When someone tells me, "I don't think I have
any special talents," and I say I don't believe that. I believe you are born with greatness, I believe that you have a
unique talent within you, I believe every one of
us is born with a reason, that you could bring
something unique to the world that no one else could do, you just have to find it,
you have to nurture it, you have to grow it. Sometimes I see my fans
posting in the comment and they say, "Dan, I
want to be just like you," and I always tell them,
"Don't try to be like me, "I never want you to be like me, "I want you to be the
best version of you." If I try to be Tony Robbins,
if I try to be Brian Tracy, I would fail 100% of the time, but I could do a pretty damn good Dan Lok. So here are seven questions
that you could think about to identify and find your unique talent. One, how did you like to
spend your time as a child? So think back when you were growing up, what did you like to do, right? You liked to run around, what
sports do you like to play? What activities do you like to engage in? There's a reason why
you naturally gravitate towards certain activities,
and certain task, and certain fun things, think about that. Number two, what are you
passionate about as an adult? I remember when I first
learned public speaking when I joined Toastmasters, at first I was just learning it because I wanted to reduce my accent, I wanted to improve my
English, my speaking skill, and develop a little bit of confidence. That was it, but as I learned
more, as I observed more, as I watched other speakers,
I developed a passion for it, that I found out, you know what? I could share my story,
I could share my message, and that would bring me
a lot of good emotions, a lot of good feelings, and I developed a
passion for it over time, being able to speak, being able to train, being able to speak to
large groups of people, so that's how I discovered my passion. Number three, what do people
compliment you on the most? You see, sometimes we
are good at something, we don't think about it, and in Toastmasters, one
of the things that you get is feedback from your club members. And I remember that people
would give me feedback on those forms and I would read them, and they would say that, "Hey, Dan, you are a natural speaker." I'm like, "Natural? "There's nothing natural
about what I do at all, "it's just hard work," right? And when I get enough compliments, when I get enough validations in some way, I recognize, "Hm, you know what? "Maybe there is something special here "that I could further develop," and that's how I got the idea. And number four, what are
you naturally good at? What are you naturally good at? Because sometimes we are good at something and that becomes unconscious competence that we believe and we think
everybody is good at that. It's so easy for you, it
must be easy for everybody, well, that's simply not true. There's a reason why you're
naturally good at it, maybe it's your DNA, maybe it's the way you think about things, maybe the way you problem solve, you see things differently
from most people. There could be your talent. Question number five, what do you find easy
that is hard for others? Ties into question number four, so take some time to think about it. What do you find that
is very easy for you, but very hard for others? Question number six, what activities make
you lose track of time? And no, it cannot be
binge watching on Netflix or playing video games, that's
not what I'm talking about. It has to be an activity that adds value to other people's lives, it has to be an activity
that helps other people, it has to be an activity that solves problems for other people because that's where your talent lies. And the last question and the most important
question of all, I believe, is who do you want to help? Who do you want to help? Who do you want to impact? If you've got nothing
that you love as a child, and there's nothing that
you feel passionate about as an adult, and no one compliments you on anything, and there's no activity that you engage in that makes you lose track of time, well, then we've got a problem. What it means is you have been
conditioned to be average, you have been conditioned for mediocrity, you have been conditioned
in such an environment that greatness is not
cherished, it's not celebrated, and if that's the case, what do you do? I know that will be a question that a lot of my fans will ask. I want to give you one simple
action that you could take and that is to learn martial art. Through martial art, I
learned about myself. As Bruce Lee said, "All knowledge ultimately
is self-knowledge." Through that you learn discipline, through martial art, you learn focus. It doesn't matter what martial art, I would suggest an Asian martial art because they teach you the philosophy as well as the fighting aspect of it, it teaches you about yourself. It is a very, very powerful
self-discovery process beyond than just a form of exercise, and that's what I've learned
and that's what has helped me, and no one can help you if
you don't help yourself. Live a life of abundance and adventure or a life of maintenance, your choice.
