Today, on Musicians’ Corner, I’m going to tell a story that is aimed at encouraging you to invest in your gifts. This story applies to me (and maybe even some of you reading this now) in many ways.

A man (let’s call him Mr. C) has a piece of land. He inherited the land from his dad, so he didn’t have to work for it.

He had a neighbour (let’s call him Mr. J), who was a lot older than him and well established. Mr. J had mango trees in his compound and since Mr. C loves mangoes a lot, he always visited Mr. J’s compound to pluck mangoes. Thankfully, Mr. J  always allowed him to pluck some mangoes whenever he came.

10 years down the line, Mr. J  died of old age. His children decided to sell his property since they had no intention of staying there. Someone else bought the property and moved in. However, since the new occupant didn’t know Mr. C, he never allowed him in to pluck mangoes as usual.

It was then that Mr. C realized what he should have done 10 years ago; he should have planted mango trees in his own piece of land and nurtured them to maturity while still enjoying the sweet mangoes from Mr. J. But he felt he was okay, as long as he got fresh mangoes from Mr. J, and now he can’t get mangoes anymore.

In this story, Mr. C represents people born with creative abilities (like you and I), his inherited piece of land represents the gifts/ talents/ abilities that we were born with, the mangoes represent money, comfort, physical property and other things we desire, finally, Mr. J represents our job or whatever gives us ‘mangoes’ at the moment.

Many of us, Creatives, are like Mr. C. Just because we get fresh mangoes from somewhere, we fail to plan for the future… We are never interested in any investment that would not yield immediate results for us. We just live for the moment. As long as we keep getting food to eat and clothes to wear, we are okay. And so rather than invest in your gifts now in such a way that it would yield results in the future, we prefer to continue living off whatever we are currently receiving. This is not a good way to live. Especially, since we all know that a time will come when we desire something much more than just monetary returns, when fulfillment becomes very important to us as well. And by the way, investing in your gifts does not stop whatever you do at the moment; both can be done concurrently. I wish someone had told me this when I was still in my twenties, but all hope is not lost. My friend, Joe, told me, “the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The next best time is right now.”

Please invest in your gifts today. It will not start yielding immediately, but in 10 years’ time (when you need it the most), it would have started yielding fruits for you to enjoy.

You can check out other articles here