It is my belief that talent is one of the most overrated attributes when evaluating what is required to be successful. Although talent is very important when it comes to performing, it often times has little to do with how success is achieved and who becomes successful. The world is filled with talented people, yet why is it that so few people live and achieve their dreams?

What does it truly mean to have heart? Heart is the intangible; the invisible ingredient that is difficult to explain and measure to the average person. Heart is the magic, the juice, the stuff, fifth gear, the overdrive that great achievers in life tap into when challenges and obstacles appear. Heart is making a conscious choice to live an exceptional life rather than an average one. Average people (about 97% of society) let events shape their lives, while exceptional people are able to change their perceptions of challenging events and overcome them.

Heart has little to do with size, weight, color, creed, education, intelligence, I.Q., bloodline, where you grew up, or most of all, talent. Virtually everyone has raw, untapped talent. The problem is that most people never get out of their talent. Instead, they hide behind it, too afraid to take risks, to be vulnerable, and most of all, to risk not being perfect. Fear and procrastination (unwarranted perfection) becomes the opponent. Taking the risks to get out of your talent is where having heart begins.

Learning to live in the moment, the present is also where heart begins. This means making your move before you are ready, challenging yourself and the beliefs that limit you, standing tall in the face of adversity, and taking on life’s challenges without having to prove that you are good enough. Having heart means you possess a quality called courage, which there is always a market for and never goes out of fashion. Exceptional people tap into their courage when faced with adversity and step immediately into the solution, even when the solution takes them into unfamiliar territory. Average people typically choose to remain in the problem simply because it is familiar and they fear being vulnerable when facing the possibility of not performing perfectly in the solution.

When stepping out of what is perceived to be comfortable, it is often uncomfortable in the beginning. These early tests are where you really get to learn and grow from adversity and to gain insights and wisdom to the causes and effects that stop “want to be success seekers”. When we are being tested is typically when we are about to learn our greatest lesson.

Heart can be looked at medically through microscopes and surgery, but cannot be measured by typical eyesight. Heart is about feelings and emotions rather than thinking and contemplating. This means being outside of yourself, your head, your ego, and being inside your heart and loving the process, the evolution of change. Having heart means being able to take any ball in life and saying, “Follow me! I don’t know how we are going to get there, but we are. Just give me the ball.” Heart is what separates the average from the exceptional.

Heart is what separates the average from the exceptional and I have learned in life that heart beats talent every time. Show me a man or woman with heart and I’ll show you a way to overcome someone else’s talent. We all have talent, talent on loan from God, more talent than humanly possible. That guy or that woman has so much talent it’s unbelievable. Look how much talent he or she has. They are loaded with talent.

These are all statements that refer to how much potential a man or a woman may have. We all have this; it’s God-given. Unfortunately, not many people really get outside their talent, instead they hide behind it and they stay in it. They stay in their ego; afraid to reach their human potential; afraid to risk and be vulnerable; afraid to become the person they really deserve to be.

Now, "deserve" is a very interesting word and it is a word that keeps many people from becoming who they really could be. What the word deserve references in Latin is "de servire" which means day of service. When you have self-esteem issues or don’t feel good enough, you send a telepathic mixed message in a business situation or in life that says things such as, ?"Please join me, but don’t follow me because I can’t lead you." Or “Please reject me, because I’m not lovable." Or "Don’t go out on a date with me because I wouldn’t want to be on a date with me either." Or "Please send me money, but don’t send me money because I’m not comfortable with it. I have an emotional resistance and I want to keep it away because I don’t deserve it. I was born on the wrong side of the tracks."

This is how many people stay in their talent, afraid to take a risk. Any kind of success is going to involve risks and average people resist taking risks because they believe that they have to stay comfortable. The average person's comfort zone is really a miserable zone and you have to get uncomfortable, you have to get out of the box, you have to be moving into the present to become the person you deserve to be. This is where you’re going to have to take some risks. This doesn’t mean you jump off the Brooklyn Bridge on a dare, but start to take a bigger calculated risk than you’ve typically been comfortable with. This is when you really begin to stretch and grow and become the person that you really are. Risk is really a perception. And sometimes the biggest risk is not taking one.

Changing isn’t nearly as difficult as you perceive. You already are a brilliant person, you’re a masterpiece in progress, and you have the ability to design your life rather than make a living. The people who stay in their talent stay in their safety zone. They’re not excelling; they’re being stuck, procrastinating, using money as an excuse, and using perfection as an excuse. When your excuse becomes believable to you and you become the excuse, constant reminders of how talented you are don't help much.

Stepping Outside Your Talent

Now, let’s take a look at what it’s like to get out of your talent and some of the feelings that we have when we truly take this step. Being outside of your talent is the hands-free zone; it’s a state of flow; it’s a relaxed state of consciousness; it’s playing like a child.

People ask me all the time, "How do I get into flow?" A better question is, "Why do you ever get out of it once you’re in it?" I ask people to smile and laugh. When you see anyone who is laughing, they are in a state of flow. They don’t have to try to be in flow.

The average person spends too much time trying to achieve, rather than just being. If you’re being, you’re in the moment, you’re in the now and that’s where you can really tap into your heart consciousness. This is the highest level of consciousness where you really attract the people, situations and opportunities that you are seeking. When you are outside of your talent, you are who you really are. You’re riding a bicycle with no hands. Success becomes you and it comes to you rather than you chasing it.

Being out of your talent is when you are present; then you unleash your full potential. You begin to transmit, telepathically, your thought waves through the universe from a position of peace. It means you love who you are so you can love what you’re becoming and doing. What you do becomes a game rather than a job. You develop touch, finesse, you glide, people want to touch you, be with you, become you, you become what is called a people magnet. You vibrate from a level that says, "I’m very comfortable with who I am and who I’m becoming." You vibrate from a position that says, "I am the leader you are looking for."

Jeffery Combs is an internationally recognized speaker, trainer, and author whose training revolves around personal growth and development, cuts to the chase, and delivers information that makes an immediate impact on your success! He can be contacted online at http://www.GoldenMastermind.com or toll free 800-595-6632.

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Jeffery & Erica Combs host The More Heart Than Mindset Conference each and every January to assist you to create quantum leaps to success in your enterprise by bringing world-class speakers and personal development experts together in an inspiring and empowering 3 day forum EVERYONE can afford to attend!

Feb. 2, 2010

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