Ep. 45 - Discover Your True Gift in 2025

In this episode, I invite you on a journey to discover your true gift and potential in 2025. Addressing common questions about identifying one's unique abilities, I emphasise that your true gift is not merely your passion, skill, or talent but an inherent equipping designed for a specific purpose. The discussion outlines the importance of finding where your passion meets proficiency, using this intersection to solve problems for others. By doing so, you can enhance your influence, impact, and income, ultimately fulfilling your purpose and achieving real success. I offer practical advice  on identifying your passion and proficiencies, developing them, and growing in confidence through action and problem-solving.

00:00 Introduction: Discovering Your True Gift
01:03 The Importance of Identifying Your Gift
01:38 Defining Success Beyond Wealth and Fame
04:44 Understanding What Your Gift is Not
06:46 What is Your Gift? A Simple Definition
09:18 Finding the Intersection of Passion and Proficiency
13:53 Developing and Using Your Gift to Solve Problems
17:17 Steps to Unlock Your Gift in 2025
18:18 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

Dr Uche Okere: 0:00

It's the start of 2025 and I'd like to invite you on a journey of discovery. A discovery of your true gift and everything that you're truly capable of. See, because this is one of the most common questions people ask me, either when they are about to come into my coaching program or as I work with them. How do I know what my gift is? How do I place my finger on what my gift is? There are so many people in the world asking that question. And you're probably one of those people. You have a desire in your heart to serve people, you want to help people, but you can't quite place your finger on exactly how you can help them. You know you may have a gift, but you don't know What exactly that gift is. It could also be that you know that you're capable of doing different things. You can teach, you can sing, you are hospitable. But you don't know which specific gift, which of these different things that you think are your gifts that you can hone in on and begin to use to help people so that you can increase your influence. You can increase your impact and also you can increase your income because that's what this is all about. It's about you maximizing your potential. It's about you becoming everything that you can be so that you can make the difference that you know that God has put you here to make. That's why it's important that you discover your gift. It's important that you know what your gift is, and that you have real clarity on what that gift is. Because your gift is your shortest path to success. If you want to experience real success, Then your gift is your shortest path to get to success. And by success, I'm not just talking about making money or being famous or getting to the C suit in your organization. I'm talking about, first of all, maximizing your potential. So becoming everything that you can be, getting to the end of your life and looking back and having no regrets, knowing that you did everything that you could have done. That's what success is for me. Secondly, being as productive as you can be. That is about impact. touching people's lives and making a difference in people's lives. Because that's how we find fulfillment. That's how we feel like our lives are worth something because we're contributing something. We're not just here to take from other people, but we're here to make significant, positive contributions in other people's lives. Success also. And perhaps this is the biggest one. Means to me, fulfilling your purpose. Because you have a purpose, I have a purpose. Every one of us has a purpose. Your purpose is very simply the reason you are here. The singular reason God created you and put you on planet Earth. That is the biggest definition and the biggest criteria that determines whether you are successful or not. You can do every other thing that you can do. You can pursue every other thing that you can pursue you can achieve every other thing that you can achieve But if you do not fulfill your purpose if you do not do that's one thing that God sent you to this world to do then you will not have succeeded. You will not be a success and your gift is your shortest path To success. Not only is it your shortest path to success, it's also your show advantage. Your gift is the thing that when you are using it, when you are playing in this sphere of your gift or this sphere of your genius, if you like, then there's no competition. Nobody can compete with you when it comes to your gift. People may compete with you in your skill, people may compete with you in your passion. People may be more passionate than you in some things, but when it comes to your gift, nobody can compete with you in your gifts because your gift is your USP. It's your unique selling point. It's the thing that sets you apart. It's the singular thing that distinguishes you from every other person. Your gift is your superpower. That's why it's important that you discover your gift, that you unlock your gift, that you know what your gift is. If you're gonna be a person who Achieves real success. If you're going to be a person who makes the impact that you know that God put you here to make and have the influence that God put you here to make and generate the income that you can generate so that you can have the freedom to pursue your purpose, then your gift is the surest way to do that. That's why it's important that you discover what your gift is and that you live your life based on what your gift is. So what is your gift? What is your gift? Perhaps before I share my simple way of placing your finger on your gift and really having confidence in what your gift is. Let me say three things that your gift is not. Number one, your gift is not your passion. Your gift is not your passion. It's related, but it's not your passion. You would agree with me that you're passionate about so many things. There's so many things that you love to do. So many things that you're passionate about, but not every one of those things is your gift. Your gift, is not your passion. I like to tell the example of my passion for football, my love for football. I love football. And growing up as a kid in Nigeria, I would take every opportunity to try to play football. I loved to play football, but I wasn't good. I wasn't any good at it. I wasn't skillful enough at all to make any significant progress in football. So no matter how passionate I was, I still am about football. It's not my gift. If I had tried to build anything meaningful out of football, I will not have gone very far in trying to do that. So your gift is not your passion. Your gift also is not your skill. Okay. Because if your gift is a thing that sets you apart, that is unique to you, then it cannot be a skill because everybody can develop a skill or most people can develop a skill. skills. Given the right environment, the right training, the right experience, the right exposure, people can develop certain skills. Driving is a skill. People can develop that skill. And if everybody can do it, then it really is not your gift because your gift is something that sets you apart. What about talent? The thing that you're born with. That's not also your gift, because there are people who are multi talented. They can do different things, But not every single one of those talents are their gift. And you will find that there are many people who are as talented, or perhaps even more talented, than you are. So, it's not just about being talented. Your gift is much, much more. What's your talent is your gift is not your passion. Gift is not your skill. Your gift is not your talent. So what is your gift? What is your gift? This is my very simple, straightforward definition of what your gift is. Your gift is your inherent equipping that provides you The Unique Requirements and Abilities to Fulfill Your Specific Purpose. There are a few parts to that definition and I'll try and break them down. First of all, it's an inherent equipping. It's something that comes with you. It's inherent to you. It's specific to you. It's just you. Your gift is specific and unique to you. Nobody shares that same gift. It's like your fingerprint. It's, it's specific to you. Nobody has your gift in exactly the same measure as you have it. Absolutely nobody. Because it's a combination of your experiences. It's a combination of who you are. It's a combination of your knowledge, your skills, your passions. It's a combination of all of this. So nobody has these combinations in exactly the same measure as you have it. So it's inherent to you. It's specific to you and it's an equipping. It's something that you were given for a purpose. You were given your gift for a reason. You were given your gift so that you will fulfill your purpose. So when God made you, He had a purpose in mind for you and he designed you for your purpose. He designed you for your purpose. So just as an aside, if you are trying to find out what your purpose is, one way to do that is to ask yourself, what have I been designed? What are the passions in my heart? What am I able to do? So your gift is an equipping. And the purpose of that equipping is that you would answer the question of your why. So that you will do the thing that you were sent here to do. Your gift comes in the form of potential. It's not fully, Developed. It's not fully developed. It comes as a seed, but that seed contains immense, tremendous potential. But you have to discover it and you have to develop it before it begins to be the blessing that it can be to other people. So your gift is your inherent equipping that provides you the unique requirements and abilities to fulfill your potential. Your specific purpose, that purpose that is specific to you and is unique to you. Your gift is the reason you can fulfill that purpose. So how do I then know what my gift is? How do I know what my gift is? Very simply, a gift is where your passion and your proficiency meets. Where your passion and your proficiency meets. What do I mean by that? Because your passion is not enough. I just told you. My example of loving football, being passionate about football, but I cannot play football. I couldn't use football to change people's lives because I'm not. That's skilled in, in playing football. but there are things that I am passionate about and I am proficient in. I'm passionate about those things. I love them and I can do those things or those things can work together with my passions and help me to make a difference in people's lives. I believe my gift is to help people become everything they can be. Everything that God made them to be to help people fulfill their purpose. And even before I had a real understanding of, of what this was and how this works or what purpose is and all of that, somehow in my heart, I'm thinking back as a teenager, there was something in my heart about people, about myself. It's not only myself, first of all, not being everything I could be. There was a burden, there was a hunger, there was a desire in my heart to reach the height of my potential, to become everything that I could be. Not to compete with other people. No, no, no, that's not the point. But to reach the height of my own potential, to be everything. That I can be. That's my passion and it's been consistent in my life. I was looking back on my Facebook, um, Profile, I think was sometime this week anyway, and I saw some posts I made some years ago and it really caught my attention that even before I stepped out and began to propagate this message of purpose and fulfillment and gift, that I was It's always been there within me and I'd been, I'd been talking about it. I saw a prayer I prayed on Facebook, um, I think it was now six years ago. And I prayed for people that my, my prayer for you, it was the start of the year like this. You know how Facebook sends you reminders of, of your memories, I think it's called. Your memories from six years ago Facebook sent me. And it was a prayer that you will fulfill your purpose in this year. Whatever year it was, it was 2019 or something like that. So that's just the consistency of passion. And if you look in your life as well, you will find things that have been consistent in you. Now, how that passion has expressed itself in me or through me has been different through the years. There was a time when it was just through one on one dealing with people, one on one challenging people and just through friendships and people I know, people who come into my life. And then it graduated into me. Through my ministry as a pastor, helping people in my church to passing this message to them and saying to them, come on guys, let's become everything that we can be. And then today, as a coach and through my coaching business, helping people turn their gift into the thing that they earn money from so that they don't Go around chasing money and as a result are unable to pursue their purpose. So purpose has been consistent. Purpose is consistent and if you look in your heart, you would find that there is a passion in your heart. That is an indication of your purpose. That's an indication of your gift. But there are also things that you're capable of doing. There are things that you're proficient in doing. In my case, I've received training And teaching and discipline. As a teacher, I've received the skills to teach and to transfer knowledge. I have a lot of experience in instructional design and delivering talks and teaching. So when you put those two together, my ability to teach and my passion for purpose, it just comes naturally to me to teach people how to fulfill their purpose. And I believe that's what my gift is, but did you know that even before I got to the point where I, I received formal training in teaching and instructional design, it came naturally to me. People were calling me pastor as a child in church before I preached my very first message before, before I did any teaching. People were advising me to go and study education when I was going again to university in Nigeria. An uncle of mine looked at me one day and said, Uche, just go and study. Go and become a teacher. That was what he said to me. And I didn't like that at all because I wanted to study medicine. I wanted to be a medical doctor. You may also find that there are proficiencies in you that you received in seed form as potential, but that you would need to develop through training, through experience and through practice. That's where your gift is. Where does your passion and your proficiency meet? When you find out where that connection happens, then you begin to use it to solve a specific problem for people. So you ask yourself, what problem can this thing solve? That's how you get clarity in what your gift is because your gift is like a seed and when a seed is planted, it doesn't serve itself It bears fruits for the benefit of other people. Your gift is not there to serve you Yes, you will get rewarded when you solve problems for people But the primary purpose of your gift is to solve the problems Problems for people. So if you want to know what your gift is, if you really want to be confident and clear in what your gift is, you have to step out and begin to try to solve a problem for people. You may find that it's a bit of a trial and error thing so that The first thing you try may not be the problem that you can solve, or may not be the problem that you should solve. And that shouldn't really discourage you. As long as you are following your passion and following your proficiency, you will get to that point where you're able to nail down with certainty and clarity that this is the problem that you solve. It's important that you're passionate. About this thing, because nothing good comes easy. Nothing good comes easy. It's just the nature of life that we grow incrementally. We don't grow exponentially. So you wouldn't expect that the very first day you try to solve problems for people with your gift, that you would solve those problems excellently and get 100 percent results. There will be challenges, there will be difficulties. Difficulties with yourself, difficulties with people. Difficulties with systems, just difficulties that you don't even expect or that you did not think about. What will keep you going is your passion for the subject, your passion for the people, your passion for the problem that god has sent you to solve. That's why passion is important. Passion is important so that you can keep going for consistency. But proficiency is also important for results. The only way you can get results for people is if you're able, if you're proficient in that thing. And this is why it's important that you sharpen your gift. You grow in your gift. It may be your gift, but you still need to develop it. You need to grow in that area of your gift. And that's how we gain confidence in our gift. When we begin to solve problems for people with our gift, we will grow in confidence. Confidence is a feeling. Confidence comes when it's based on something. When you know that you can do this thing, when you know that this thing works, then you are confident. You're able to speak with some level of integrity and authority and confidence that what I'm saying to you works. What I'm about to offer you works. And that's where confidence comes from. So in 2025, if you want to unlock your gifts, if you want to begin to walk in the reality of what your gift is, this is what you need to do. Identify the things you're passionate about. Identify your proficiencies. Ask yourself, where do my proficiencies and my passions come together? Use it to begin to solve Problems for people. Don't sit down till you have certainty and clarity. Certainty and clarity does not come with Inaction or inactivity. You've got to do something. You've got to do something because that's a process of eliminating some options. As you take action, you would eliminate some options and you will get to the point where you know, this is my gift. And as you use it and solve problems for people, you will grow in confidence. You will grow in your integrity and your authority, and you will be able to use that gift even more for your benefit and your own. Impact will grow, your influence will grow, and your income will grow as well. So thank you very much for listening. I hope this makes a difference for you in 2025. God bless you. Bye bye.