Recently, I have been reading a fantastic book called Little Voice Mastery by Blair Singer. One of many ideas I was impressed with was his discussion of finding and fulfilling your destiny.
If you are like me, you were probably told when you were growing up that “you can be whoever you really want to be.”
Let me share something with you.
It’s a BIG FAT LIE.
You can’t be whoever you want to be; however, you can be whoever you are supposed to be.
What’s the difference?
Singer brings up a really good example in his book by discussing Shaquille O’Neal. You may have heard of him. He recently retired from professional basketball after playing 19 seasons in the NBA. He is also one of the biggest guys to play the game, standing 7’ 1” and weighing 325 pounds.
Let’s say he really wanted to be a race horse jockey instead of a basketball player. That would be completely ridiculous as race horse jockeys can weigh no more than 110-120 pounds. He can’t physically do it. Telling him he could be a race horse jockey would set him up for failure.
However, it’s very clear that he was built to play basketball, and he was extremely good at it for a long time.
When someone tells us we can be anything we want to be, that person probably has the best intentions in mind. But I firmly believe that we are all put here to fulfill a purpose. We have all been uniquely gifted.
Some of us figure that out very early in life. Tiger Woods knew at a young age that he would be a professional golfer and he dedicated his life to becoming one of the best golfers ever.
Others don’t figure it out until much later. Colonel Sanders opened his first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet when he was 62, and had spent years working on his “original recipe” for fried chicken for several years prior to that.
Sadly, many people never figure out what music they are playing in life.
Once you discover what you are really good at, you have an obligation to share that gift with the world. Discovering your gift and not sharing it would be like discovering a cure for cancer and never telling anyone about it. How incredibly selfish is that?
The truth is: You can’t be whoever you want to be, but you can be whoever you are supposed to be.
If who you are supposed to be is who you want to be—then you have something!
Brian K Wright is the host of Success Profiles Radio airing each Monday at 6pm Eastern on the Rockstar Radio Network. The show is consistently ranked on the “What’s Hot on iTunes Top 120 List” in Careers and Self Help. To learn more about the show, or to listen to podcasts of previous episodes, go to www.successprofilesradio.com
