Have you ever been told you’ve got so much potential? Maybe you haven’t – if so, I’m sorry.
Most people have been told at some point or another that they have ‘so much potential’. Sometimes it’s said in a positive way, but sometimes it’s more along the lines of, ‘you’ve got so much potential but you’re not using it’.
The second scenario is the one I’d like to focus on today.
I grew up being told that by my parents. It’s no secret we’ve had our ups and downs, a lot of it to do with the fact they wanted me to work for them in their business, and it made sense for me to do that.
The trouble with doing what you’re supposed to do is that you rarely reach your potential in it, even if you are good at it.
I worked for many years in a hard environment doing various different tasks with varying degrees of responsibility and varying degrees of success. I’m sure I was more than capable of excelling at these tasks, but I didn’t always excel. Sometimes I crashed and burned, big style.
That’s when I’d get the ‘you have so much potential if you’ve just apply yourself’ speech.
The problem was, even if I tried, it didn’t always ensure my success either, so in the end I realised that either I was rubbish, or I wasn’t doing the right thing.
Not content with being rubbish, I changed jobs to something I thought might suit me better. It worked. I excelled. I impressed people. I impressed my parents. It made me smile.
BUT…
Whilst I felt I had finally been able to reach my potential in that type of role and in a corporate environment, I didn’t feel like I’d reached my highest potential.
You see, whilst you might reach your potential in one place, in one job, in one scenario, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve self-actualized and reached your ultimate highest potential.
You need to find the best place for you.
It’s not always easy to find your niche in the world, and many people spend most of their lives trying to find it, but once they do, most people say how amazing it is; how they feel they’re living at their ultimate; in flow; in the zone – whatever you want to call it. This is where you need to be to achieve your highest potential.
I can’t tell you where that is for you. I can tell you that it’s outside your current comfort zone. Unfortunately it always is.
I can tell you it will probably to scaring getting there, but somehow you’ll know it’s the right thing and keep going.
I can tell you it won’t always be fun, and it definitely will be hard work.
I can also tell you it will be worth it.
People tell me when I talk about my main ‘work’ job at the moment I seem happy enough, but when I talk about yoga and helping people my face lights up. It’s not the easiest path, but that’s how I know it’s the right one.
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