It’s more than likely that you’ve watched Susan Boyle belt out ‘I Dreamed a Dream‘ on Britain’s Got Talent.  Last time I looked that particular film had nearly 35 million views (equivalent to the entire population of Canada) and it’s estimated that Internet-wide the viewing figure is somewhere near 100 million.

I normally don’t watch those shows (honest) but I did happen to catch it on telly, and I’ve watched it on YouTube another 4 times.

There’s something incredibly attractive and affirming about it isn’t there?

Susan kept her amazing voice to herself for 47 years, and somehow decided that now was a good time to let the world see it.  Nobody could argue that she went out onto that stage and was herself, and that made her performance all the more special.

It’s possible that she didn’t have the confidence to do this before now.  It’s possible that she sat on her talent for 47 years simply because she thought she wasn’t good enough, couldn’t do it or that people would laugh.

It’s possible that she was only able to do this now because she’d reached a point in her life where she felt confident enough in herself to share her talent.

I don’t know the lady, so I can’t say.

But she’s made me think differently about something, and I’m not sure I’ve got it cracked yet.

I define a talent as a naturally occurring pattern of thought and behaviour that you can do without thinking.  It just comes to you, like a switch has been flicked to the on position, and it feels great.

Normally I’d say that it’s terrible to hide a talent out of fear of screwing up or a lack of confidence in it.  Hiding a talent is depriving your life and the world of one of the very best parts of yourself and is a sure-fire way to live a regretful life.

As the famous quote goes, “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”

I honestly believe that everyone – you included – has a wealth of talents, and finding confidence in them is a truly amazing thing, as Susan Boyle amply demonstrated.

But what’s making me think is this – there’s no rush.  Finding success isn’t a race, you don’t have to sprint to the finishing line.

Susan found confidence to display her talent to the world at age 47, and perhaps it couldn’t have happened sooner.  Perhaps everything in her life led to this point, everything she’s done, everything she’s learned and everything she’s become.

Perhaps everything is perfectly in place now for her to do this, whereas 1, 5, 10, 20 or 30 years ago the component parts just didn’t exist or things just weren’t aligned in the right way.

I’d normally say that you should get to know your talents and use them.  I’d still say that you should get to know what they are, but I’m wondering if I’m wrong in saying that you should use them today.

I’m wondering whether it’s enough to trust that the talent is there, even if you have to wait 47 years for it to come to fruition.

Does it take away from her that she waited 47 years to do this?

No.

Susan will have no regrets about her voice and her talent, because it’s out there and she’s living it.

What do you think?