#8 - The Edge of Potential: Why You’re More Capable That You Think

So the first thing that we're going to get stuck in with on this episode is talking about why you're probably underestimating yourself because I meet hundreds of different business owners, have probably worked with thousands of different people across my career, across lots of different job roles.

For those of you that don't know, I am a qualified careers advisor.

That's how I started my career.

So Nearly every single human being that I've met underestimates their potential.

And I think it's really important for us to think about the reasons why that happens.

And I think a lot of people underestimate what they're capable of because firstly, you're not putting yourself in situations where you are allowing yourself to see how capable you truly are.

I think it's when we are meeting our edges, when we are in the toughest periods of our life, when we are in discomfort, when resilience is needed is where we're doing the most learning and the most growing.

But a theme throughout this podcast has been around meeting edges and what happens when we meet that edge.

And the general consensus across everybody, all the guests that I've spoken to, is that our natural response as humans is that when we meet an edge, we back off and we come away from it.

But actually...

That's a question I really want you to think about is when in the last six to 12 months or the last two to five years, how often do you put yourself in situations where you're allowing yourself to see just how truly capable you are? Something that I believed about myself is that I am not great under pressure, I can't cope with working under pressure and actually what I've realised over the last 10 years, particularly as a business owner, is that I can do it and actually I'm pretty good at it.

So I really want you to think about where you are putting yourself in those positions and how often you're allowing yourself to see how capable you are.

I think another thing that a lot of people think when it comes to potential is that you believe your potential is fixed.

And it isn't, it's expandable.

Much like a growth or a fixed mindset, your potential has the ability to grow.

So what that might look like, or what you might hear yourself saying is, or believing is that you have a set amount of talent, that people are either talented or they're not.

Maybe you've heard yourself say that about friends, or I've certainly said it in the past, it's easy for them, they're just so talented, it comes easily to them.

it is easy for us to believe that because people are potentially naturally talented at something, that that means we can't get better if we don't have a natural affinity or natural talent.

I mean, that really, really isn't the case.

A lot of people judge themselves on where they are now versus where they want to be.

So you might be judging your potential and how much potential you think you have or what you're able to achieve based on your current situation.

But what you have to remember is you're constantly growing.

So you aren't the same person that you were six months ago or 12 months ago or two years ago, especially in your business.

You will have been growing and changing and adapting every single day.

So when we think about, when we get stuck in the day-to-day, it's very hard for us to be aspirational and to be thinking about the big dreams and the big visions and the big aspirations because we're thinking of them based on where we are now.