Untapped Potential

I often wondered if I’m realizing my full potential. I “do” many things. However, I sometimes question my confidence in my real capability. Most of the time I think I can do anything if I just try hard enough. I’m a good learner, and I believe I can make things happen. What I have discovered, though, is I don’t know if I’m recognizing my own untapped potential. I don’t know if I’m looking at my desires and my potential or if I’m only committed to doing things that are asked of me.

In the past, I had the experience of working at a dream job where I was using a lot of my strengths. It didn’t feel like work at all. In my dream job situation, it always felt easy, and fun, and I was full of energy and unleashed potential. As time passed though, an opportunity came about and I went for a different position knowing I wouldn’t have to travel as much away from my family. However, several people, including my husband, asked if I thought this was the best fit and if I could do it. I went straight to, “Yes, I can do anything I set my mind to. I just have to learn the job.”

There’s a big difference in what to think about a thing compared to how to think about making these kinds of decisions. The “what” included logic and my past ability to set my mind to something, learn the job, and do it. If I had focused on “how” to think about the situation I might have stepped back and included using the strength of my intuition, laced with the logic of “yes” I can do anything I set my mind to and considered, do I really want to do that job? Would that job really tap into my desired potential? Instead, I put my feet to the grindstone and after 6 months figured “I got this”.

However, I also got a ton of stress. I didn’t feel like I or the business was creating value or realizing the potential of what could be done for the customer. I was always in a panic, and the work felt like a 1000lb weight every day. The day I had an actual panic attack was the day I knew something had to change.

All I could think was, what is wrong with me? Why can’t I do this? Why is everything so heavy? I’ve got this and I should be very well-versed in all these tasks by now. However, once I felt a mistake coming or something went wrong, I panicked and couldn’t move! I wanted to jump out of my skin and hide under the desk. My energy was constantly being drained and I had nothing to offer anyone. There was no room for potential. I was tapped! Then it hit me…it’s hard to see the picture when YOU are in the frame. I needed help.

I reached out to a coach for guidance. She helped open my eyes to a new world. My coach asked great questions and dug in about what I thought was stopping me from growing. She helped me increase my awareness, and discover who I was again. She took the time to process with me and asked the questions that made clear the answers that were already inside. We worked together through the following steps and it helped me know I was not in the right position:

• Reality – What is really going on? What has stopped me from reaching my full potential?
• Options – What are my options? What can I do?
• What else can I do to continue to learn who I am and become who I want to be?

This process was uplifting and over time showed me I could live a purpose-filled life if I chose to. I could now unlock my untapped potential to work with people, be with people, value people, and be a guide to help each person find their own untapped potentials and skill sets.

I got clear that people must be a part of both my professional and personal life. I get my energy from others. I perform well in a crowd and being a coach/trainer/speaker is what I have to offer the world today.

You see, making a difference in the lives of others is where I want to be in order to give all of me. Now that I have made that discovery, I can move forward, step out of my current situation, and seek options that utilize my strengths to help others grow.