According to popular belief on average, we are only using 10% of our potential. That means that you can be 10 times more productive, thus successful than you are now. There are claims that the number is much lower, at just 2%, regardless, it is clear we are living far below our potential. We are selling ourselves short, constantly creating reasons that will justify and rationalize a lack of success of the poor performance.
There are three big lies that we often tell ourselves which feed our inability to live to our fullest potential.
Lie 1. Beating yourself up is productive. We spend a lot of energy telling ourselves they were just not good enough, which leaves little energy left for everything else. You find yourself reading and taking quizzes to uncover your hidden talents, and what job is right for you. You focus on what others are doing, and pretty much everywhere else but on you. We limit our potential by failing to focus on what we truly want, and what we are passionate about.
Lie 2. Failure, fear, and sorrow don’t feature in life fulfilling potential. This is downright wrong. Part of living to your full potential is embracing fear and failure, and acting anyway. We view things, as they are, not how they should be.
- Lie 3. Telling yourself, you are not good enough. That is what you’re doing when you kick yourself for not achieving your full potential. It’s a lie and it is disempowering. Let go of the lie and choose empowerment, because the choice is always yours.
Just as there are three lies, there are three ways to ensure that you are living to your full attention.
Clarify. It’s time to develop your long-term vision. Now, skip ahead five (or ten) years, and what type of life do you see for yourself? What job will you have, what life will you lead? What type of success do you wish to have achieved? How do you imagine yourself feeling about yourself? - Set Goals. You have your vision, now you need to shape it into goals that are specific and actionable. Come up with at least 10 goals that you would like to achieve professionally and personally. Review your list and choose the goal that will make the biggest difference in your life. Create a timeline and milestones on how you will achieve it.
- Win. Creating winning habits is crucial to success. The habits that you have now are responsible for your performance, skill set, and the success that you have today. If you aren’t happy with your success, then it’s vital to adopt new, winning habits. The most important of which is self-discipline. This is the ability to motivate yourself to do what you need to be doing, even when you don’t feel like it.
Living up to your potential doesn’t mean avoiding failure or mistakes. It means embracing those things and plowing ahead. It means choosing you, and doing things one-step a time, doing it your way. Remember that life is not about pleasing everyone around you, rather about pleasing yourself.
Don’t get caught up in the belief that others are better or more capable than you are. You can achieve those same things. Nor should you hold yourself back from achieving everything you want, just because you’re worried about upsetting the apple cart.
It’s your life, live it however you want to, and by choosing to live up to your full potential, you are giving yourself permission to be you. You will feel empowered, excited, determine, proud, and even scared. That does not happen by accident, it is because you choose it.– Scott Blessing