Potential. It’s a powerful word.
Everyone has potential, even you.
Especially you.
How to reach your full potential is one of the hardest questions to answer in life.
It’s tricky to answer, because each person is a unique individual.
But there’s steps everyone can take that will be helpful no matter where you are in life.
Without any more jargon, here are the top 10 ways to unlock your full potential
1. Know What You Want
No matter what you’re doing, you should know why you’re doing it.
What do you want right now?
Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
What about at the end of your life?
There’s no right or wrong answer to any of these questions.
The only wrong answer is no answer.
Know what you want, and stay focused on that.
2. Answer the Big Questions
There are some tough questions you should answer about yourself before embarking on your journey to unlock your full potential:
- What would you do if money wasn’t an issue?
- What are your core personal values?
- What makes you happy?
- What does success mean to you?
Answer these, and you’ll have a much clearer idea of what you want.
3. Set Goals
There’s no point in knowing what you want if it’s only an abstract idea.
You should create real, tangible goals that you can reach.
This will motivate you to keep working, and keep you focused on what you set out to do in the first place.
4. Separate Work From Life
I know it can be hard to not view your job as your entire life.
The truth is: it’s not.
You have a life outside of work, and you should be able to leave work behind at times.
Make a clear distinction between things that are professional, and things that are personal.
5. Take Small Steps
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Don’t expect to become the best at what you do after a week of trying.
Unlocking your full potential is often a lifelong endeavour.
If you want to really unlock your potential, start small.
Let’s say your goal is to be stronger.
Try lifting 10 kilograms on your first try instead of 50.
Over time, you’ll become stronger than you ever thought you could become.
6. Recognise Your Strengths & Weaknesses
Strength doesn’t mean perfect, and weakness doesn’t mean flaw.
To unlock your full potential, make a list of your strengths.
This will include your natural gifts, things you’ve always been good at, or things you have put time and work into developing.
You should also make a list of your weaknesses.
This is not to make you feel bad about yourself, but to help with awareness.
If you know your weaknesses, then you will know what to work on.
7. Develop Your Talents
Step 6 said to work on your weaknesses, but talents also need work to keep being talents.
There’s a saying, “Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard.”
That tells you all you need to know about developing your talents.
When you can excel at your talents, you are close to unlocking your full potential.
8. Be Grateful
Countless studies have shown that people are happier and healthier when they’re grateful.
Good news: we all have things for which to be grateful.
If you want to reach your full potential, it’s important to recognise and be grateful for where you already are.
9. Stay Curious
There will always be questions.
Never stop looking for answers.
Do your research, be curious, and you can live a life of unlimited learning potential.
10. Do What You Love
This is probably the most important step to achieving your full potential.
No matter what you do, you should love it.
Doing what you love will make all of the other steps easier.
When you love what you do, you can truly be happy while unlocking your full potential.
