How to Live Up to Your Full Potential

Part One: Self-Assessment of Potential

If you want to realise your dreams you need to utilise what you already have - live up to your full potential:

v  You need to learn how to use all your knowledge, skills and abilities; 

v  You have the inherent power to control what needs to happen in your life for a better future;

v  You will be able to identify new skills you need and how to acquire them;

v  You will fully utilise your skills to ensure a better future; 

v  You will improve your performance, your productivity, and the quality of your whole life.

What makes a high achiever? 

Is it luck, intelligence, talent, dedication?

All of these things matter - they all contribute to a better life.  But sadly, we all know there are intelligent, talented, hard-working people who do not consider themselves very successful or even happy. 

Why?

And we also know people who are just ordinary, everyday people who seem to be very happy and successful at what they do.

Why?

There must be something else, some secret to success.  Actually there are several secrets to achieving your peak performance - living up to your full potential.

Your success at business, friendship, love, sports - just about everything in life - is largely determined by your own self-image.  Your happiness is something you choose.  Just think about it: No one chooses to be unhappy.

However, you have to consciously choose to be happy, self-confident, and successful.

Happiness is elusive when we go after it directly.  So is self-confidence.

Both Happiness and Self-Confidence seem to be more the result of something you achieved than end-results on their own.

A question arises: Can a conscious decision to be happy, self-confident, successful, etc. be of any value to you?  

Well, the secret is to focus on a range of aspects of your life that needs to be in place at all times. 

Let us look at some of these aspects.

1.      Document your potential. 

Begin by assessing your potential.  To do this you must take stock of yourself; of who you are - you need to make a few lists. 

a)      Write down all the things you can do well.  Be as truthful as possible 

b)      When that list is done, make a list of all the things you like to do, even if you think you can't do them well. 

c)      Then, make a list of all the things you would like to do, if you could. 

d)     Now list your hobbies.

2.      Evaluate and review what you have written down

a)      Go back to the list of things you can do well.  You are probably being much too hard on yourself.  Most of us are.  We have this little voice in our heads telling us things like: 

v  "You're so dumb," or

v  "You can't learn to do that," or

v  "You never do anything right," or

v  Similar nasty things. 

v  Even worse, we listen to that voice as if it's telling us the gospel truth. 

So shut off that negative voice – focus on what you are good at and add a few more things to the list of things you can do well. 

Pretend you are your best friend and let your friend tell you what you are good at and add it to your list - it's amazing how much more forgiving and charitable our friends are in their assessment of your capabilities and potential.

b)      Now go to your list of things you like to do but you feel you don't do well.  What do you think your best friends will tell you? Write it down.  You will surprise yourself with the results.

c)      Next, go to your list of things you would like to do if you could. 

v  Ask yourself, "Why am I not doing these things that I would like to do?" 

v  Write your answer or reasons next to each of the listed items.

d)     Review and update your list of hobbies in the same way.

e)      So now you have information about who you are, things you are good at, things you would like to do, and your hobbies – how will all this information help you?

f)       Do you realise that you have just completed a very important self-assessment. It is like standing in front of a mirror and saying to yourself: This is who I am! If you have been truly honest with your self, you have completed a fairly accurate self-assessment. 

Nobody is perfect. So accept that as time goes on you will recognise gaps in your assessment. That is no serious problem. Regard your self-assessment as work-in-progress. But for now we will work with what's on the lists.  At least you have a place to start.

3.      Re-evaluate your self-assessment

Work through your self-assessment again.  You are focusing on all the things you feel you can't do and the reasons why you can't do them, right?  Well, don't.

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN DO - FOCUS ON YOUR POTENTIAL. 

Make it a habit to focus on your strengths.  Don't forget to include your undeveloped potential, as well.  Train yourself to focus on your potential and not on your limitations or so-called weaknesses.

Now that's not to say that you should ignore your list of reasons for not doing some of the things you would like to do.  Not at all!  But look at them from the viewpoint of your strengths. 

v  For instance, you'd like to play basketball but you think you are too short, so you don't even try. In this case, you are looking at it from the viewpoint of your limitations.

v  Now, when you look at it from the viewpoint of your strengths, you would say, "Well, I may be short to play, BUT I am fast.  I can handle the ball well.  I have a lot of stamina.  I can't change being short, but I can refuse to let my limitations overcome my strengths." You see the difference? 

v  Focusing on your limitations lets those limitations make your decisions for you. 

v  Focusing on your strengths lets YOU make the decision. 

To go back to our example:  when you've decided to overcome your height limitations to play basketball - something you really want to do - you will be more determined to develop your strengths to compensate.  You will do well, because you will be doing what you really want to do and you will be determined to develop the full potential of your strengths.  Very few people concentrate on fully developing any of their strengths.  That's where you will have the edge.  You know your true disadvantages but your determination, your single-minded purpose, will inspire you to fully develop the talents and skills you do have.

So you are not a basketball fan.  Then go to your assessment of yourself. 

v  What do you have a major interest in? 

v  What do you have a natural aptitude for?  Go for it. 

v  Devote yourself to something you really like to do. 

Don't choose something just because you think you could make more money at it than you could by doing something else that you would really rather work at. 

§ You won't work to develop your full potential.  You may start out with enthusiasm, but you will soon flag.  It will be a chore to go to work.  You'll probably find yourself hating to go. 

§ It'll be difficult to work on improving your skills because you don't like what you are doing.  You probably won't be working up to your potential. 

§ Your success will probably be limited by your growing lack of interest and your happiness will surely be affected.

If, however, you devote yourself to something you really like to do,

·                     You'll enjoy your work;

·                     You'll be enthusiastic;

·                      You'll be yourself working on improving your skills just for the sheer joy of it;

·                     You will be working to reach your full potential.  

·             You'll soon find you are making more money at this truly interesting occupation than you ever dreamed possible. 

·                       And because you like what you are doing, you will be happier.

When you know you are working to your full potential and you enjoy your work and begin to feel successful, you will find that self-confidence and happiness soon follow.