POTENTIAL

The human potential is a subject which is discussed by intellectuals for centuries. Why a man with immense talents is not where he should be and how a person branded as a mere mediocre is able to reach dizzy heights, unimaginable for the most. What is the real answer to this? The early promises and estimates, sometimes match with the performances of a person in the future, but in most cases, it is a matter of what could have been rather than what it is, as on today.

 Skip Ross, the legendary trainer and motivational speaker says that the man should always ask himself: ‘Is he where he was created to be’? It seems very simple, but to pinpoint the accurate level is extremely difficult even for a person even when allowed a free hand for wishful thinking. No strings attached, what is the maximum one can think about himself and his position in the future can turn out as the maximum he can reach and extract from one life.

 I always have said and I confirm once more that I have yet to see a negative child. The child is happy, all positive image of human being. Something down the line starts going awry and in most cases by the time he is ‘accepted’ as a mature adult he has usually a very low view of himself and the society. If we are able to find an answer to this, may be, we would hope for a proper matching of desired and achieved levels of human excellence.

 When a person condemned to be a failure, finally achieves something beyond the imagination of the ones who out rightly had earlier condemned him is like a case of eating the proverbial hat. Not to be outdone, the smart ones claim that the achiever was just plain lucky. How great? A handicapped person achieving great feats is not uncommon, a Milton, a Beethoven, a Sudha Chandran, a Surdaas, a Stephan Hawking are the examples which amply state that the people with indomitable spirit do realize their potential which outshines the achievements of so many so-called complete people.  In twelfth century, a son of a Sanyasi, (Dnyandev) persecuted and humiliated beyond limits, writes an epic (Dnyaneswari) which is a topic of PhD’s, even after 800 years. History is full of such lessons and yet every time an unlikely person needs some understanding the world offers him a cold shoulder. Human Potential is not a monopoly of any class, creed or color, but it is not accepted as it is. In our religion it is said (very rarely accepted) if a man wills, he can turn himself in god. (Nar agar karni kare to nar se narayan ban jaye). I feel the ultimate peak of human potential, is to be the Creator Himself and each of us has been blessed with the potential to be the one. To understand this little concept, I world like to give an example. Gold is the noble metal. The smallest particle of the gold has all the properties of the metal. The smallest particle of the common salt has same salinity as the salt rock. Similarly, every human being however insignificant he may feel, has all the properties and virtues of the Creator. Sometime in our life we feel it or someone even today has it, to what effect we are putting it to use is for everyone to see.

 So, the question is not whether one has the potential, it is always there. The question is what he does with it? Too many people with immense potential have lived their lives wandering aimlessly. Each day, such people awaken to a new day, but crib about the same unsolved problems, pending and unresolved for months, even years and ages before. Unused potential even today remains the single largest problem of human existence.

The promise of a potential and the subsequent performance generally have a lot of grey areas, which are posing a big challenge. A person with potential is not mostly aware of his strengths, here some one may be a teacher, trainer, a god father or any other well wisher has to play a major role by not only reminding the person but more importantly initiate the process. One has to realize that the initial resistance is due to the inertia and lack of preparations. The mentor can roll the ball which subsequently gathers its own momentum and becomes self sustaining and supporting system.

The promised potential rolls in to a performing phase, which is watched by the world like a hawk. A mistake here, a short fall there, is highlighted. It is a saddening experience and may result in the abrupt end of the process. The performer has to adopt a philosophical attitude, rather than discouraged and should be able to actually thank such fault finders as they are inadvertently helping to improve the system and the process in the end.

The appraisal of the used and unused potential has been a concern. An abstract issue without exact scales and accepted parameters and hence it is always a question of being judgmental.  How can one be sure that a person has put in a complete effort and yet the results are not matching? Do we have time to really review the entire process? The usual appraisal process is very different for self and others. The performance should be such that who appraises it should not matter, as they say number one is generally number one.

The distance between the promise and the performance has a major bridge, which has two vital piers, namely persistence and perseverance. In the end it is usually the ones who succeed are those who run slightly longer, somehow manage the stress slightly better. The little difference is the deciding factor between the promise and fulfillment of the potential.

 So, in the end, what matters is to be aware of: You are the best; DO YOU KNOW IT?

Human Potential

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