The Nigerian soccer team in 1998 was billed as a possible champion.
Then it lost 1-4 to a Danish team that nobody thought any good.
The problem of course was miscalculation. A person who has lots of
talent, coming from a background of a country that has not had much
success at anything for a long time, is prone to believing himself
omnipotent & making miscalculations that prove disastrous. When there
is no frame for one's abilities, there are no tempering influences that
combine the talent with wisdom. When the sky is the limit, it takes a
foundation and structure to create a building that raches the sky. And
Nigerian soccer team did not have that.
When Gary Kasparov took on Anatoly Karpov, he started out losing big.
Then he composed himself - essentially he grew in the role - and was
eventually able to defeat him.
There are two ways to achieve that kind of transformation from raw
ability to manifestation. One is to become wise before appearing on the
stage; the other is to grow into the role. Clinton and Bush, like
Kasparov, have done the latter, with the results that both have been
effective presidents even though they had been derided before the
elections.
The idea that a lot of people have is that the undesirable effects can
be countered through abuse and humiliation. That is dead wrong. Abuse
does not create a humble person; it creates a person who is either
hateful, broken or depressed. In face of all the abominable
psychological tactics that are used for far more harm than good, stands
a far better and more effective prescription, and that is this simply:
Telling the person that they have not created their talents. Or, as Leo
Buscaglia said, "Your talents are God's gift to you. What you do with
them is your gift back to God."
That single meme is all that is necessary to defeat undesirable effects
while allowing the person to retain confidence and self-esteem
necessary to make good on their promise.
Ilya Shambat.
.
|
