I do not know what your talent is, but I do know this: it will not be lifted to its highest level unless you also have belief. Talent alone is never sufficient. If you want to become your best, you need to believe your best.
To start with, you will need to believe in your potential. How do I mean? Your potential is a picture of what you can become. Inventor Thomas Edison remarked, “If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves.”
Too often, we see what is, not what could be. People looked at a man called Joe Namath when he was young, and they saw a skinny, undersized kid. They looked at him when he was in high school, and they saw a kid who hung around with the wrong crowd and did not do his homework. They looked at him when he was in the pros, and they saw a guy with bad knees. But he saw himself as a champion. If you could see yourself in terms of your true potential, you would not recognize yourself.
Indian statesman—Mohandas Gandhi said that “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most off the world’s problems.” Closer to home, it would also suffice to solve most of our individual problems. We must first believe in our potential if we are to do what we are capable of.
Too many people fall far short of their potential. John Powell, author of The Secret of Staying in Love, estimates that the average person reaches only 10% of his potential, sees only 10% of the beauty that is all around him, hears only 10% of its music and poetry, smells only 10% of its fragrance, and tastes only 10% of the deliciousness of being alive. Most neither see nor seize their potential.
Executive coach Joel Garfinkle recounts a story by writer Mark Twain in which a man died and met Saint Peter at the pearly gates. Immediately realizing that Saint Peter was a wise and knowledgeable individual, the man inquired, “Saint Peter, I have been interested in military history for many years. Tell me who was the greatest general of all time?”
Saint Peter quickly responded, “Oh, that is a simple question. It is that man right over there.” “You must be mistaken,” responded the man, now very perplexed. “I knew that man on earth and he was just a common laborer.” “That is right, my friend,” assured Saint Peter. “He would have been the greatest general of all time, if he had been a general.”
Cartoonist Charles Schulz offered this comparison: “Life is a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.” What are we saving those gears for? It is not good to travel through life without breaking a sweat. So what’s the problem? Most of the time it is self-imposed limitations. They limit us as much as real ones. Life is difficult enough as it is. We make it more difficult when we impose additional limitations on ourselves. Industrialist Charles Schwab observed, “When a man has put a limit on what he will do, he has put a limit on what he can do.”
If it isn’t broke, break it! Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Parler write, “We do not have a clue as to what people’s limits are. All the tests, stop-watches, and finish lines in the world can’t measure human potential. When someone is pursuing their dream, they will go far beyond what seems to be their limitations. The potential that exists within us is limitless and largely untapped…When you think of limits, you create them!”
We often put too much emphasis on mere physical challenges and obstacles, and give too little credence to psychological and emotional ones. Sharon Wood, the first North American woman to climb Mount Everest, learned some things about that after making her successful climb. She said, “I discovered it was not a matter of physical strength, but a matter of psychological strength. The conquest lay within my own mind to penetrate those barriers of self-imposed limitations and get through to that good stuff—the stuff called potential, 90 per cent of which we rarely use.
Your potential is really up to you. It does not matter what others might think. It doesn’t matter where you came from. It does not even matter what you might have believed about yourself at a private time in your life. It is about what lies within you and whether you can bring it out.
Going forward, there is a story of a farm boy from Colorado—who loved to hike and rock climb. One day, while climbing in the mountains, he found an eagle’s nest with an egg in it. He took the egg from the nest, and when he got home, he put it under a hen along with her other eggs.
Since he hatched amongst chicks, the eagle thought he was a chicken. He learned chicken behavior from his “mother” and scratched in the chicken yard along with his “siblings.” He did not know any better. And when he sometimes felt strange stirrings within him, he did not know what to do with them, so he ignored them or suppressed them. After all, if he was a chicken, he should behave like one.
Then one day, an eagle flew over the farm, and the chicken-yard eagle looked up and saw him. In that moment, he realized he wanted to be like that eagle. He wanted to fly high. He wanted to go to the mountain peaks he saw in the distance. He spread his wings, which were much larger and stronger than those of his siblings. Suddenly he understood that he was like that eagle. Though he had never flown before, he possessed the instinct and the capabilities. He spread his wings once more, and he flew, unsteadily at first, but then with greater power and control. As he soared and climbed, he knew that he had finally discovered his true self.
Lastly, when you discover you have been leading only half a life, the other half is going to haunt you until you develop it. Not only is that true, but I’d also say this: Not reaching your potential is a real tragedy. To reach your potential, you must first believe in your potential, and determine to live way beyond average.
and then