But this is, after all, a fictional character and a commercial.

In real life, do people with multiple talents realize their abilities as readily and fully as they want?

Tina Fey herself is certainly multitalented.

She is a writer, screenwriter, comedian, actress, and producer.

The Mommy Track’d blog enthuses, “Tina Fey must have the secret. It’s not easy to juggle a high-flying career, a marriage and a three-year-old daughter all at once. But Fey’s doing it and doing it pretty well. She’s married with a toddler and gets up to go to work every day, writes the show or at least part of it, and then also stars in the program. Somehow she makes it work. One of her Emmys was for writing, the other for her acting.”

In an interview, Fey said, “I don’t think you should limit yourself. The sky is the limit. Your dreams and goals are only as big as you make them. It literally is a full time job juggling all three positions [acting , writing, producing 30 Rock]. Aside from my job, I’m a full-time mommy too.”

Photo: Tina Fey Hard At Work – from post A Mother’s Prayer for Her Child By Tina Fey, by Melody Godfred – with quotes from Tina Fey’s book Bossypants – including these:

“Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels.

“What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

“May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.”

Achievement and self-realization aren’t assured

A high level of achievement and fulfillment is not automatic or assured for all gifted and talented adults.

Probably most high ability, multitalented people struggle with multiple inner and outer concerns that can slow or stop achievement.

Author Marylou Kelly Streznewski says in her book Gifted Grownups, “For too long society has believed that if you aren’t president of General Motors, you aren’t gifted. If the estimates of the researchers are correct, and between 3% and 5% of the population is gifted, then we are talking about several million people.

“What the interviews [in the book] revealed was that a gifted person of multiple talents may not be as fortunate as a multitalented Bill Bradley (Rhodes scholar, basketball star, senator, author). He or she may be struggling through a series of false starts into careers and college majors, trying desperately to find the one that clicks.”

[From my post Growing up exceptional: “There are large numbers of frustrated gifted adults.”]

Realizing you are exceptional

A therapist and head of a private adult school, Mary Rocamora has found “Simply knowing one is gifted often opens a floodgate of energy. Clients who came to therapy with established gifted identities were characteristically passionate, intense, and unafraid to unleash the shadow side of their personality.”

From her article Counseling Issues with Recognized and Unrecognized Gifted Adults – which is, she notes, “based on my own experience over the last 13 years counseling multi-talented performers, writers, metaphysicians, and people who were clearly gifted in self-transformation. I have worked extensively with two types of gifted clients: those who knew they were gifted and were highly self-actualizing in their field, and those whose giftedness was unrecognized, masked, under-utilized, or thwarted in some way.”

One way to learn more about your real talents is to find and engage your passions.

Chris and Janet Attwood write on their site The Passion Test: “People who are passionate work harder, do better work and more motivated than those who aren’t. Needless to say they also enjoy their work more.

“Who do you think has the greatest opportunity to prosper when times are tough? The person who hates their work and has to drag themselves to work every day, or the person who loves what they’re doing and can hardly wait to get to it?”

The photo is Gordon Parks (1912-2006), often referred to as a renaissance man: film work, poetry, photography, music, novels, and more.

In their articles on the Scanner personality and Renaissance Souls, Barbara Sher and Margaret Lobenstine write about “bringing a passionate attention” to a variety of interests, simultaneously or serially.

Multitalented doesn’t mean you have to do it all at once, all the time.

And there are many factors that can encourage or inhibit talents.

In her article Common Misconceptions About the Gifted, Mary Rocamora notes “the term ‘gifted’ refers to individuals who, in addition to high intelligence, share personality traits such as perfectionism, introversion, intensity, sensitivity, idealism, and overexcitability.

She writes, “As Abraham Maslow noted, giftedness can manifest in a myriad of ways, although we don’t typically reward our gifted auto mechanics and gifted homemakers. Another misconception is that ability automatically leads to high achievement, that compelling talent will overcome all obstacles.

“As children, many of us heard inspiring stories about eminent men and women who did just that. However, the reality is that there are both circumstantial and psychological factors that can adversely affect the actualization of the gifted.

“Poverty, ethnicity, opportunity, lack of understanding about the nature of giftedness in the family, and being female are circumstances that can impede talent development.”

Adult eminence

Ellen Winner, PhD says, “We cannot assume a link between early giftedness, no matter how extreme, and adult eminence. The factors that predict the course of a life are multiple and interacting. Over and above level of ability, important roles are played by personality, motivation, the family environment, opportunity, and chance.”

From her book: Gifted Children : Myths and Realities.

Viggo Mortensen

In addition to his work as an actor in movies (Witness, The Lord of the Rings, A History of Violence, and many others), Viggo Mortensen is a writer, musician, poet, photographer and painter with exhibitions at art galleries around the world.

He founded independent publishing house Perceval Press with partner Pilar Perez to publish his books and CDs, plus works of other lesser-known authors, including a book speaking out against the war in Iraq.

From my post Viggo Mortensen: “Why just one thing?”

One of his quotes I really like: “Photography, painting or poetry – those are just extensions of me, how I perceive things, they are my way of communicating.”

That is among many other quotes from multitalented writers, actors and other creative people, as well as creativity researchers and psychologists, that I have included in my book Developing Multiple Talents: The personal side of creative expression.

[Link goes to book site, with multiple reviews, and a sign up form to get a free excerpt.]

Also see my listing of Books for the Creative Mind.

There are many other examples of people who can inspire us, showing that we can overcome obstacles and contribute our talents to this great journey of life.

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“Gifted adults may be overwhelmed by the pressure of their own creativity. The gifted derive enormous satisfaction from the creative process.

Jacobsen notes, “Beyond producing objects of value, the gifted create for the sole purpose of creative expression. They need to create and are rejuvenated by it. They often do so whether someone asks them to or not, regardless of payment or recognition, chiefly because they enjoy solving their own puzzles independent of external influence.”

From The Gifted Adult: A Revolutionary Guide for Liberating Everyday Genius, by Mary-Elaine Jacobsen, PsyD.

David Lynch is one well-known example of a multitalented creator, and has commented about being a creative polymath: “I started out as a painter, and then painting led to cinema… Then cinema led to so many different areas—it led to still photography, music . . . Furniture is also a big love of mine…”

Continued: An Intense Inner Pressure to Create

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As entrepreneurs, one of our most important duties is keeping our minds open to fresh moneymaking ideas.

Holding regular brainstorm sessions can uncover fresh spins on our original ideas, and keep the passion alive—not only within ourselves, but for our customers and clients as well.

But, if you want to have an eye-opening brainstorm session, it helps to be aware of the scope of ALL your possibilities, especially when it comes to new business ideas.

Otherwise it’s easy to fall into a one-track mindset.

For example, an aspiring business owner might say, “I really like fashion, so I’m going to be a fashion designer.”

A successful landscape architect might say, “All right, time to shake things up, let’s start pursuing higher-end clients.”

Although there is nothing wrong with the ideas above, you can see that the ideas are very limited, and one-to-one.

The truth is, your ONE passion or skill can actually spur a variety of moneymaking business ideas.

> Continued: 8 Ways to Turn Your Passion into Profits

~ ~

As a life and career coach, I’ve helped thousands of people discover a new direction full of passion and meaning.

One of the best tools is an inward search.

The following questions can help you see your life and its possibilities through a completely new perspective.

Write your answers in your journal and give yourself plenty of time to expand on your insights.

1. As a child, what did you dream of being when you grew up?

It’s helpful to get in touch with your earlier fascinations. In early childhood, it was easier to live from our imagination without all of the interference from our adopted limiting beliefs.

2. What are some of your favorite hobbies or activities—in the present and in the past—and why?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn your favorite pastime into your dream career?

We choose hobbies and activities that most likely resonate with our unique personality as well as our physical, mental and emotional nature. They are an extension of our inner voice…

Continued in her article: 10 Questions to Jumpstart Your Dream Career

Sarah Bernhardt

I’ve been accused of being ‘too much’ all my life.

Too loud, too fast, too smart, too multi-talented, too audacious.

I’ve never been able to live according to that external standard of ‘just right’.

Artists are often ‘too much’.

It’s the job of the artist and writer to reflect what they see and feel. This expression of their art and talents must be larger than life.

The trouble is, our expression doesn’t always jibe with what’s going on in the ‘normal’ world.

Once creative people stop trying to calibrate their expression to a ‘norm’ they can thrive more easily.

I was once coaching a client about her talents and how she could best express them. It became clear to us that she was a larger-than-life personality, and that her talents required a bigger stage than she was currently occupying.

> Continued in her article Too Much, Not Enough – Why Creative People Shouldn’t ‘Tone It Down’

Visit her site: Original Impulse

Also see more articles by Cynthia Morris

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Here is an excerpt from Renita Kalhorn’s interview with Pamela Slim:

[Also see Inner Entrepreneur post Pamela Slim on Excuses People Use To Stay at a Job.]

..

The Mental Toughness Summit

[From the site:] “The telesummit features exclusive LIVE interviews by Renita Kalhorn with world-class motivation and mental toughness experts – New York Times best-selling authors, TED speakers, sports and performance psychologists, a Navy SEAL, fitness expert and professional athlete — who are going to hit mental toughness and grit from every angle.

“The best part is it’s virtual, so you can listen to the interviews either online or over the phone every day of the telesummit, starting on April 25th.”

Register for free to listen. Recordings available.

And one way to do that is to enjoy characters in films, and pay attention to how we feel about them and their actions.

In his article James Bond Has It – Do You?, Mike Litman provides an intriguing perspective on the enduring action character.

“Yesterday I saw the new James Bond movie,” he writes. “It was awesome. Put aside in your mind for a moment that James Bond is a character. Fiction. James Bond has a tough job. No doubt. He has to dodge bullets and bad guys.

“Look at his lifestyle though. In the movie, he was staying in posh hotels in the Bahamas, Miami, and other amazing cities… The car he was driving was out of this world. I know it’s a movie. I know it’s fake, but there’s a lesson here. James Bond is GREAT at what he does.

“One of my mentors gave me this priceless wisdom years ago. He said, Identify a hobby, expertise, interest, or passion, something you enjoy. Make sure the market has money to spend. Discover their problems and have them pay you to solve them. Then cash your checks.”

Photo: Eva Green and Daniel Craig in “Casino Royale.”

Here is a related quote from Green: “You’ve got to have desire, otherwise you just die. A lot of people, they’re 80 or 90 years old, and they die because they have nothing left to live for. It makes you alive if you have something you want in life. My first drama teacher was very passionate – she was full of energy – it was all about work, work work, then you can achieve something that is beyond your limits.” [imdb.com]

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The Passion Test site provides a number of ways to explore passions and interests – including a free test.

Here is an excerpt of a longer post on The Passion Test blog, titled “Heart vs. Mind” – by Chris and Janet Attwood:

“Remember that your passions are connected to your heart, not your mind. Anytime you find yourself thinking about your answers, this is an indication that your mind is engaged rather than your heart.

“Your head will only create a muddle, keeping you trapped in the 3 things that prevent anyone from living  a passionate life, false beliefs, false concepts and false ideas.”

Here is a screenshot of part of the front page of The Passion Test – visit the site to see video and take the free test.

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Also see more quotes on the Talent Development Resources site page Passion.

Career change expert Valerie Young notes she put herself through college “the way a lot of young people do, by waitressing” – and the place she worked holds value as a lesson in developing business ventures. She writes:

One wild summer my sister Susan and I worked at the then famous Thompson’s Clam Bar in Harwichport, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.

What does this have to do with making a difference?

Thompson’s has long been closed. However, in a very creative move, a company called Cape Cast is taking film footage of venues like this and selling them as a way to raise money. In this case, the funds will go to the local historical society.

Supporting your own business venture

Let’s face it, unless you’re independently wealthy, you can’t just up and quit your day job and be running your own profitable small business immediately. That’s why I love Suzanne Evan’s suggestion that you think of your job not as “job” but as your “business loan.”

Continued in The Inner Entrepreneur post Benefit from a job as a “business loan” for your own venture

“I wouldn’t have done ‘The Lion King’ if I didn’t believe it has something solid to say to people.”

Director Julie Taymor added, “When you approach it that way, you come at it with all your soul and intelligence.”

In our interview about her film “Titus” she noted she had directed the play off-Broadway previously, and commented, “I was very passionate about the power of the play, and thought it would make a brilliant screenplay.”

Continued in The Creative Mind post: Passion Fuels Creative Expression.

As a writer in the middle of my first novel, I experience swings from enchantment to disgust with my work.

Falling in love with your writing can be as inspiring, and as delusional, as falling in love with a person,.

These shifting perceptions aren’t just exclusive to writers.

In his post The Psychology of Creativity – Part VI: Curing Writer’s Block, David Sheppard writes about “author’s glow.” Here is an excerpt:

In her book The Writing Life, Annie Dillard puts the author’s feelings toward her own work in perspective:

“Another luxury for an idle imagination is the writer’s own feeling about the work. There is neither a proportional relationship, nor an inverse one, between a writer’s estimation of a work in progress and its actual quality.

“The feeling that the work is magnificent, and the feeling that it is abominable, are both mosquitoes to be repelled, ignored, or killed, but not indulged.”

A little later in the same work she says again:

“This writing that you do, that so thrills you, that so rocks and exhilarates you, as if you were dancing next to the band, is barely audible to anyone else.”

Authors fall in love with their work. A friend of mine has termed this the “author’s glow.” The author’s love for his own work can lead to a critical misjudging of it.

Inspiration sweeps over us like an ocean wave, but all that gets to the page is little bits of life’s debris like sifted sand.

We have to learn to express inspiration in words that trigger a similar emotional experience in the reader. This is the novelsmith’s burden.

David Sheppard is author of Novelsmithing: The Structural Foundation Of Plot, Character, And Narration.

Photo: Explored! #1 by Stephen Poff

Related site: The Inner Writer