Member-only story
The Problem With ‘Living up to Your Full Potential’…
…and how it might really be holding you back
What Does ‘Full Potential’ Mean?
It comes up a lot in conversations I have with people-not just clients, but it’s common with parents, friends, many of us-this idea that we, or another person isn’t living up to their ‘full potential’.
It’s seductive. I see it when I look at my kids-they engage with something, but perhaps we see a ‘gap’ between how much they’re engaging and what just a little more effort, or a little more time would bring…
Or it’s a sense we have for ourselves-that there is something ‘more’ we could be up to, if only we were utilising this potential thingy.
One of my clients used to use it as a strategy,
I set my expectations much higher than I think I’m going to achieve, she told me, because it motivates me to achieve more.
Yep, I get that, and I’ve probably done that too, still do to some extent I suspect. And I’m certainly conscious of it, in fractional moments, when I find myself wishing my student son, currently home from university, would spend a little less time on his PlayStation, and a little more focused on the mountain of essays he seems to have.
