I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. 
(Jer. 1:5 NLT)

Your gift is the missing piece. It’s always an answer and never a problem. It is unique, intentional, having a purpose, design and measurable structure.

Since we all crave to be accepted and welcomed, sometimes we compare our gifts to others’, attempting to measure if we belong; but that’s like trying to reshape your fingerprint to match someone else’s – impossible.
When you read about someone else’s accomplishments and adopt his or her roadmap as your own, you will limit where your gift can take you. You can only be you. Who you are at the core will leak out, no matter how much you suppress it. In God’s truth, the true you is meant to glorify, to love, to reach beyond yourself, but you cannot grow into the fullest expression of God’s creation if you live in doubt or unrest, if you constantly undermine your gift by trying to copy other people’s.

In order to sustain a consistent outlook and pattern, your thoughts, your words, your spirit and your actions must line up. That means when you say something that your brain doesn’t “believe” – if your statement isn’t part of you on a cellular level – it is unsustainable.

Neurologically, you are not wired for someone else’s gift. You can try as hard as you want. You can listen to as many teachings as you possibly can. You can buy all the books with an instant formula for a business mogul’s success. You can adopt all of the popular motivational sayings. But even then, you will never have someone else’s gift.

Your own gift is more than enough, and once you uncover that gift and its structure, you can walk in freedom, knowing yours is unlike anyone else’s.

Your life experiences, the lessons you’ve learned, and your unique gift all combine, giving you the opportunity to walk into the future with unlimited potential to grow into your own success.

Success isn’t defined by a collection of assets, an accumulation of power or cash in the bank. If that were the formula, there would be no sorrow for those in the highest tax brackets. Rather, success is living out God’s purpose for your life – using the gifting He has given – and every single one of us will express it differently, because every single one of us can do something that someone else can’t.

Once, I was halfway through a training session for a group of teachers in Eastern Cape, South Africa, when this really came alive for me in a profound way.

We all know teachers hold tremendous responsibility in their hands to help children grow in their potential. They are unrecognized warriors, often facing tremendous obstacles. This particular group of teachers was facing quite a difficult task – equipping children who had very few resources, under quite stressful circumstances.

One teacher, feeling the strain of his situation said, “Dr. Leaf, you’ve got it all wrong. There’s a child in my class who’s so stupid, there’s no way he has a gift.” Well, for once in my life, I was dumbstruck.

Then, one of his colleagues stepped in and countered, “Do you know what, sir?” For a moment, I held my breath because I knew we would soon learn if the material from the seminar was sinking in or if we should duck for cover. Thankfully, this teacher had embraced the core of the importance of living in our gifting. He countered, “That child – that so-called stupid child – can do something that you can’t do.” And it is true.
Each person can do something no one else can do. There’s something each child can do that no one else can do.

Find it in yourself. Find it in your children. Find it in your spouse. Find it in your colleagues at work. Find it, because in it you will also find the truth of God's living promises.