Do you know what you're capable of - what enormous, amazing contributions you can make to life? Has someone told you you couldn't? Or could? When's the last time someone told you that you could achieve great things?
Just recently, someone told me they believed I was meant to do great things. I can't recall anyone ever believing so clearly in me and my potential. It was humbling. And overwhelming. In fact, I wasn't sure I agreed.
I've come to realize how easily - quickly - we judge another person's potential. As if it can be measured. Or predicted.
Every company does succession planning - identifies those "up and comers" who have potential to move up the corporate ladder. It's a critical step any organization must take to ensure its continued growth and success. They won't succeed if they leave it up to the fates.
At the same time, it hits me that people have sat around tables and judged my potential - could she manage people? how many? how high can she go? how valuable is she? what's holding her back? and are those things worth trying to fix in order for her to move up?
I was in one of those meetings recently, and I was asked to make those judgments about other people. I felt hypocritical judging others, when I'm just now realizing how much potential I have. I've only just begun seeing what's been holding me back and where I could possibly go.
So, how can others judge my potential when I'm just beginning to fathom how much greater I can be? How can I judge others?
It's human nature, I suppose. Life is easier when we can categorize people. Make judgements. It gives us a framework from which to interact with those people. Companies need to do it so they can target investments and efforts in building people.
Yet - are we doing it for ourselves? Why do I wait for a company to tell me that I have potential - or what level of potential I have? And why wait for them to decide how to invest in helping me reach that potential?
I shouldn't complain that someone else is evaluating my potential when I haven't even done it. It's easier to judge other people, and easier to decide what training someone needs.
I should be donig my own assessment and identifying my own potential for greatness. Not when it comes to work - but when it comes to why I'm here and what contributions I want to make while I'm here. Then, I have to do something with it - make those investments to reach my potential.
It's a whole other story to judge myself - that takes a pretty significant amount of honesty. And some conversations with the people in my life who know me best - my friend who keeps telling me to move to Europe. The one who says I should have kids whether I get married or not. The one who remembers the passion I had for journalism. The ones who have watched with sadness as I've shrunk from my potential.
Just recently, someone told me they believed I was meant to do great things. I can't recall anyone ever believing so clearly in me and my potential. It was humbling. And overwhelming. In fact, I wasn't sure I agreed.
I've come to realize how easily - quickly - we judge another person's potential. As if it can be measured. Or predicted.
Every company does succession planning - identifies those "up and comers" who have potential to move up the corporate ladder. It's a critical step any organization must take to ensure its continued growth and success. They won't succeed if they leave it up to the fates.
At the same time, it hits me that people have sat around tables and judged my potential - could she manage people? how many? how high can she go? how valuable is she? what's holding her back? and are those things worth trying to fix in order for her to move up?
I was in one of those meetings recently, and I was asked to make those judgments about other people. I felt hypocritical judging others, when I'm just now realizing how much potential I have. I've only just begun seeing what's been holding me back and where I could possibly go.
So, how can others judge my potential when I'm just beginning to fathom how much greater I can be? How can I judge others?
It's human nature, I suppose. Life is easier when we can categorize people. Make judgements. It gives us a framework from which to interact with those people. Companies need to do it so they can target investments and efforts in building people.
Yet - are we doing it for ourselves? Why do I wait for a company to tell me that I have potential - or what level of potential I have? And why wait for them to decide how to invest in helping me reach that potential?
I shouldn't complain that someone else is evaluating my potential when I haven't even done it. It's easier to judge other people, and easier to decide what training someone needs.
I should be donig my own assessment and identifying my own potential for greatness. Not when it comes to work - but when it comes to why I'm here and what contributions I want to make while I'm here. Then, I have to do something with it - make those investments to reach my potential.
It's a whole other story to judge myself - that takes a pretty significant amount of honesty. And some conversations with the people in my life who know me best - my friend who keeps telling me to move to Europe. The one who says I should have kids whether I get married or not. The one who remembers the passion I had for journalism. The ones who have watched with sadness as I've shrunk from my potential.
It also requires a sense of meaning and purpose - what drives me every day? and at the end of my life, what will I want to have contributed? what would I be proud to have said I achieved?
This quote from author and philospher Og Mandino hits me hard as I think of my potential - and the responsibility I have to identify it and then achieve it:
"I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy."
This quote from author and philospher Og Mandino hits me hard as I think of my potential - and the responsibility I have to identify it and then achieve it:
"I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy."
I've been shrinking. Well, not physically unfortunately! I wish that were the case. But, in my mind and my work and my personal passions, I've been shrinking. Probably for at least a decade. Because all those things I'm most proud of - who I was when I was most proud of myself (when I was audacious) - happened a long, long time ago.
I wasn't planning where my path should go or looking for a higher purpose in a destination. And in the end, I walked away from who that woman was and who she was becoming.
I'm starting to look up again and ask those questions about why I might be here, and what greatness should I be striving for? What path will take me back to that woman - yet even greater?
I'm just starting my journey up that mountain. I can't leave it to fate - otherwise, I'll get off track again and my path will go crooked. I have to keep laying those stones in my path - but I have to take those steps deliberately and consistently.
I'm not thinking it'll be easy - but the view from the top will be breathtaking.
I'm just starting my journey up that mountain. I can't leave it to fate - otherwise, I'll get off track again and my path will go crooked. I have to keep laying those stones in my path - but I have to take those steps deliberately and consistently.
I'm not thinking it'll be easy - but the view from the top will be breathtaking.
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