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I recently applied to a job at Lulu Publishing. They sent me a polite email saying that there were other more qualified candidates for the position. Have you ever gotten that letter? Did you think you were qualified for the job?

What makes a person qualified anyway? Companies usually base the answer to that question on an assessment of talent, training, and time - or experience, but they miss a key factor.

Talent

Talent is like the rock in the mines that have not undergone pressure or polish. It’s raw materials. You may have analytical talents like programming or figuring out complex math problems. You may have creative talents like singing, or painting. You may have athletic talent. Most of us have some quirky combination.

Talent alone won’t get you very far though. Untrained talent remains in its infancy stage. Compared to honed talent, it seems amateurish. You need to add some training to the mix.

Training

In a study of musicians in their 20’s, K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of psychology, found that talented musicians identified as great practiced an average 10,000 hours in their lifetime, those identified as good practiced an average of 8,000, and those identified as mediocre practiced an average of 5,000 hours.

Continued training creates ruts in our brain that allows us to do a task by rote. We no longer think about doing the task. It becomes effortless. Training can be gained formally through education and apprenticeship, or it can be gained informally through trial and error.

Time (Experience)

Time, or experience, differs from training in that this is the period where you show off what you have. Experience is measured by the time put in to produce value from the combination of your talent and training. It may happen at the same time as gaining training or it may happen linearly. Experience sets you apart as a professional in your field. It gives you the springboard to become an expert.

Heart, the Missing Factor

Talent, training, and experience will give you what you need to become an expert. Heart, however, gives you the passion and fuel to become an attractor in your field.

I’m not talking here about the drive to succeed. You know those people, you might be one. You’re good at everything you set your mind to because you must succeed. You are so good that you’ve forgotten what you really love. You’ve forgotten where your passion lies. You mistake success for heart.

Heart is the measure missing from most career matrices and evaluations. In fact, it is the oft ignored, key ingredient of assessing qualification.

Heart is a passion that comes from within. It’s what drives you to do something regardless of the outcome. You spend hours at the sewing machine ensuring that the hem of a dress is just so. Rather than step away exhausted and spent, you feel refreshed and energized. Heart fuels you. Drive drains you.

Heart, also known as le cœur in French, is the root of courage. When we are engaged with heart, we have the willingness and courage to press forward. We take risks that the talented, trained, and experienced are not willing to take.

Heart also provides an ease and enduring harmony to our undertakings. It is like a silk cloth that both contains and covers our talent, training, and time to give our work a polished feel.

In the movie Center Stage, Maureen, one of the lead characters is the top dancer of her class. She’s assured a space in the prestigious, fictitious American Ballet Company. She has the feet or the talent and has spent here life in training and gaining experience for this position. Near the end of the movie, Maureen gives up the lead role in the audition ballet to a friend. Upon seeing the lead ballerina, her mother is perplexed and rushes out of the theater. In the lobby, Maureen and her mother meet. Her mother is going on about her missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Maureen begs her mother to listen, explaining to her that this is not her dream. Her mother argues that she just wants her to be happy. She doesn’t want Maureen to live a life of regret. Finally Maureen says, “That’s what this will be. You didn’t have the feet Mom. I don’t have the heart.”

In Spirit,
Nneka

Earlier I gave a few examples of polarity in an effort to further explain the concept and better understand it myself. I posted the following in response to someone’s rant about darkworking.

I got the lightworker/darkworker thing when I figured out the difference between these 2 statements.

1. Being a lightworker means you only take actions that serve the highest good of all.
2. Being a lightworker means that you take actions that serve the highest good of all only.

Aligned Action
The first statement means that all of your actions serve the highest good of all, but they don’t only serve the highest good of all. They may be of benefit to you. As a lightworker, you are only concerned with the service to all and what you get out of it is a byproduct.

You concentrate on creating, giving, and let the receiving take care of itself. This is what gives the level of clarity. You ask the question, “Is this serving the highest good of all?” If it happens to serve you so be it. As a darkworker you would ask, “Is this serving me?” If it happens to serve others so be it.

An darkworker example is saying whatever it takes to win a presidential race. Yeah, it might help some people out, but the bottom line is, “Am I going to win?” Once you win, you ask, “Is this going to help me stay in power?” If it happens to help people, it’s a by product. You’re not asking, “What can I do to serve the citizens?”

Constipated Flow
With the second statement, “being a ligtworker means that you take actions that serve the highest good of all only”, you are actually blocking the flow of Energy. That’s why it feels so hard. No action taken will only result in energy given or gained. It comes full circle. So trying to take actions that only result in energy given or gained causes internal conflict. In other words, as a lightworker your question is, “Is this action serving the highest good of all?” You don’t need to worry about if its only serving the highest good of all.

Now things get tricky if you are not honest. You can convince yourself of anything. That’s why in order to polarize you must be highly conscious. You’ll feel great in either direction.

As a lightworker, you’ll feel great giving to the highest good of all. If you’re open, your life will hum along nicely and you’ll want for nothing. Once fear is introduced, you’ll start thinking, “but what about me?” That’s when the mind begins to play tricks. As a darkworker, it’s the same. The rush of power and domination is intoxicating. If love seeps in and you get an attack of conscience looking at all the people you may have harmed, then you start rationalizing.

Does this make sense?

In Spirit,
Nneka