Potential to grow

The potential to grow is hidden in each one of us. Those of you who have been going through my website would have seen the word 'potential' quite a lot - 'I shall support you to reach your potential'. So, what exactly does potential mean? The abilities and qualities that you are best capable of and make you the finest version of yourself.

Now, are these abilities and qualities just hidden in the genes, something that comes out magically, with no effort and makes the 'lucky' successful people wake up to fame in a day? You have guessed it right, of course not. Behind every successful person is a story of hard work and consistent effort.

Be it the ability to learn, to play, to sing, to reason, to design, to cook, and so on, they are not just inborn talent. It isn't either genes or environment, not nature or nurture. In fact, 'not only do genes and environment cooperate as we develop, but genes require input from the environment to work properly', says Gilbert Gottileb, an eminent neuroscientist. All abilities can be developed and should be developed if the inborn talent has to reach its maximum potential.

The tests and competitions you take today, give you an idea of the status of your ability 'now'. It doesn't necessarily mean it would always be so in the future. They give insight on how good are the strategies you have taken to gain that ability, if the strategies needs to be improved, how much you have developed and how much more needs to be developed. The low grades which you got at school in the past, definitely doesn't mean you are not smart now. Any ability can be developed if you put your heart into it.

Similarly, the qualities in you, can be changed and developed too. If you were an introvert as a kid, you CAN be an introvert now, but you don't HAVE to be. Don't force yourself to limit inside labels you have taken along from a random test or from others, or you think you are because of the choices you had made in a few circumstances in the past. Expand yourself to choose what you think you WANT or NEED at any moment, based on what is best for you at that moment.

So go on, dream of the best version of yourself and develop your potential to grow into that dream.