What Are Your/Your Child’s Talents

Take a “Talent” Inventory

What are your child’s talents?

What are yours?

How do you know? Who said?

Report cards?

Forget it. Report cards don’t tell talent.

They tell discipline, good teacher, non-distraction, maybe more focused ability to be disciplined and follow through but they don’t measure talent.

There’s a nonprofit foundation in the United States, a couple of them and for 25 years I’ve been sending children from the age about middle school.

And the reason I say middle school is by the time your children reach middle school, they’re beginning to make elective decisions on what to take and what to study, what language, what they’re really interested in.

And as you’re watching them grow up, you’re watching the talents begin to emerge.

And if you’re not careful, they’ll follow their peer group.

They’ll follow their counselor who they spend less than two hours with and they’ll go to a college where they are going to study something that somebody else recommended because it’s what the other kids are doing.

They got locked into an initial job for the money and they get stuck in that job because they get married, they start having children and they’ll be there in that position not doing something that they’re really good at that they love and it’s really important.

The two nonprofit foundations that you really ought to investigate are the Johnson O’Connor Foundation in New York with about 17 offices throughout the United States and The Ball Foundation in Chicago.

And they give the only natural gifts test that is given hands on to tell you what you were born with, what you were given as a talent at conception.

About Dr. Denis Waitley

Denis Waitley is one of America’s most respected authors, keynote lecturers and productivity consultants on high performance human achievement.

He has inspired, informed, challenged and entertained audiences for over 25 years from the board rooms of multi-national corporations to the locker rooms of world-class athletes and in the meeting rooms of thousands of conventioneers throughout the world. Recently, he was voted business speaker of the year by the Sales and Marketing Executives’ Association and by Toastmasters’ International and inducted into the International Speakers’ Hall of Fame.

With over 10 million audio programs sold in 14 languages, Denis Waitley is one of the most listened-to voices on personal and career success. He is the author of 16 non-fiction books, including several international best sellers, “Seeds of Greatness,” “Being the Best,” “The Winner’s Edge,” “The Joy of Working,” and “Empires of the Mind.”

His audio album, “The Psychology of Winning” is the all-time best selling program on self-mastery.

Denis Waitley has studied and counseled winners in every field from Apollo astronauts to Superbowl champions, from sales achievers to government leaders and youth groups. During the 1980’s, he served as Chairman of Psychology on the U. S. Olympic Committee’s Sports Medicine Council, responsible for performance enhancement of all U. S. Olympic athletes.

Dr. Waitley is a founding director of the National Council on Self-Esteem and the President’s Council on Vocational Education, and recently received the “Youth Flame Award” from the National Council on Youth Leadership for his outstanding contribution to high school youth leadership.

As president of the International Society for Advanced Education, inspired by Dr. Jonas Salk, he counseled returning POWs from Viet Nam and conducted simulation and stress management seminars for Apollo astronauts.

A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, and former Navy pilot, he holds a doctorate degree in human behavior.

Career Highlights:

• B.S., U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis
• Ph.D. in human behavior, La Jolla University
• Rehabilitation sessions for returning Vietnam POW’s and Iranian hostages
• Former Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California
• Motivator for Superbowl Champions
• Author of “The Winning Generation”, a student oriented video workshop used in over 1,000 schools nationwide
• Author of sixteen books and 10 best-selling audiotape programs
• Founding member, National Council on Self-Esteem
• Associated with Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Science
• Former Chairman of Psychology, Sports Medicine Council, U.S. Olympic Committee
• National Youth Award for outstanding work with young people
• Keynote speaker for 30 years
• The Salk Institute for Biological Studies