When I first read the book “The Boy Who Could Fly, or The Path to Freedom”, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life. This book made me realize a deeply rooted limiting belief: that talent is something innate, available only to a chosen few. This belief was so ingrained in me that I didn’t even notice how it influenced my thoughts and actions.
Based on my experience, I came to understand how incredibly difficult it is to recognize limiting beliefs on your own. Our mind works in a special way—it rarely questions its own beliefs. And this makes sense: if certain beliefs help us survive and function in the world, why would we question them? Everything we know seems right to us because it has helped us survive until now.
When we are young, our mind creates beliefs about everything—about talent, creativity, personal capabilities, about what is possible or impossible for us. For example, when I was 24, I had strong beliefs like "I'm not a creative person" or "I can't be a businessman." Take, for example, the belief that talent is something we're born with. This belief was shaped by the survival experiences of previous generations when there wasn't much knowledge about developing human potential. However, science and education keep moving forward, and today we know that human potential can be developed.
This book opened my eyes to something incredible: talent isn't just a gift you're born with - it's a state of mind that anyone can achieve. To reach this amazing state of mind, you just need to develop your mind. This idea lit a fire in me. At the time, I was stuck in a mindset filled with doubt, envy, fears, and uncertainty. So I decided to pursue what the authors called the "talent state" - a state where you're excited to grow, find joy in life, and work on interesting projects.
I've always loved playing computer games, so I imagined myself as a game character who gradually levels up through experience and achievements. I realized that my own "character" was seriously under-leveled.I clearly visualized my current development stats: mental energy at 10 out of 100, skills at 15 out of 100, and experience/critical thinking at 25 out of 100. This realization helped me stop comparing myself to others and feeling disappointed in my achievements. Instead, I accepted my current level and set a goal to "level up," improving each of these areas step by step.
I continued working as a waiter, but my life now had a completely different meaning. I became happy because I had gained clarity and understanding of how to move forward. My new motto became: “Use projects to develop your character and fill life with positive emotions.”
The most significant change in my life was that I began to see ideas for projects in the world around me. One day, I noticed a rock on the street that looked like a skull. In the past, I would have walked past it without paying any attention, but this time, an idea popped into my head: “What if I painted this rock to make it look like an alien skull? That would be interesting and unique. Why not make it my first creative project?” And so, my journey toward a new state of mind began.
I bought paints, brushes, and got to work. Every evening, after my waiter shifts, I spent a little time painting the rock. When the project was complete (Projects #1), I was overwhelmed with a sense of joy and pride. I realized that creating something new brought an extraordinary sense of fulfillment.
After that, I continued experimenting. My next projects included making videos about traveling across the United States (Projects #2 and #3) and creating videos for my brother and father (Projects #4 and #5). With each new project, I tried to raise the bar: one video focused on editing, while another incorporated special effects. Learning new things wasn’t easy, and I faced internal doubts.
“This will take too much time! Why bother?” my inner voice would say.
But I was driven by the idea of a “new state of mind,” and I kept moving forward. I started exploring new software like After Effects and figuring out how to make each project more challenging. I worked intuitively, without rigid deadlines or external pressure. I set my own timelines and acted as my own manager and mentor.
Next, I decided to pursue web development as a potential source of income and a great way to develop my skills while working on meaningful projects.
But I quickly realized something important: one motivation is never enough to sustain long-term effort. Web development is a labor-intensive process that takes a lot of time. If I were motivated solely by the idea of making money, I would have likely lost interest quickly.
In the past, I had tried to learn web development, but my thoughts were always:
"Oh, this will take too long to master. Becoming good at it will take forever!"
This kind of thinking could have broken my motivation.
But this time was different. I had multiple reasons to start learning web development:
By stacking multiple motivations together, I found a much stronger inner drive to keep going.
I started with website builders and began coming up with different project ideas:
Learning something new was challenging, but having a clear vision changed my perception of difficulties. I realized that challenges were just part of the growth process. A quote from a book inspired me:
“A ripe apple will eventually fall.”
I consistently tracked every completed project and continued working on numerous small ideas. I began blogging and treated each post as a separate project. Soon, I had written ten blog posts and counted them as ten completed projects.
I hadn’t planned to write ten posts initially. But after completing each project, I simply asked myself, “What’s next?” At that moment, ten blog posts satisfied my curiosity.
Any idea that interested me and that I hadn’t tried before, I turned into a project:
My mindset started shifting. In the past, I would abandon things easily, but now, I was excited to work on different projects, understanding that each one developed my mind.
Moreover, some of these projects were completely absurd—ranging from cooking and home décor to creating strange websites. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that I was ****learning and growing.
I didn’t complete every project, and that was okay. Some remained unfinished, but that was a natural part of the process. The key was that I was constantly creating new ideas that inspired me.
At first, I started with simple ideas. But over time, as my skills, confidence, and energy grew, I naturally became interested in more complex projects.
This was a natural process of mental development and improving the quality of my life.
I kept working on all kinds of projects, believing that one day, I would reach a new level. Projects had different motivations:
I believed that I could achieve a state of talent; I just needed to keep developing my mind through projects. The idea of a “new state of mind” kept pulling me forward.
At the same time, I began paying close attention to how I spent my time.
I wanted to fill my life with positive emotions. Before, I did many things on autopilot. But now, I started living more consciously.
This journey was just beginning, but already, I could feel the transformation.
One day, my friend invited me to a concert by DJ Krush, a hip-hop DJ. At first, I refused—hip-hop had never really interested me—but I eventually decided to go, thinking it would be a good opportunity to expand my horizons.
That evening turned out to be life-changing: I fell in love with electronic music. For the first time, I truly understood what “big sound” meant—the bass vibrated through my entire body. Until that moment, I had only listened to music, but I had never truly felt it. It was an entirely new experience that left me amazed. I watched the DJ and thought, “How does he do it? What opportunities would open up for me if I mastered these skills? He’s 50 years old—imagine what I could accomplish by that age.”
A short while later, my friends gifted me a MIDI keyboard.
“Why did you give me this?” I asked.
“You’ve been talking about music all the time lately,” they replied.
Their gift became the spark that pushed me to take real steps toward music and start practicing regularly. I’m deeply grateful to my friends for this moment—it helped me transition from merely thinking about music to actually taking action and pursuing it seriously.
Starting with music wasn’t easy. Later, I realized that a stereotype had been holding me back: “To make music, you need to graduate from a music school.” By that point, though, I had already completed numerous projects and understood that talent is not an innate ability—it’s a state of mind. This realization allowed me to see music as yet another way to develop my mind.
I’ve recommended the book about talent to many people, but its impact on me was particularly profound. When I reflected on why it resonated so deeply, I identified two key reasons.
First, the harder and more challenging your life situation, the more effective the solutions you discover become. In my case, I was dissatisfied with my job as a waiter and felt that my potential was yearning for more. I wasn’t happy, and the theory of talent became the solution I needed to pull myself out of that rut. Meanwhile, other people may have been content with their lives and seen no reason to make a change.
Second, this had roots in my childhood. In school, I had always been a diligent student, and the habit of finishing what I started became an integral part of my personality. That discipline helped me persevere and see projects through to completion. I realized that the effectiveness of new ideas largely depends on your current situation: the more difficult it is, the more open you are to adopting and applying new solutions. While much of this is influenced by childhood, it’s important to understand that it’s never too late to change and grow.
Thanks to the projects I had already completed, I had the confidence and understanding that every step brought me closer to my goals. Music became yet another project for developing my mind and unlocking my talent.
This is how my first musical projects began:
Three months later, I created my first complete song (Project #26). I was so proud of this accomplishment that I listened to it over and over for two days straight. It became one of the most significant moments of my life, affirming that I was on the right path.
I continued creating new tracks, turning each one into a separate project (Projects #27–37). Then, I decided to shoot a music video for one of my songs using fun masks. I chose to make these masks by hand, treating each mask as its own project. In the end, the masks and the music video became Projects #38–42.
With each new project, I kept progressing and eventually reached a level where I wanted to create something truly significant. My goal became mastering the creation of a social network. At that time, social networks were booming, and I had an idea to build a platform that would not only generate income but also inspire others. I wanted to create a website where people could share their projects, showcase their skills, and connect with like-minded individuals who shared similar interests.
This is how the “Talentut” project (Project #43) was born.
After a year of hard work and experimentation, I managed to bring it to a functional state. This experience was incredibly important to me because it taught me that starting small can gradually lead to something big.
At first, my projects were very simple, taking only a few hours to complete. But as I grew, I began tackling more complex tasks, and the projects started requiring more time.
To further develop “Talentut,” I needed funding for promotion and advertising, so I decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign (Project #44). Although the campaign wasn’t successful, it didn’t stop me. I made the decision to move to Boston to work as a mover and save money to continue developing the project.
While in Boston, I had another pivotal experience: I met a former director of the Mayakovsky Theater who had immigrated to the U.S. many years ago. He suggested that I study acting, and I eagerly agreed. For me, this was yet another way to develop my mind and skills. During the day, I worked as a mover, and in the evenings, I attended acting classes and continued creating music. This period was incredibly inspiring because I had a clear vision of my path. I wanted to unlock talent as a state of mind.
Gradually, I saved enough money to buy quality speakers and an audio interface, allowing me to reach a completely new level in music production. I continued creating tracks, treating each one as a separate project (Projects #46–56). With each completed project, my confidence and skills grew.
Through my work on various projects, I learned to think creatively and unconventionally—not stopping at the first idea but striving to create something truly interesting and surprising. This skill later enabled me to design a website for a moving company at an entirely new level (Project #57).
After successfully completing a project, the director of another moving company approached me with a request to build a website for his business. A week later, he invited me to his office and said:
— I don’t need a website.
— Are you canceling the project? I asked.
— No, I want us to create software.
— Whatever you call it, it’s still going to be a website, I replied.
— No, this will be software.
At first, I didn’t understand what he meant by “software,” but he explained that software offers far greater functionality and can be sold on a subscription basis. This conversation became the starting point for building something much bigger than I had initially imagined.
He showed me the software his company was using at the time. It was installed on a PC via a CD—this was before cloud technology had become mainstream. When he saw the website I had created for another moving company, he proposed taking it to the next level: a cloud-based solution where the entire infrastructure, including the database, would be hosted online. At the time, this was revolutionary, and it surprised me how big an opportunity this was.
I learned that moving companies in the U.S. required complex systems to operate efficiently. They needed to track orders, manage customer communication, inventory, and move sizes, and organize all of this data in one place. The first software solution we built included multiple features like scheduling, tables for tracking orders, and tools for managing operations. However, one of my unique contributions was introducing the concept of an account page for clients. This page allowed customers to log in, view their invoices, see messages, and track everything in one place. It was a game-changer for the industry, as communication previously relied on Gmail or scattered emails.
At that time, the IT industry was in its early stages of growth, and cloud-based solutions were just starting to become more prominent. Companies like Airbnb were emerging, and platforms like Facebook were rapidly growing. The tech landscape was expanding in all directions, showcasing the potential of online systems to replace traditional offline infrastructure. Inspired by this trend, we decided to launch an IT company focused on providing cloud-based solutions for moving companies.
We launched the company, and I became a full partner with a 50% share. My task was to create something far more ambitious than anything I had done before. Although I had no prior experience in software development, the 50+ projects I had already completed gave me the confidence to take on this challenge.
It took us a year of development, but we successfully launched our subscription-based software product. Moving companies were thrilled with its functionality. We began signing up 10 companies a month, which was a huge success for the industry. Clients called us to thank us and often requested additional features.
At one point, I found myself marveling at the shift in priorities: “People are asking for functionality, not bread! The world really has changed!”
Our software stood out not just because of its functionality, but also because of its design and user-friendly interface. I spent a lot of time studying good design practices, learning from websites that I admired, and drawing inspiration from well-designed interfaces across other industries. I made it a point to prioritize user experience (UX) and design. This focus on aesthetics and functionality was unheard of in the moving industry at the time, where most software solutions were just simple databases housed on ugly, uninspiring websites. The visual appeal made using the software feel more engaging and less like a chore. This difference helped us stand out and positioned us as innovators in the moving industry.
This was my first real glimpse into the potential of the IT industry and the power of creating software that solved real-world problems. It marked the beginning of an era where everything was moving online. Watching our software help companies grow and streamline their operations was incredibly fulfilling. That experience cemented my belief in the transformative power of technology and deepened my appreciation for the creativity and innovation driving the IT industry forward. We were at the forefront of a wave of change, and I couldn’t have been more excited to be part of it.
I felt my awareness expand to a new level of understanding the true value of functionality.
Today, the world’s most influential leaders discuss application functionality at prestigious forums. I never imagined that I would earn a living creating web applications—intangible products that exist purely in the digital realm—yet companies were willing to pay for them. I fell in love with the process of building features and witnessing how our software truly transformed businesses.
That’s how I became the director of a successful IT company with a remote team of 20 people. Interestingly, during all this time, we never met in person—all communication happened through audio calls.
Each project can be imagined as a balloon that I inflated, one after another. At some point, I began to lift off the ground. Three years after realizing that talent is a state of mind, I wrote my first music album (Project #66) https://rakn.bandcamp.com/ and became the co-founder of my first IT company (Project #89). https://www.elromco.com/
At some point, I realized that I had reached a new state of mind. It wasn’t about having specific skills or achieving external success—I hadn’t attended music school, and my first song didn’t win a Grammy. What I understood was that talent is a state of mind where you have the energy, curiosity, and drive to explore and create something new. It’s a mindset where you embrace challenges, use your skills to overcome difficulties, and carve your own path to achieving your goals. Talent as a state of mind means being conscious of how you spend your time, confident that with small, consistent steps, you can learn and achieve anything you set your sights on. It requires information, practice, and patience, but it starts with the belief that growth is possible. This is what I call talent as a state of mind—a state where you are constantly learning and evolving.
Through completing projects, the concept of “talent as a state of mind” became a natural part of my life. At some point, I stopped counting completed projects—they had become an inseparable part of my journey.
When I began, I had no knowledge of programming or music. I created my own learning process, relying on intuition, common sense, and the consistent practice of completing projects to develop my mind. I learned programming and design on my own by studying online materials and replicating what I found inspiring.
Significant progress in developing my mind was also achieved through my work with theater director and teacher Semyon Rivkin. We studied poetry, analyzed literary works, and engaged in etudes (role-playing exercises) that enhanced my attention and creative thinking.
The first page of a book is just as important as the last. Without the first, there can’t be a second, and without the second, there can’t be a third. Everything is interconnected, and what seemed like strange or insignificant projects led me to something meaningful.
Reaching a new level always happens unexpectedly. We often don’t see our progress, but every step matters. Within us, there are scales, and at some point, they suddenly tip. I suddenly realized and felt that I had reached the state of talent. Now, I’m excited to live, learn, and grow, and I feel confident in my ability to create something new by approaching things differently.
The biggest surprise was realizing that my first official project (the one I counted) was simply painting a rock, while Project #66 was creating a music album. If I could offer advice to my 24-year-old self from the future, I would say:
"If you want to pursue music, first understand that talent is a state of mind. Then, complete 20 simple projects that have nothing to do with music. Build websites, learn to cook, make videos. Start by painting a rock!"
This might sound strange, but that’s exactly the path I took to uncover talent as a state of mind.
But there’s no such thing as “what if.” At 24, I wasn’t thinking about music or programming. Everything happened gradually, one project at a time.
My journey to creating meaningful projects was not just a series of completed tasks but a process of overcoming difficulties and believing that I could reach a new state of mind. From simple ideas, like painting a rock, to large-scale projects, such as building software, I understood that talent and genius are states of mind that can be achieved by developing your mental abilities. Overcoming challenges is one of the most important elements of this journey, and everyone must face their own challenges independently.
Since childhood, our minds operate in a “receive mode”: we’re given food, information, and advice on how to live. This process continues into college, where professors, mentors, and coaches supply us with knowledge. But the real journey begins when you switch that “receive mode” to “create mode”—when you start acting independently, coming up with your own projects, implementing them, and designing your own learning process. Of course, common sense and openness to learning from mentors remain essential.
Each obstacle I overcame made me stronger, expanded my abilities, and helped me realize that true talent is a state of mind where you’re ready to learn, change, and grow. Yes, we may have natural abilities, but talent is not just a gift—it’s a state of mind. You might have an innate ability for creativity, but it’s your mindset that determines whether you develop that talent.
Remember: by completing simple projects, you develop your mind and create new neural connections, opening the door to more complex challenges. This process strengthens your confidence and boosts your motivation to tackle more ambitious projects. You’ll learn how to select the right projects and, importantly, how to see them through to completion.
Developing your mind is the key to unlocking a new state of mind and enhancing your creative abilities. This is achieved through practice, completing projects, acquiring new skills, embracing challenges, broadening your horizons, and filling your life with positive emotions. Open yourself to new experiences in any field, even if they seem unrelated. Challenges are good for your mind, and over time, what once seemed difficult will become easier.
Approach life as a game where you consciously “level up” your character. This approach will make your personal development not only more engaging but also more effective.
See you at the next step, where we’ll dive even deeper into the formula for unlocking talent and developing your mind.
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