Do you have a job that you do well and earns you a livelihood, but is not compatible with (or suited to) your natural talents?

I always try to align my nature with my work, it’s not always easy as sometimes we all have to do things we would rather not, but FUN and creativity are my shining points, so, I always make my work fun, even when it is not perfectly aligned with my true nature.

I have been fortunate the last few years to be involved in several work situations that allow me the freedom and flexibility and creativity and FUN I crave.

I don;t do micro-managing, at all. lol

I have a great passion for culinary arts. As a kid I would whip up dishes for my family, but I took business management in school and ended up with management positions. At a certain point in my life, I had the opportunity to appply my passion to my then career as a sous chef. I loved being in the kitchen but the time came that it wasnt able to support my family financially. I went back to the world of business management and crossed over into technology. Now, I am lucky to be able to earn a decent living and working with culinary arts at the same time in the management of a hospitality establishment.

I’m really good at playing computer games, but there’s no jobs doing that :-p

I don’t think the linear education system is for natural talents. It is for mass producing worker drones. No matter how we look at it, to live a “normal” life, we have to learn how to do something marketable so some business will hire us.

@HungryGuy sure ther are… I have a friend who works for one of the major game developers and his job includes playing up and coming PC and game console games.

Yes but I’d love the chance to go back to doing what I did before. I miss the medium, the associative community and how it meshed with my lifestyle.

I always figured that if you love something but don’t make any money at it, then you aren’t good enough to make money at it. Or maybe it isn’t about being good. It’s that you don’t have enough business skills to make money at it.

In any case, I figure the market tells you where your talents lie. I’d love to be a writer, but no one is willing to pay me for it. So to me, that means I’m not a writer. At best, I’m an amateur (and who isn’t?) On the other hand, I can sell myself for other skills. I guess that make me a librarian.

I’d also like to be a musician, and there, at least, I have a steady, if miniscule income. I think I can count on making maybe $200 a year as a musician. I think this allows me to say I am a talented amateur. I don’t try very hard at music and I make a little. I try very hard at writing and make nothing. Some people think I can write, but the market says they are wrong.

Perhaps you are also wrong about yourself, @MRSHINYSHOES. Maybe you are a good writer, but you have not chosen to try to market your skills. Maybe if you did, you would be successful. You’ll never know if you don’t try. And if you haven’t tried, then you really have no idea whether you have a talent or not.

What I tell myself is that write for fun. I like to think about shit and I like to say outrageous things that sound plausible but I’ve completely made up and see if anyone will go for it. If you think lurve means anything, then maybe I’ve fooled a lot of people, but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that l entertain myself enough to keep on doing it.

So, I hope you enjoyed this. I just made it up from my head. I chose the words. I wrote them down, but you are getting them for free, so I hope they are worth what you paid for them. How could they not? But maybe I should have to pay you in order to read what I write. But I don’t really care that much. So we have a little bargain, eh? I won’t pay you to read what I write and you won’t pay me to read what I write, either.

@wundayatta It’s not that I haven’t tried. I deliberately chose the job I have now because it pays very well, being an executive, and I like it. Don’t get me wrong, I like my job, but the skills required in the job I have is not congruent with my “natural talents/skills”. Most writing jobs do not pay well——those that do (if you’re a successful journalist or writer) are hard to come by and aren’t common. I’m not complaining; I’m merely asking whether you or others have a job like me that is not congruent with your natural talents and inkling. That’s all. I wouldn’t want to have a writing job that I liked doing but only got paid peanuts. Money makes me happy too, and that’s very important also. In an ideal world, I’d love to work in a pet shop or animal shelter, because I love animals and have a penchant for taking care of them, but in the real world it just doesn’t cut it for a man with a family. I can “try” like you suggested and put my skills to the test, but really, it wouldn’t provide an adequate livelihood in my situation.

I certainly don’t put my talent to good use at work or outside of work. I enjoy my job and I am good at it, I believe, but it doesn’t reqwuire much talent. This is my fulltime day job I am referring to.

I do have a part time job as a dog trainer and although I wouldn’t necessarily say I am a naturally talented dog trainer, I have a knowledge that has come from studying, practise and observing. This job makes me feel far more rewarded because I am offering a service based on knowledge that my customers don’t have (hence they are asking for help).

Not knowing where the threshold of ”good living” you speak of is. I can say the jobs I made the most money doing were not suited any way to my talents. My talents are pretty much useless in today’s society, I never figured on making a living doing it. I think it sucks, but that is the way the cookie crumbles.

@Hypocrisy_Central Exactly what I think, and my situation too.

Thanks for all the great answers folks!