Don't bury your talents. Follow your mission!

We all know the meaning of the word talent. But perhaps not everyone knows where it comes from. Talent was a coin in ancient time. The meaning of "ability" this word got thanks to this biblical parable.

One rich man went to a foreign country and gave 3 of his servants 5 talents, 2 talents and 1 talent, respectively according to their abilities. When he returned, the first servant earned 10 talents for the master, the second - 4 talents, and the third buried his talent in the ground and returned 1 talent to the master, saying that he was afraid of him. The master rewarded the first two and put them in charge of 10 and 4 cities, respectively, and expelled the third and gave his talent to the first (the most efficient).

I believe everyone has talents. Unfortunately, I came across horrifying statistics. 75% of employees don't like their job. They exchange their life for money... I also one one study showing the growing percentage of procrastination. Procrastinators are not lazy. They don't understand the value of what they do. Their mission is not aligned with their job responsibilities.

At Ask VC (website) I often talk to people who want to change their lives. Many of them want to work in Venture Capital. Typically people just run away from the routine at their current job hoping to find meaningful and interesting tasks in VC. I usually dissuade 80% of them to pursue this career track because they have the wrong idea about the profession and they will be disappointed later. We also find together an alternative track which is aligned with their values and mission. I want as many people as possible to find work aligned with their talents. I wish you to love your job and be successful!

I would like to end with the words of Steve Jobs from his famous speech to Stanford graduates: "Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Original article was published here.