Trying to be talented in multiple areas is a bold endeavor. But it’s also very doable. Becoming a cross-disciplinary talent is much easier than you think. Practice the skills you want to improve, maintain a positive attitude, expand your interests and knowledge base, and you can become a cross-field talent.

Develop Diverse Talents through Practice

No matter what kind of talent you want to become, you must practice. This is especially true if you want to be a cross-field talent. Fortunately, there isn’t as much practice to do as you might think, and you can find time to practice multiple skills every day. To make the most of your time, you have to focus on what you want to learn.

• Practice two skills every day, 40-45 minutes each, for a month.
• Don’t worry if you occasionally don’t practice for a day. If you practice each skill nearly every day every month, you’ve invested approximately 20 hours of dedicated practice in improving each talent you want to develop!

Deconstruct the talents you want to acquire. To practice in a planned and efficient manner, you must concentrate fully when practicing. One way to maximize the effectiveness of practice is to break down the talent to be improved into specific skills.

• Ask yourself, what specifically do you need to be good at to become more talented in your desired field?
• Each time you sit down to practice, choose to achieve a defined goal. Repeat a task or process multiple times until you have completely mastered it. For example, if you are trying to improve your ability in a certain sport, choose a very basic aspect to practice and spend 45 minutes practicing just that one aspect.
• For example, if you want to get better at soccer, you can dribble the ball back and forth on the court with just one foot.
• If you want to improve your basketball talent, try only making layups.
• Deconstructing the talents that need to be improved will also help improve talents in other areas. To follow the exercise example, physical activity leads to better shape and improved body coordination, both of which generally lead to increased physical strength.

Practice until you can correct yourself. Practice enough so you can notice and correct your mistakes when applying the skill. (This is possible once you complete a structured practice routine, practiced nearly every day for a month.)

• Keep going and practice will be more efficient. This is because talent will develop naturally from a solid foundation of knowledge.
• For example, if you want to improve your ability to play an instrument, you can practice playing the same single note or chord frequently so that when the sound fades slightly, you know exactly what went wrong.

Be persistent. dabbling is not the same as practicing. Jogging or painting twice a week is fun and healthy, but if you want to gain talent and pursue progress, you need to be more disciplined. Choosing two completely different talents to practice and improve over the same period can help you stick with them.

• Make it a habit to practice at the same time every day.
• Try practicing skills related to the talent you want to improve. Get into the habit of practicing one skill immediately after another.
• For example, as soon as I get home after running every day, I sit down and draw. Putting exercises together can encourage you to practice both skills consistently.
• Practice two distinct talents to enrich your daily activities. Following the example from this step, pair something active with something that requires creativity and contemplation, like running and drawing.

Eliminate distractions when practicing. Don’t rely solely on willpower when practicing. The following points can ensure that your practice time is not interrupted:

• Set aside time specifically for practice and focus on it throughout that time. If necessary, set a timer.
• Set your phone to silent.
• Make sure there are no open screens around (unless you are using them to help practice).
• If you want to play music, choose pure music without lyrics.

Maintain the Mentality of Cultivating Talents

Fight negative thoughts. To develop your talents in multiple areas, try to ditch negative thoughts that are holding you back from achieving multiple goals. There are several ways to eliminate negative thoughts:

• Overcome fear. Yes, be bold. But think about the reasons for holding back. The most common barriers to talent acquisition are emotional. By recognizing this, you can prevent emotions like fear from getting in the way of pursuing the talents you want to acquire.
• Filter out the negatives. We tend to filter out the positives and instead focus too much on the negatives, especially in our perceptions of our talents. Don’t fall into this mental trap. Only think about your room for improvement within the scope that can motivate you to continue to improve.
• Learn to compromise. Let go of the concept of perfection. Don’t think you have to be perfect to feel talented.

Think optimistically and solidify your position. Optimism itself won’t make you good at anything, but it will help. Know that you can control how you view things, especially the goals you set and your ability to achieve them.

• To deal with negative thoughts, reframe them with an equally true but more positive perspective. For example:
• Instead of thinking, “I’ve never done this before and it seems difficult,” think, “This is an opportunity to learn and there are a few different ways to solve this.”
• Instead of thinking, “I’m too lazy” or “I can’t do this,” tell yourself, “I haven’t spent enough time, but I can at least give it a try and see what happens.”
• Finally, don’t get frustrated with how quickly you’re progressing. Tell yourself it’s worth trying again.

Practice thinking. Even convincing yourself that positive thinking takes practice. You will be rewarded. You can become less critical of yourself and the world around you by simply repeating positive emotions to yourself and eliminating negative thoughts.

• Maintaining a positive attitude not only improves your mood but also motivates you to keep working hard to acquire your talents.

Expand Your Ability to Acquire Talents

Monitor progress. Know that focused practice isn’t always fun, but developing talent is. Record and admire your achievements, such as a new personal 100-meter record or a striking painting.

• If progress is noticeable (perhaps in the drawing), put them somewhere you’ll see them often to motivate yourself to keep practicing and improving your talent!

Stay focused and energetic, both physically and mentally, and be ready to practice. More importantly, take your breaks strategically. If the talent to be improved requires intense physical exercise or mental concentration, then the physical and mental conditions must be maintained to perform the practice efficiently.

• In fact, take a break once a week. This is important to improve your ability to practice effectively for the rest of the week.

Accepting natural talent is less important than practice and perseverance. Even if some people seem to be born with certain talents, they are still acquired through training, not innate. This is true for athletes, musicians, and mathematicians alike!

• Know that you need perseverance. Psychologists began to use the term “grit” to describe the characteristics of successful people. Grit represents perseverance and passion in pursuing long-term goals. Overcoming adversity in the pursuit of talent can also help develop abilities more fully. When you face challenges that others may not face, tell yourself that by overcoming them, you can rise above others.

Improve talents that interest you. Even scientists aren’t sure how to grow talent. The question of how to be good at something remains unanswered. We know for sure that people who are naturally attracted to things and then immersed in them eventually become good at them. Through training and practice, those who immerse themselves in it become especially good at it. Understand the importance of the above findings and act accordingly:

• Observe and practice without restrictions. Inspiration and curiosity are inevitable, and eventually, you’ll pursue a talent that interests you and stick with it.
• Ignore the technical aspects of the talent you want to acquire. Once you’ve made up your mind, you can introduce techniques to perfect your talents.
• Don’t try to determine where the interest comes from.
• Avoid things that are creative and emotionally demanding and that fascinate you.

Reading is a good start on the road to becoming a well-rounded person. One of the main benefits of reading is to stimulate curiosity, motivating you to seek new ways to improve your talents, or simply pursue new talents.

• Being interested in what you are reading shows that you have received the material well. If you are interested in something new, you can jump into it.
• Reading also has written advantages: learning the language and writing, understanding the historical era the book relates to, and of course, understanding the content of the book. Just browse the pages and understand the words, and you will have a more comprehensive understanding of various things in no time!
• Of course, nothing is more important than personal experience. Whatever you read that appeals to you, start practicing and develop a new talent!