"Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – Is the key to unlocking our potential." Winston Churchill
I have a big thought on my mind. I want to write about expressing our individual possibilities by reaching for our full potential and becoming our very best. This idea seems too big to cover effectively in one post. So I am going to do something a little different. I am going to connect my next four posts to this idea and weave through them the central theme of achieving our full potential.
Just two weeks after I started dating Stacy, she got real serious with me one night and asked me what I wanted from her. I found this to be a very difficult question to answer at such an early stage of our relationship. As we talked about this question she told me that the reason she was asking was because she saw potential in me. She did not want to waste her time dating people that she felt did not have potential or dating people that did not see potential in her. She wanted to know, sooner, rather than later, what I wanted from her so she was not spinning her wheels.
The question, "what do you want from me?", was a little scary at the time. But the statement, "I see potential in you", was an invigorating thought. It has been said that one of the greatest tragedies of our time is that so many people live far below their potential. Stacy's ability to see potential in me, lifted me up. It became a guiding thought for me and to this day, helps me to continually strive to meet my potential. I do not want to let her down. I want her to be right about her initial assessment of me. So I strive each day to reach for my full potential.
The happiest times in my life are when I am elevating my personal strengths and developing my individual talents. Anything less, just feels like I am surviving instead of thriving in my life. In order to stay connected to becoming my very best, I must be anxiously engaged in the process of continuous improvement. I am a dreamer and I dream big. When I become casual in the process of my own personal development I lose energy and balance. When I live with the thought of continuously improving myself I feel excited about each day.
Keeping the Fire Burning
I recognize that it is not easy to maintain such a focus every day of our lives. Yet it is possible to keep that fire burning. I follow some very simple steps to keep me focused on reaching my full potential. In the next four posts, I will discuss each of these steps in greater depth and detail. The steps I desire to discuss with you are as follows:
- Know who you are and who you want to become.
- Use your time wisely. It is the only scarce resource we have.
- Be willing to dream big and courageously stand out from the crowd by being the real you.
- Learn to love others for who they really are, not who you want them to be.
As always, I will be sharing with you some of the questions that I ask myself as I reach for my true potential. The questions for today are ones that many of us fail to ask because we are afraid of the answer, and/or we are afraid that we might somehow be powerless to make the changes that are required to achieve the growth we want.
I begin by asking, is the road you are now traveling, and the present conduct of your life, leading you to achieve your full potential? What do you need to do in order to raise the bar in your life? How will you use the time you have left in this life to make your dreams become a reality? What legacy will you leave for those you love? How will you keep your personal fire from burning out?
Your answers will be different from mine, but the process I will define this week will help you become your very best.
You ain't seen nothin yet!
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