Exploring our potential.

I believe in therapy, support, learning, mentors and coaching - I offer some of these services myself and I use these services. I wouldn’t be good at what I do if I didn’t.

It was in a business coaching session that we were discussing “potential” - I had said that I didn’t feel like I was pushing myself to live up to my own potential, and the idea made me frustrated and pissed off. Because it wasn’t true, but also, it was.

It’s all tied to our inner capitalism, to over productivity and to being busy. It’s the lies we’re taught to work harder for other people, and if we AREN’T working harder - we’re failing. We’re not worthy. We’re less than. We’re not living up to our full potential. And that’s a bad bad thing, apparently.

In my exploration of living up to my full potential I was telling myself that I wasn’t doing good enough. So, I explored this thought -

What for me is “good enough”?

(If you’re singing the Dodgy song then we’re on the same wavelength)

I won’t answer that here - very few people care about my personal ideas of good enough, but I can tell you what it ISN’T -

1) Being a millionaire.
2) Being disconnected from other people.
3) Being disconnected from my work.
4) Owning stuff.
5) Working hard to make other people like me.

The first thing I teach my clients to do is to sit in silence for 3 - 5 minutes daily. Why? Because we get so dragged down by noise that we forget what we think, want and who we are. So, developing a connection to us is vital in supporting our mental health.

So, here’s my take - fuck potential. Who defines us? We do. Who decides on our potential? We do. Not our past teachers. How do we define our potential? Through our own ideas and thoughts. Not comparing ourselves to others.

Links to articles which also cover this - 3 Lies to Eliminate to Start Living Up to Your Potential (tinybuddha.com)
For a deeper read - Buddhist Views of Human Potential (ukessays.com)
A Podcast I recommend - Melissa McCarthy: Sex, Nuns & Ghosts - We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle | Podcast on Spotify