How Does One Reach Their Highest Potential?
This question captures my attention because in life, we try to achieve great things. We
may be trying to graduate college, land a dream job, write a book, train to run a long
marathon, etc., but how do we do these things? Now my answer to this question is
easy; it takes patience, hard work, and a strong drive to achieve your end goal. But it’s
so much easier said than done! I wanted to ask this question because as every person
who is going through a struggle in their journey, how do we achieve the end results we
want when it gets hard? How do we keep going on our growth journey when we want to
quit? Some people actually do end up quitting and don’t meet their full potential, while
others succeed. And that led me to think, how can I achieve my highest potential?
Looking at TED Talk videos was perfect for answering these questions.
I find Anthony Cheam’s talk inspiring because he tells his audience how to “update”
their life. Throughout his talk, he used the analogy of a notification popping up on our
Iphones saying we need to update our phones. When we update it, we are improving
the system so that it doesn’t have technical issues and it functions efficiently. If we
ignore the notification, problems build up and when we go to use our phones that
probably won’t function right. He then tells the process of how to update: by having faith,
fire, and flexibility. By having faith that what we want will happen, we put ourselves in
the right mindset. It’s about trusting that the good and righteous will persevere, even evidence
that contradicts that. Fire, he refers to the power of the sun. It is so hot that when something is
focused on it, it will burn. If we have a blazing determination and a blazing desire, whatever we
want we can achieve because of the power of that hot fire. Flexibility allows us to adapt to our
challenges. Cheam says that a palm tree can withstand any type of weather because it flexes
and bends with the wind. I think this TED perfectly relates to my question because by having
faith, fire, and flexibility, we can reach our highest potential and go beyond what we could have
imagined. Most importantly, we need to upgrade our mindsets and occasionally do a reset when
we aren’t in the right headspace to achieve our desired goals.
People resources : Professor Sara Angevine and Professor Andrea Rehn at Whittier College
Inspiring TedxTalk: Ashley Stahl How to Figure Out What You Really Want
Scholarly Book for Growth: The 15 Invaluable laws of Growth by John C. Maxwell
Reaching Your full potential isn’t out of reach: 10 steps to get moving by Kelly Labreque
tps://www.betterup.com/blog/full-potential
