough while practicing. Here are a few tips to make sure your practice time is free from interruptions:
   • Reserve a block of time devoted solely to practice and fully commit to that time span. Set an alarm if you want.
   • Put your phone on silent mode.
   • Make sure there are no screens on in your area (unless you use them for practice).
   • If you play music, choose something without lyrics.

Method 2 of 3: Stay focused on improving your talents

1. Counteract negative thoughts. To sustain talent in multiple areas, train yourself to avoid negative thoughts that can diminish your ability to work toward achieving the multiple goals you have set for yourself. There are several ways to rid your mind of negative thoughts:
   • Overcome fear. Be brave. However, do ask yourself what is holding you back. The most common barriers to talent acquisition are based on your emotions. Recognize this and prevent emotional ways of seeing, such as fear, from holding you back from acquiring the talents you want to acquire.
   • Filter out the negative. We tend to filter out the positive and get too concerned with the negative, especially in terms of our perspective on our own abilities. Don't fall for this mental trap. Think about your room for improvement in this way only insofar as it motivates you to keep improving yourself.
   • Recognize the middle ground. Forget perfection. Don't think you have to be perfect at something to consider yourself talented.
2. Strengthen your position with positive thinking. Optimism in itself won't make you good at anything, but it can help you. Recognize that it is objectively within your power to decide how you feel about something, especially the goals you set and your ability to achieve them.
   • Respond to negative thoughts that arise by rephrasing them into equally true but more positive perspectives. For instance:
     • Instead of thinking, "I've never done this before and it seems difficult," you think, "Here's an opportunity to learn, and there are a few different ways to approach this."
     • Instead of thinking, 'I'm too lazy' or 'I'm never going to be able to do this,' say to yourself, 'I haven't put in enough time, but at least I can try and see how it goes. '
     • Finally, don't be discouraged by thoughts of how slowly your talents are developing. Tell yourself it's worth giving it another try.
3. Practice thinking too. Even convincing yourself to think positively takes practice. However, it will pay off. Become less critical of the world around you and yourself just by repeating positive feelings and pushing negative thoughts away.
   • A positive mindset will not only improve your mood but also motivate you to continue with the hard work required to acquire new talents.

Method 3 of 3: Increase your overall ability to acquire talent

1. Track your progress. Know that focused practice will not always be fun. However, realizing the development of your talents is. Note and appreciate your achievements - such as a new personal record time or a particularly captivating painting.
   • If there are tangible indications of your progress (perhaps especially with paintings), place them in locations where you will often see them to motivate yourself to keep practicing and improving your talents!
2. Take a rest. Have your mind and body ready to exercise with focus and energy. More precisely: equip strategically. If the talent you are trying to improve requires intense physical activity or mental focus, you need to keep your mind and body fit enough to practice effectively.
   • This may actually require you to take one day off per week. This is important to do if it improves your ability to exercise effectively for the rest of the week.
3. Accept that innate skill is less important than practice and persistence. Even the skills some people seem to be born with come more from training than innate talent. This applies to athletes, musicians and mathematicians!
   • Now you need the "grit factor". Psychologists talk about the "grit factor" when it comes to a trait that successful people have. This indicates both the degree of persistence and passion in pursuing long-term goals.
   • Overcoming adversity in developing your skills also positively contributes to improving your talents in general. When faced with challenges that others may not face, tell yourself that overcoming them will take you one step further than the rest.
4. Develop talents that interest you. Even scientists are not sure how talent can be developed. The question of how we get good at things is still largely unanswered. We do know that people who are exposed to things they are naturally attracted to, and then become immersed in those things, eventually get good at them. With training and practice, people who already find something very interesting become particularly good at it. Accept the significance of these findings and act accordingly:
   • Observe and play without inhibitions. Inspiration and curiosity will inevitably hit you and you will eventually develop talents that you are interested in enough to keep you busy.
   • Ignore the technical aspects of the talent you hope to acquire. You can bring in the technical aspects of perfecting your skills once you are engaged.
   • Don't try to judge the source of your interests.
   • Avoiding these tendencies will allow you more creative and emotional aspirations to commit to something.
5. Read. Reading is a great time to start learning about how to become more talented in multiple ways. One of the main benefits here is piquing your curiosity and motivating yourself to pursue new ways to expand your talents, or to pursue completely new talents.
   • Becoming interested in something you've read is seen as an indication that the material may be a particularly good fit for you. If you get interested in something new, throw yourself on it.
   • There are also literal benefits to reading: You learn more about language and writing, about which era of history is relevant to the book, and of course about the content of the book. You are immediately more informed about all kinds of things, just by browsing and reading a book or magazine!
   • Of course, nothing can be compared with practical experience. Whatever you read about what appeals to you, practice it yourself and develop a new talent!