The Beautiful Paradox of a Mission: Gifted Adults, Core Talents, and Energy Givers

If you had told me twenty years ago that I would one day become the face of Hoogbloeier® Gifted Academy, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Not because I lacked big dreams—quite the opposite. Soon after discovering that our own children were gifted, I realized I wanted to make a difference for gifted children, adolescents, and adults. I wanted to understand why so much talent goes to waste, why people struggle in school, at work, or within themselves, and how scientific knowledge could help change that.

But if you had asked me back then what that would look like, I never would have said that I would be speaking on stages, recording videos, or writing weekly newsletters. That simply was never my ambition.

When Your Mission Asks Something That Doesn't Come Naturally

I regularly read Vishen Lakhiani's newsletters. In one of them, he reflected on a question people often ask him: How did Mindvalley become what it is today (Mindvalley, n.d.)? His answer wasn't about investors, marketing, or having the perfect strategy. It was about something far more fundamental: a mission. According to Vishen, meaningful change doesn't begin with the person who shouts the loudest or seeks the most attention. It begins with someone who is willing to keep sharing a message over and over again—even when it feels uncomfortable, imperfect, or intimidating. That idea stayed with me for a long time, perhaps because, unexpectedly, I recognized something of myself in it.

A few weeks ago, I completed a Coretalents Analysis (Coretalents, n.d.). The results confirmed much of what I had already sensed intuitively. My strongest energy givers are creating, analyzing, solving complex problems, developing strategies, entrepreneurship, and continuously acquiring new knowledge. Those are the activities that put me in a state of flow and make me lose track of time.

At the same time, something else stood out just as clearly. The entire cluster related to "stepping into the spotlight"—sharing information, selling and persuading, performance, and entertainment—received remarkably low scores, even zero. According to the analysis, these are not natural energy givers for me, and I certainly don't seek out the spotlight by nature.

I couldn't help but smile when I read those results because they felt so familiar. If you asked me what my ideal workday looks like, I wouldn't picture myself spending the entire day in front of a camera or standing on a stage. Give me a stack of scientific papers, a blank document waiting to become a new model or resource, or a complex problem to sink my teeth into instead.

I gain energy from developing courses, books, and educational materials, and from translating scientific insights into something people can genuinely use. At the same time, I love the creative process that comes with it: designing models, choosing colors, creating a game or poster, refining a layout, or safeguarding Hoogbloeier® Gifted Academy's visual identity. It is the combination of content and design that fascinates me. How do you make complex knowledge not only accurate, but also clear, engaging, and practical? That is where I naturally lose myself. That is the core of who I am.

Yet the outside world mostly sees something else. They see the courses, the presentations, the videos, and the newsletters. They see the person speaking. Somewhere along the way, without ever planning it, I became the face of Hoogbloeier® Gifted Academy. That still feels a little strange because it was never the goal. The goal has always been the mission itself: translating scientific knowledge into practical applications so that gifted children, adolescents, and adults are better understood and have greater opportunities to flourish. Everything else—the speaking, the videos, the public visibility—simply became a means to serve that mission.

When Your Mission Takes You Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Perhaps this is a tension many gifted adults will recognize. We are often told that we should work primarily from our energy givers and avoid activities that drain our energy whenever possible. There is a great deal of truth in that. The Coretalents Analysis rightly emphasizes the importance of spending most of your time on activities that align with your natural strengths (Coretalents, n.d.). If you are constantly forced to rely on your smaller Coretalents, you are likely to lose energy over time and may eventually burn out.

And yet, I sometimes wonder whether the story ends just where it becomes most interesting.

What if the very thing that doesn't naturally energize you turns out to be essential for bringing the work that does energize you into the world? What if public speaking isn't your passion, but simply the vehicle through which you can share your ideas? What if visibility is not the goal, but a means to an end? And what if that makes you willing to develop skills that will never feel entirely natural—precisely because they serve something far greater than yourself?

For me, public speaking is still not a hobby. Neither is recording videos. If Hoogbloeier® Gifted Academy could reach just as many people tomorrow without me ever having to switch on a camera or step onto a stage again, I wouldn't hesitate for a second. At the same time, I know that the knowledge I invest so much time and energy in would have very little impact if it remained on my computer. Research does not change the world on its own. Someone has to translate it, explain it, add nuance, and keep putting it into words, again and again. Perhaps that is exactly what Vishen meant when he wrote that every mission needs someone who is willing to give it a voice.

Not Every Part of Your Work Has to Be Energizing

Over the years, I have also come to see talent and energy givers differently. I still firmly believe that it is important to shape your work around the activities that energize you as much as possible. After all, that is the very essence of the Coretalents Analysis: when most of your work aligns with your natural strengths, you are not only able to sustain it for longer, but you also enjoy it much more.

At the same time, I have learned that not every part of your work has to be an energy giver. As long as the core of what you do is built around your strengths, some activities that do not come naturally can still be worthwhile because they serve as a bridge to the work that truly energizes you.

The Coretalents Analysis has also helped me make more intentional choices. Not by eliminating everything that costs energy, but by becoming more critical about where my time and energy are invested. For example, for the upcoming academic year, I have deliberately passed on several training modules to colleagues who clearly gain more energy from teaching them than I do.

I also think twice before accepting an additional keynote, interview, or other public engagement. Not because I no longer want to do those things, but because I want to ensure they continue to support my mission rather than gradually becoming the core of my work.

The Art Lies in Finding Balance

At the same time, there is an important cautionary message here. A meaningful mission should never become an excuse to spend years living against your own nature. No one can sustain that indefinitely.

If my days consisted solely of public speaking, recording videos, giving interviews, and constantly being in the spotlight, I would probably become unhappy over time. The only reason those activities are sustainable is because the majority of my work still revolves around the things that truly energize me: reading, writing, analyzing, creating, developing educational materials and training programs, building an organization, and thinking strategically.

The stage is ultimately only a small part of a much larger whole. It is not the core of my work—it is simply the means through which my mission reaches other people.

A Question to Take Home

Perhaps this is also an interesting question to ask yourself. Is there something you've always believed simply wasn't "you"? Something you tend to avoid because it drains your energy or doesn't come naturally? It may be worth asking yourself whether that activity is truly the core of what you do—or simply the vehicle through which your real talents become visible. Not everything that costs energy needs to be eliminated from your work. But neither does everything that was once necessary deserve a permanent place in your schedule. Sometimes, that one challenging piece is exactly what opens the door to everything that genuinely energizes you.

Perhaps, in the end, the question is not whether you are willing to be visible. Perhaps the real question is what you are willing to be visible for. It is a subtle distinction, but for me, it has made all the difference over the past few years.

A Reflection for This Week

This week, take a sheet of paper and make two lists: the activities that energize you and the activities that consistently drain your energy. Then ask yourself which energy-draining activities are genuinely necessary to make your talents visible—and which ones may have gradually taken up more space in your work than they should.

The goal is not to do only the things that energize you. The challenge is to make sure that the core of your work remains aligned with who you are and where you can make your greatest contribution.

Curious about what truly energizes you—and what drains your energy?

A Coretalents Analysis offers valuable insights into the activities that naturally energize you, those that require much more effort, and how you can make more intentional choices based on that understanding. For many gifted adults, it is a genuine eye-opener, both in their professional and personal lives.

If you live in Flanders or are able to attend sessions there, several of our coaches who specialize in supporting gifted adults are certified to conduct Coretalents Analyses. They would be happy to help you translate these insights into practical choices for your work and life.

Find a Coretalents Coach

References

• CoreTalents. (n.d.). CoreTalents®. Discover Your Core Talents. Retrieved July 1, 2026, from https://www.coretalents.eu/en

• Mindvalley. (n.d.). Mindvalley. Retrieved July 1, 2026, from https://www.mindvalley.com/
  
  

Copyright © 2026 Dr. Sabine Sypré – All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author. Sharing online is permitted provided the author is credited and a link to this article is included.