There was a man played piano in a bar. He was a good piano player. People came in just to hear him play. But one night, a patron[1] told him he didn’t want to hear him just play anymore. He wanted him to sing a song.

The man said, “I don’t sing.”

But the customer was persistent[2]. He told the bartender, “I’m tired of listening to the piano. I want that guy to sing!”

The bartender shouted across the room, “Hey buddy[3]! If you want to get paid, sing a song. The patrons are asking you to sing!”

So he did. He sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. And nobody had ever heard the song “Mona, Mona Lisa” sung the way it was sung that night by Nat King Cole[4]!

He had talent he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar, but because he had to sing, he went on to become one of the best-known entertainers in America.[5]

You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel as if your “talent” is particularly great, but it may be better than you think! And with persistence, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may as well have no ability at all if you sit on whatever talent you possess! The better question is not “What ability do I have that is useful?” It is rather “How will I use whatever ability I have?”