Potential Is There. You Have To Work To Achieve It
July 11, 2020
“Congratulations, you have been selected to perform for your first concert” My wife conveyed this message to my son.
“Oh, God. I have never done this before, how am I going to manage this? I don’t know if I am ready,” my son responded instinctively.
Whenever we are on the cusp of opportunities that look significantly bigger than what we are doing at present, we always feel overawed.
E.g., You are managing a ten-member team, and you are interviewing for a role to lead a two hundred member team, it is natural to feel a sense of uncertainty.
The question is not whether you can manage the bigger responsibility or not. The right question is whether you can develop your leadership and your capabilities to run a bigger operation. Can you prepare yourself to be ready for the big opportunity?
Personal Growth is a bit like building our muscles.
Imagine someone comes to you and asks you to lift a 30 Kg dead weight. You have never lifted anything this heavy. At best, you have managed to hoist 10 Kg or 15 Kg. You have the muscles to lift that weight. What you lack is the strength in the muscles to lift the weight.
We can think of our muscles, to be like our potential. The muscles are already there inherently in each one of us. We have to develop and strengthen them to handle the load. So it is, with our potential.
Whenever you come to the threshold of an opportunity that challenges your current capacity, you have to work on developing the capabilities and skills necessary to manage the new opportunity. You have to invest time, focus, and effort to grow your potential to a point where instead of struggling to lift 10 Kgs, you are now struggling to lift 30 Kgs.
At every stage in our life, our readiness level will always be one leg below the responsibilities or challenges we wish to undertake. Everyone has the inherent potential and capacity to grow to the next level. What is needed is the intention and willingness to put the effort to strengthen and grow to our potential. The path to the big opportunities is through the struggle.
