Online With The Professional Image
A bi-monthly newsletter on building professional presence

Are You Maximizing Your Potential? Part One

Professional sports teams recruit for it.  Venture capitalists invest because of it.  Companies develop succession plans based on it.  What element do all three situations share?

It's potential. From the Latin word potent or potens, meaning power, potential is defined by Webster's Collegiate Dictionary as "existing in possibility" and "capable of developing into actuality." Are you maximizing your potential? Have you even stopped to consider what it is?

Our coaching and study of human potential has spawned some consistent findings and consequent themes regarding potential.

1. It is unique to each individual.
2. It encompasses each individual's skills, talents, interests, values, beliefs, drive, commitment, work ethic, and anything else that makes him or her "tick."
3. It is only truly realized when an individual is honest about himself or herself, when an individual continues to learn and grow from life experiences and when an individual is passionate about what he or she is doing.

Since potential is such a vast topic we will explore it in subsequent newsletters. This edition encourages you to explore the first two critical components of potential. The intent is not to tell you what to do to maximize your potential, but to encourage you to explore the critical components of starting the process.  Since exploring potential demands that we stretch our brain, we are going to go through this process simply by asking questions. Why this approach instead of the usual step-by-step approach?

Amy Hutchens, author of Brain Brilliant, reveals "The brain triggers on questions, not statements. Your subconscious mind responds to questions far better than it responds to statements or wishes. If you turn a statement, resolution, or goal into a question, you can trigger your brain to take action because the first thing it will naturally want to do is answer the question. By setting goals through the formation of questions you can incite your brain to take action toward reaching the goal and increase the likelihood that you will attain it."

Since only you can determine your potential, maximizing it must begin with a self-examination process, not a dictatorial one.

1. What do you think your full potential is? If you examine your goals with what you think you are capable of then add what others see in you, what does that look like? What could it be beyond that? If money and time were not issues, what would you be doing personally or professionally right now?

One of the things we find through our coaching sessions is that few individuals actually take the time to think beyond the crisis of the moment or the goals for the year. Giving oneself permission to think, even fantasize about a topic like personal potential seems like a luxury, not a necessity as it should be.  Add 20 years to your age right now and ask "Where do I want to be in 2023?"

2. Are you clear about your strengths? Have you assessed or re-assessed them recently? If so, are you leveraging them? How?

A client of ours recently experienced a career growth "ah ha." While he could provide value to his team, to his company, and continue to meet the objectives set for his division, he failed to look at what he was really good at. His true strengths included an uncanny ability for strategic thinking and business development. A lifetime of training in the operations side of business kept him in positions that involved his technical skills. While he could continue to be successful in this realm, it would, at some point, become stagnating for him if he didn't move to an area where he could leverage his strategic capabilities.

Are you writing your thoughts, insights and responses down? Stay tuned for the next PI Online edition for additional ways to maximize your potential.