6 Actionable Ways To Unlock Your Full Potential

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What Could You Achieve by Unlocking Your Full Potential?

The only way to find out is to try.

We have all heard some version of the “if humans could use 100% of the brain” idea, and there is no shortage of people offering to help you “unlock your full potential”. The thing is, we already use all of our brains, and the idea of unlocking your full potential is so loaded with questions that it is barely worth discussing:

• What does someone at their full potential look like?
• Is it possible to unlock it in every area of life at once?
• And if not, does getting better at one thing count?

So here is the honest version. I don’t think anyone unlocks their full potential, and I don’t think it matters. When people set their minds on grand, hard-to-define ambitions, they miss the real opportunity, which is to unlock as much of it as they can.

Rather than trying to be the best version of yourself, try to be a little better than yesterday. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Here are six places to start.

1. Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t

This is one of the most powerful shifts in mindset you will ever make. The idea is simple; putting it into practice is not, because it is always easier to find reasons why something is impossible, or at least not available to you right now. Those reasons make a comfortable excuse to hide behind.

Comparing yourself to other people is natural, and sometimes useful. Mostly it is not. So instead of spending your extremely limited time (also known as your life) on excuses and comparisons, spend it on the things you can do.

Start today. What one small thing can you do before you go to sleep tonight that will leave you better off? Half an hour of exercise, or finally calling the person you keep meaning to call. Then imagine what you could do this week, this month, this year, or in a decade, if you kept that up.

It really is that simple.

2. Become a better goal setter

Goals are tricky. We think of any goal setting as a good thing, but not all goals are equal, and some actively get in the way.

We set out how to set goals that improve your life in New Year’s Resolutions vs Goals. The short version: a vague, airy goal is a daydream, and daydreams take you nowhere. What works is a simple three-step formula:

1. Identify what you actually need.
2. Work out what meeting that need would look like.
3. Set micro-goals that walk you there, one step at a time.

Like everything else on this list, it is not rocket science. It does take practice, and probably a few failed attempts, before you get the hang of it.

3. Get out of your comfort zone more often

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That does not mean free soloing a cliff face or taking up a hobby that could kill you. It means trying new things and walking toward discomfort instead of away from it.

• You will not meet new people if you never put yourself in a room with them.
• You will not find work you love from the job you already know you don’t.
• Everybody and everything starts from scratch, so starting from scratch should be the least intimidating thing in the world.

And if you are still looking for your purpose, or even just something worth doing on a Saturday, you will not find it by wondering why the world seems to have nothing for you. You find it by going out and looking.

4. Don’t be an island

Of all the things that made humans the dominant species on the planet, one stands out, and it is not opposable thumbs, fire or tools. It is our ability to communicate, and so to cooperate on a scale no other animal manages.

No person is an island. Don’t try to go it alone when there are people out there who can help and would be glad to. You might not know them yet, but they exist, and finding them belongs near the top of your list.

You may never unlock your full potential on your own. Together, you don’t have to.

5. Think holistically

Nothing in your life exists in a vacuum. If that sounds too philosophical, think healthy body, healthy mind, or a team is only as strong as its weakest link.

The point is that you cannot optimize one area of your life on its own. If you want a better memory, brain training alone will not get you there; you also need sleep, decent food and less stress. If you want to build a business, you need more than startup capital and a few Richard Branson books. You need stamina, discipline, the ability to lead, and the right support at home.

The 10,000-hour rule is a good example. It sounds logical that with enough practice you can master anything, and practice certainly helps. But it turns out that people who start as generalists tend to match or outperform those who specialize from a young age, in sport, the arts, science and business alike. Breadth feeds depth.

In other words, give yourself a balanced set of inputs, and look after body, mind and spirit together.

6. Make technology work for you, not against you

Technology plays an outsized role in our attempts to reach our potential. It lets us do things our grandparents could not have imagined. Yet in many cases, the hours it saves us end up in the hands of social media platforms. For every useful app there is another built to take your time and attention.

I built FocusMe to solve that paradox, to make your technology work for you rather than against you. It blocks the websites and apps you choose, on your computer and your phone, for the hours you choose, and when a plan has to hold, Enforced Mode means the plan runs to its end; while it runs it cannot be stopped or weakened, only made stricter. You can see how it works in a couple of minutes.

You don’t have to take my word for it. The reviews from people who use it say it better. And if you are ready to start unlocking your potential by cutting out digital distraction, try it free for 14 days, no card needed.

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