My mama told me when I was young, we’re all born superstars… So hold your head up girl and you’ll go far, listen to me when I say…

Born this Way, Lady Gaga

There’s a familiar knot in the plot line, when people who’ve found their calling reflect on their origins. It goes something like this “when I was young, my [mother / father / teacher / someone] told me I was good at [insert talent]”. Or, there’s a self realisation of this sort. A realisation that resonates and clicks in deeply.

And so it comes to pass.

Successful New York real estate agent Barbara Corcoran’s mother “pinned one thing on each kid… My thing was I had a wonderful imagination… and I fell for it, you know, and she’s right and I did have a good imagination, or at least maybe I learned to have it because of her.”

Journalist and professor Linda Villarosa had a great aunt who looked after her on Wednesdays and taught her to read “she said to me, you’re going to be a writer”.

Arnold Schwarzenegger goes to a small gym in Austria. He gets an award for a clean and jerk he did really well. That moment of positive feedback, sets him on a path and propels him forward.

In conversation with Shane Parrish on The Knowledge Project, Daniel Gross of Y Combinator and now Pioneer, describes these as “catalysing moments”. Experiences that lead to positive feedback loops, which in turn lead to where we are today.

The act of naming the talent is an important ingredient in the catalyst. With naming and categorising come shortcuts to understanding. With understanding, comes the confidence to take action.

In a world with lots of choice for lots of kids, perhaps kids with a strong sense of a particular talent have the advantage of an early knot in their plot line. Something that helps orient them and gives them a stronger sense of how they might fit in and contribute. Perhaps it makes the first (and next) steps clearer and easier to take.

In many cases, it probably doesn’t matter what the step is, or if it turns out to be the best step. There’s value in getting started, to get feedback – test, learn and adjust. As author and teacher Jim Collins argues, a key to success is not a single idea or one plan, it is the act of turning the flywheel, slowly gaining momentum and eventually reaching a breakthrough.

Without considering the counterfactual, without a randomised control trial, perhaps these moments of talent-naming aren’t material. Perhaps it’s a strategy that fails as often as it succeeds. But if there’s value in just getting started…

Try this at home [mums and dads]

Tell your kids something you’ve noticed they’re really good at, and add the ‘so what’. Perhaps your future robot boss is a brilliant constructor. Transforming the recycling into creatures and vehicles. With a talent like that, perhaps creating the machines or buildings of the future to transform how we live, is for them.

The idea isn’t to be deterministic, but to get the flywheel spinning.

Thank you to Shane Parrish (@farnamstreet) and Daniel Gross (@danielgross), Tim Ferriss (@tferriss) and Jim Collins (@level5leaders), Barbara Corcoran (@BarbaraCorcoran) and Linda Villarosa (@lindavillarosa) for inspiration and insights.