"I have no particular talent. I am merely extremely inquisitive."

--Albert Einstein

Do you find it hard to believe that Einstein had no particular talent - or at least he thought he didn't? I love this statement, as it is totally in alignment with my own experience of the power of being "extremely inquisitive."

I work with many clients who are so convinced that they aren't smart or talented enough to succeed that they get stuck not doing anything.

Take Garrett, for example. Garrett is a young man in his early 20's who was told by a guidance counselor in high school that he didn't have what it takes to go to college. Now, in my view, this is a terrible thing to tell a young person. Adolescents are so impressionable that this kind of statement becomes a waking suggestion.

When I started to work with Garrett, he was completely immobilized, living with his parents and afraid to even search for a job. Of course, it wasn't just the guidance counselor who influenced Garrett. His father was quite harsh on him, which caused him a lot of shame, and his mother had her own fears regarding her intelligence. Garrett had concluded that he was just not capable of taking care of himself and had decided to live out his life in the safety of his parents’ home.

Because his parents were not happy with his decision, they supported him in working with me.

Garrett worked hard on healing the false beliefs that were keeping him limited, particularly the belief that if he tried and failed, this would prove him stupid and inadequate. We worked on shifting his definition of his worth from outcome to effort.

Garrett finally had the courage to apply to college, even though he was convinced he would never get in. Fortunately, he was wrong!

In college, Garrett struggled with wanting to give up due to his fear of failure, but he stuck it out. Fortunately, his teachers started to recognize his creative mind and high sensitivity. Garrett is on his way to being able to use his inquisitive, creative mind to manifest his dreams.

I have seen this fact proved over and over: it doesn't matter how much talent you have - if you do not have an intent to learn and you make outcomes more important than effort, your talent will not lead you toward your highest good. Talent is far less important than devotion to your dream.

In order to be devoted to putting forth your full effort, you need to be willing to make mistakes.

Marketing expert Sean D’Souza of Psychotactics writes: "So, as soon as you run into difficulty and start to make mistakes, you have to learn how to correct the mistake. This forces your brain to concentrate." He states that, in order to retain information, your brain needs to make mistakes and then correct them.

"Listening or reading something is just listening or reading.

It's not real learning.

Real learning comes from making mistakes.

And mistakes come from implementation.

And that's how you retain 90% of everything you learn."

When we make an effort, we make mistakes, and when we make mistakes, we learn. But if your definition of worth is tied to not making mistakes, then you will stay stuck not implementing – that is, not making effort.

I want to encourage you to move into an intent to learn and make an effort toward whatever you are passionate about. Forget about talent and intelligence - these will be developed through your inquisitiveness and effort!