Most Of Us Have No Idea What We're Capable Of

I’ve had the below story on my iPad for 10+ years and periodically I think about it and the message, most of us have no idea what we are capable of.

In 1983, a 61-year old potato farmer showed up to run a long-distance race (544 miles) from Sydney to Melbourne, Australia. About 150 world-class athletes registered to participate in this anticipated six-day event.

Race officials were startled to see Cliff Young show up to run this prestigious race in his work clothes and galoshes over his work boots.

At first, the race officials 'justified' hesitancy caused them to refuse Young's participation. So, he explained to them he was accustomed to running for days rounding up sheep on his family's 2000-acre farm. The officials conceded, and Cliff got his race number and joined the other professional athletes.

To no one's surprise, Cliff was immediately left in the dust. But Cliff didn't know the plan was to stop each night to rest, so he just kept shuffling along at his slow, consistent pace. He told reporters later that during the race, he imagined that he was running after sheep and trying to outrun a storm. 

Cliff Young ran the race in five days, 15 hours and four minutes, trimming almost two days off the record for any previous race between Sydney and Melbourne.

In his honor and memory, in 2004, the year after his death at age 81, the organizers of the race changed its name to the Cliff Young Australian Six Day Race.

What a simple yet remarkable story!

The great inventor Thomas Edison would have loved Cliff Young. Edison once reflected, "If we were to do all the things we're capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves."

Ironically, according to Adobe, 75% of people do not think they're living up to their creative potential.

All of this begs the question:

What could you do if you didn't know what you could do?

Ultimately, the real contest is always between what you've done and what you're capable of doing. Measure yourself against yourself and nobody else.

If we don't believe we can perform above where we are, we certainly won't cause it to happen. The way we see our potential impacts our ability to stretch beyond our current capabilities. 

Could it be that what I know about what I'm currently doing is limiting me from doing what I'm capable of doing?

How good could you be if you didn't know how good you currently were?

Phillips Brooks, writer of the song "O Little Town of Bethlehem," remarked, "When you discover you've been leading only half a life, the other half is going to haunt you until you develop it."

Now you know. If you've had a 'haunting' feeling lately, it might be your heart nudging you to become what you were intended to become. Potential pursued brings a person to a whole new level of living.

The infamous Charlie Brown might represent a substantial percent of our population when he lamented, "The greatest burden in life is to have a great potential." I would add: …and not maximize it.

"To be what we are, and to be what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life."