The greatest secret to improving your Life Palette is developing the discipline of keeping and guarding a limited palette. The reason is simple: you have a limited amount of time, no matter how long you think you’re going to live, and you’re born with certain talents that are natural—plus a limited amount of abilities to supplement those talents. There’s nothing more detrimental than getting distracted from living with a focus of developing these abilities and making the most of the time you are given.
Limit Your Focus
Your Life Palette is unique to God’s desired masterpiece for you. Therefore, it’s best to limit the focus of what you allow on your Life Palette. Most novice artists will start out with a very broad palette. When they see a color they want, instead of mixing it they’ll go to the store and buy a tube of that color. As an artist improves, fewer colors are necessary on the palette. The fewer the colors, the more limited the palette becomes and the better the painting will be. My friend Phil Starke is a very successful artist, and for most of his career he has used a limited palette. He simply uses the primary colors of red, blue, and yellow, plus white and nothing else. Every color in the universe can be mixed from those three primary colors, and Phil is a master at being able to create the colors he wants from this limited palette.
Discover Your True Talents
If you’re someone who does not yet recognize the talents you possess, it’s vital you discover them. If you feel like God hasn’t given you any talents, that’s simply not true. Take some time with someone who knows and loves you, and ask them to describe what they see as your strengths and gifts. There are also many great resources to help you identify your talents, such as spiritual gift and personality tests. Just have no doubt: God has given you talents that you’re responsible to cultivate—and the parable of the talents gives you three essentials on how to be vigilant in developing them in your life.
Next Steps For Your Life Palette:
Ask someone who knows and loves you to describe your strengths and gifts. What are some things you’ve allowed to be a part of your Life Palette that you can eliminate so that you can narrow your focus?