Make Room for Your Gifts

(Your Room is Not Waiting for You)

Recently, I’ve found myself pondering the concepts of intrinsic gifts—those natural abilities unique to each individual—and of making your own opportunities. I stumbled across two quotes which, at first glance, seemed to contradict one another. The first is from the Bible:

A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men. ~Proverbs 8:16

The second is a quote from C.J. Walker:

I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them. ~Madam C.J. Walker, first selfmade Black millionaire

At first, I was fascinated by what seemed to be two vastly different perspectives—one centered on celebrating natural gifts, the other focused on seizing opportunity.

Who is correct? Which philosophy are we to believe?

What if the answer is not one or the other? Perhaps the secret to

success—be it in the boardroom or in your personal life—lies in a blending of the two.

DISCOVER YOUR GIFTS

Some people know exactly where their gifts lie while others struggle, wondering if they have any gifts at all. The answer to that, my friend, is an unequivocal YES! But discovering your gifts may require a little soul searching. Ask yourself these questions:

• What brings me joy?

• Of those things that bring me joy, which can be used to help others?

• Have I received affirmation of my gift from trusted friends and those in leadership positions around me?

If you can answer these questions, you’ve likely identified your gift(s)1.

If the first quote is true—that our gifts make room or provide space for us—it suggests that our innate talents open the door and provide opportunity for us to reach our full potential in a variety of areas, including our career, family, and finances. This begs the question; how do we cultivate our gifts in a way that provokes opportunity?

1 Stephen Blandino article

MAKING ROOM

As the quote from Proverbs implies and Ms. Walker certainly confirms, identifying your gifts is not enough. You’re going to have to create opportunities, which requires a certain level of risk on your part...and I believe opportunities arise when we take that risk, investing our time (and sometimes our finances) toward honing and growing our talents.

In order to make room or create opportunity, you must use your gifts.... and not just occasionally. Exercising your innate talent requires regular practice and intentionality. It also requires a certain amount of risktaking, a willingness to take a leap of faith, however small or grand that may be.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITY

As Ms. Walker suggests, you cannot hone your gifts then sit idly by...waiting

for “great men” to reward you. You must be actively looking for moments of opportunity and be prepared to act upon them.

According to Bernard Marr, a global enterprise performance expert, one thing wildly successful people do particularly well is this—they identify and grab opportunities when they are presented2.

As it happens, C.J. Walker’s story provides a perfect example of seizing opportunity. Walker was making a dollar a day as a wash woman in 1887 when her husband suddenly died, leaving her sole provider for their young daughter. Walker saw a need in the market for hair care products formulated for African American hair, so she began selling Madam Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower and became the country’s first self-made Black millionaire3 .

Ms. Walker knew her gifts, saw an opportunity within her community, and grabbed it with both hands. In seeking to develop her innate gifts she first sought how she could help others, a true sign of a budding leader. So can you. After all, what is opportunity, if not a room you build for yourself?

The idea of creating your own opportunities is just as relevant today as it was for C.J. Walker back in 1887. And, given the wrench that 2020 and the pandemic threw into so many business models, we have many examples of individuals finding and seizing new opportunities, especially in unexpected ways.

Take, for example, the distilleries who, when the pandemic struck pivoted away from spirit production

2 Business Insider article 3 Women’s History article

and began making hand sanitizer. Or designers who had no clients ordering gowns for galas or events and decided to produce custom face masks in the interim4 .

Across the globe, people are using their gifts to actively pursue their dreams while offering products needed by others. The takeaway here is this—don’t sit back waiting for someone to make space or provide you with a formal offer for your talents. Keep your eyes open for ways to create your own opportunity. A little ingenuity and a dash of inspiration can make room where once there was none. With that, here are my top five (5) tips for opening the doors to your own opportunities:

TOP 5 LEADERSHIP TIPS FOR MAKING ROOM FOR YOUR GIFTS

1. Identify your gifts.

2. Ask trusted friends, colleagues, and supervisors for feedback regarding your gifts (we sometimes convince ourselves that a trait or interest is a gift when it is not). 3. Adopt a servant mentality – use your gifts to fill the needs of others.

4. Stay alert, keeping your eyes open for hidden opportunities.

5. When opportunity presents itself, take the lead and move on it.

And so...

Think of success—be it personal or professional—as a carousel. As it spins round, there are spaces between the rails, opportunities for you to jump on and enjoy the ride.

No one is going to force you to get on the carousel. The opportunities will open and close, come and go, available for a moment then the window closes.

At the end of the day, it is up to you to take control...and make the leap.

May you do so and thoroughly enjoy your ride.

4 World Economic Forum article Nikki Chaplin is the author of How to Consciously Design Your Ideal Life and a Personal Development Coach. NikkiChaplin.com