Stop Reaching and Start Digging
You've heard the saying, "Reach for the stars," right? Well, it's time to put that idea to rest. If you want to reach your potential, you need to stop reaching and start digging.
The idea of reaching your potential is not only unhelpful, but it also leads you in the wrong direction in terms of where to look for it. In this blog post, I'll share with you the 5 tools you need to dig deeper into yourself, discover your full potential, and start living it.
But first, let's start by defining what potential is.
What Is Potential?
The technical definition says that potential is "having the skills or qualities to be successful or useful in the future." And when applied more specifically to human development, it's some sense of the greatest version of you that hasn't been realized yet — something in the future, a bigger, better version of you that you have yet to fully embrace and become.
When I hear people talk about potential, it seems to suggest that it is something OUTSIDE of our current selves that we need to become:
"It's not here within me."
"It's somewhere out there."
"Something I need to reach and grab and move towards."
Hence the expression: reaching your potential. For me, that expression leaves somewhat discouraged because it feels far away and like a lot of work. Have you ever felt that way too?
How Do You Reach Your Full Potential?
The truth is that your potential is within you. It's not some faraway place or goal that you need to work towards. It's not something outside of yourself that needs to be reached and grabbed — it is the very essence of who you are. Sure, there might be some learning around new skills or tools that can help, but when we really see someone living their potential, it isn't because of a new skill they mastered. It's because of a shift in mindset to finally step into their full power.
Unlearn Limiting Beliefs & Habits
Often, this mindset shift starts with unlearning limiting beliefs and habits that stand in your way of accessing it. You need to be able to fully believe that the only thing between you and your full potential is YOU. Your willingness to believe this activates the superpowers that are already within you.
Stop Reaching and Start Digging
To reach our full potential, we have to stop reaching and start digging. The magic we are looking for out there is inside us. A good example of this is the miracle of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
Caterpillars have a unique method for transformation. Rather than using inspiration from the outside world, they cocoon themselves into a full and deep retreat — and then emerge about 3 weeks later as completely transformed beings who can now fly.
It is by cocooning into ourselves and doing the inner work that we gain direct access to our potential.
Why Am I Not Using My Full Potential?
The Fear of Being Great
Fully believing in our greatness can be scary. Marianne Williamson, an American author and spiritual leader, says: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us."
We are scared of believing in our own power because it forces us to take responsibility for using that power and live up to its potential. And even before you can use it, you have to first really accept that it's there and that you are truly enough.
Yes, you really are enough.
Trying to be anything other than who you are is what stops you from really accessing your potential. When you start believing in your own self-worth, it becomes easier to express who you truly are. It’s you being more of you.
And that's what living your potential really is — becoming the truest, kindest, most talented, and most creative version of yourself. It's all already there, but in order to access it, you need to stop reaching and start digging.
So how do you actually do that deep inner digging? There are so many ways, but I'm going to focus on 5 tools that can help you access your true potential and start living it.
How to Reach Your Potential Using 5 Tools
1. Step out of your comfort zone and try new things
This first tool encourages you to leave your comfort zone and try new things. Every new experience you have teaches you something new about yourself. These insights give you hints about your greatness and the talents you may not have known you had. So, try something new (at least once a month) to shake things up and see what happens after you step out of your comfort zone.
2. Shift from a “fixed” to “growth” mindset by focusing on your internal motivators rather than external approval
Find ways to do things not for the end result or how other people will see it but just for the journey of learning about yourself. By doing this, you'll discover sides of yourself that can exist outside the realm of what other people think and accept. Those sides can help you get in touch with your full potential.
You can also connect this to the first tool about trying something new:
When you try new things, quit worrying about how good you are at them and instead focus on the experience itself. You can even take existing activities and tasks you've already been doing for a while and see what happens when you shift your motivation for doing them from external approval to internal curiosity.
3. Embrace challenges to discover your real strengths
Make sure that you aren't only working on things that are easy for you because otherwise:
How will you know what your limits are?
How will you know what your capabilities really are?
If all of your tasks are easy, then how will you ever grow?
Look for things that challenge you because there's no other way to find out what you're made of than when you put yourself through a real test.
4. List down your fears, uncover what really worries you, and push through with courageous acts
Take so- Highly unlikely to happen; or
Not even that scary in the first place.
In fact, research says more than 90% of the things we worry about never really happen. But even knowing that, our fears can still be very real and feel extremely scary.me time to reflect and write down a list of the things you're afraid of. Ask yourself why those things scare you, and really dig into the worst-case scenarios that you're most afraid of with each of those fears.
Often, that alone can already help you realize that the thing you're most afraid of is either:
So what do you do when that's the case?
Take those remaining fears and think about what you would do if they happened. Visualize how you would handle the situation. Realizing that you can respond to your fears rather than be paralyzed by them diminishes the weight those fears have on you.
And if you want to fully understand what your fears are trying to teach you, then you need to take action and push through. Once you do this, you'll realize that those fears don't have a permanent grip on you. And rebuilding your relationship to fears is one of the most direct ways to accessing your full potential.
5. Surround yourself with people who see more of your potential than you do and benefit from their support in your journey
Fear limits you and your vision. So, surround yourself with people who truly love and care for you and are already relating to your potential. You'll know who they are because being with them brings out your best qualities and makes you feel your best.
Ask them to tell you exactly:
What they see in you
Your strengths and abilities
Then use that information to build up those qualities and dig deeper into what's keeping you from seeing them in yourself.
Takeaway
To recap, here are the 5 tools you need to step into your greatest future self:
Step out of your comfort zone and try new things.
Shift from a “fixed” to “growth” mindset (by focusing on your internal motivators rather than external approval).
Embrace challenges to discover your real strengths.
List down your fears, uncover what really worries you, and push through with courageous acts.
Surround yourself with people who see more of your potential than you do and benefit from their support in your journey.
I hope these 5 tools will help you discover your potential and tap into it. They are simple but powerful tools that allow you to step into your greatness and live life with more meaning, purpose, and passion. Remember, your full potential lies inside you right now. All you have to do is stop reaching and start digging!
References:
Williamson, M. (1992). A Return to Love. https://marianne.com/a-return-to-love/
LaFreniere LS, Newman MG. (2020). Exposing Worry's Deceit. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7233480/
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