We each have the potential be amazing individuals. There is no person on this earth who doesn’t have the potential to be a successful, kind, thoughtful, and generous person. The challenge is how to unlock that potential.
The problem is that even though we each are born with this incredible potential, somewhere along the way it gets buried. How does it get buried? Well, some parents bury their children’s potential by discouraging them. For instance, how many parents are quick to point out their children’s faults, but rarely, if ever, point out their children’s gifts and talents?
Siblings will bury each other’s potential in order to compete for their parents’ attention. So, they’ll insult their siblings to make themselves look better. And if parents don’t aggressively tamp down that type of behavior, a child will end up believing the negative things his or her siblings say.
The world may bury our potential with negative feedback. If a teacher tells a child he’ll never go to college, he’ll believe it, no matter how smart he is. A woman who is told that females don’t have the aptitude to be economists or engineers will believe it. If people are told that their gender or the color of their skin inhibits their ability for success, they will believe it on some level.
But all of that feedback is false. It is just garbage that buries our true potential to be successful, amazing human beings. The question then is this: How do we unlock (or un-bury) our true potential?
Below are some specific ways to unlock your potential and be the incredible person that you were created to be. Consider applying these approaches in your own life, and see how you can flourish!
Know Yourself and Your Potential
The world is full of people who like to spout nonsense. I’ve had people tell me what they think are the good and bad aspects of my personality. I’ve had people tell me what I was and was not capable of. None of them knew what they were talking about. In fact, my biggest regret in life is that I have listened to people whose judgment was nowhere near as good as mine.
No one knows you as well as you do. So, if someone tells you that you can’t achieve great things, ignore them. If someone tells you that you are unattractive, boring or uninteresting, ignore them.
You can’t achieve great things in your life if you don’t learn to block out the negative noise of other people. Instead, trust your own judgment. Believe that you are an amazing person. Know that you are unique and wonderful, and that you have the potential to do amazing things with your life.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
If you constantly compare yourself to others, you will get frustrated. There always will be someone who is smarter, more successful or more attractive than you are. That is life.
Comparing yourself to others misses the point entirely. Realize that you are a unique individual. No one else has your specific combination of attributes and talents. Only you have the ability to make your special contribution to the world.
So, don’t compare yourself to others. That is like comparing apples and oranges. Each person is unique and different.
Instead of comparing yourself with others, appreciate the qualities of other people. Admire their gifts and try to emulate them when they are exceptionally kind or mature. And then focus on developing your own unique qualities and talents so that you too can achieve your full potential.
To Fulfill Your Potential, Don’t Create Your Own Roadblocks
Life is full of obstacles that we have to overcome. We may need to work harder to become successful because we face sexism or racism. We may need to find creative ways to go to college or trade school if our parents are poor. Or we may have grown up in a dysfunctional household, and as a result, we need to train ourselves to relate to others properly. Life is full of built-in road blocks.
To become the exceptional person that you were created to be, you need to overcome these roadblocks. And then you need to not create additional roadblocks yourself! I can assure you that you don’t need any more of them.
How do we create our own roadblocks? By making bad choices. For instance, people make lots of bad choices with regard to their health. They may drink too much alcohol, smoke cigarettes or use drugs. Folks also make less obvious bad choices. These bad choices include eating unhealthy food and not exercising. When we make those bad choices, we create roadblocks to our success by being unhealthy.
We also create roadblocks by choosing to be lazy. We might choose to not work hard in school. Or we may choose to be irresponsible at our jobs. All these choices create roadblocks that inhibit our ability to be professionally and financially successful.
And of course, we create roadblocks to our being high quality individuals. If we choose to be rude, aggressive or arrogant, we prevent ourselves from being the morally exceptional people that we were created to be.
So, to unlock your potential, you need to make good choices. Making good choices isn’t complicated. Good choices are obvious. We just need to develop self-control in order to consistently make those good choices.
Hold Yourself to the Highest Standard in All Things
If you want to unlock your potential, you need to set high standards for yourself. Now, many people set a high standard for themselves in only one area of their lives. And then they are poor or mediocre in other areas. For example, someone may be exceptional at work. But that person’s behavior toward his or her spouse and children is deplorable. Or they keep a messy house.
If you want to reach your full potential as a human being, you need to hold yourself to the highest standard in all things – from the way you do your job to the way you treat your spouse to the way you fold your laundry. Exceptional people are exceptional in all areas of their lives. Average people are good in one area, and they are a disaster in others.
When you make it a habit to operate with excellence in all areas of your life, you get on the path to unlocking your potential. That is because the different areas of our lives are intertwined. For instance, if you are a messy and disorganized person, you won’t be able to find the things you need (when you need them) to do your job well. If you are difficult with your spouse and children, your home life will be unhappy. And then the stress of your home life will affect your ability to concentrate at work.
Instead, when you operate with excellence in all areas of your life, your life starts to flow. All aspects of your life work together properly, like a well-oiled machine. And pretty soon, you are moving forward and achieving more than you ever thought you could.
Consider using the above approaches to unlock your incredible potential. Know that you have everything it takes to be a good, successful, exceptional individual. Use these approaches, unlock your potential and watch your life change for the better!
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