Dear Destiny Friends,

Please permit me to wish you a Happy New Year. The year 2023 has come and gone with its own challenges and opportunities, and 2024 is here to stay for the best if one is ready to make the necessary sacrifices.

According to a sage, yesterday is past, today is a gift, and tomorrow is a mystery because nothing is guaranteed. So, 2024, and life will offer you what you offer it.

There’s no doubt that everyone wishes to make a success of their lives. However, one must understand that before success can come, there must be a conscious need to explore inherent potential that unleashes success. Yes, the potential for success is very critical to success.

Potential is like a currency; it can be seen and felt, and that explains why it attracts great support to people who possess it. Nobody cherishes alliance with whomsoever does not possess potential or is unserious with life. Even employers won’t hire a prospective employee if they don’t see value and potential in the person.

What exactly is potential? Potential is your ability or capacity to accomplish certain tasks as a result of several underlying factors like training, education, skill, interest, values or world view. Everybody is endowed with one potential or another. The only difference is the capacity to activate it.  While our potentials differ, our task is to figure out what they are. When you discover your potential, you’ll know how to maximize it to succeed.

If you will agree with me, most people who genuinely made great strides in the world didn’t do it by magic. They invested time and resources, made preparations, made mistakes, had mentors, and did the needful. They didn’t have two heads; they didn’t come from another planet, they were born by a woman and probably had the same education as everyone of us or less, but one thing is certain; they put in the work. Success didn’t just come to them. They attracted success. You too can do the same. You have the potential to succeed.

According to Hon. Barr. C.M.C, “given every equal opportunity, each and every and everyone is a potential achiever because we don’t have dull brains, only brains undeveloped.” I concur with this saying because we all have the potential for success. Not everyone was born with a silver spoon. Some people had to endure the pain to play later in life.

It’s important to note that your potential is for you, and not for anyone. Just like wealth is not sexually transmitted, potential can not be bought, it can be acquired with the right training and information. However, the best form of potential is the natural potential that the creator has endowed each person with.

Potentials are like seeds, and when properly nurtured, yields fruits. Potentials are like gifts, talent, skill, and knowledge, which one must make continuous effort to upgrade otherwise it will be lost.

Everyone of us has the potential to succeed. Our potentials are like oil that’s yet to be refined; your potential is like unrefined gold, or yet to be cultivated seeds. Consequently, everyone has a seed of greatness in him. For these seeds to grow into a tree, forest, and plantation to produce the desired fruits, they need manure, fertilizer, water and sunlight. Similarly, one’s potential needs to be nurtured for it to grow.

It’s sad to see people who have potentials begging for opportunities to unleash their potential. Isn’t that ironic? Your hands, eyes, legs, mouth, and skin are your potential. It’s sad most times we remain docile instead of igniting the giant in us.

A story was told about a cub which lived with goats, it began to bleat like a goat, even when the baby lion knew its dentition was different from that of goats, it still bleated instead of roaring. One fateful day, the cub met its family – fellow lions, it began to feel timid and afraid because it has lived all its life like a goat.

What does that say? The cub has the potential to extricate itself from the goats, but it failed to do so because it wasn’t self-aware of who he is. That’s the storyline of some of us. We all have the potential to succeed, but we are not serious about leaving our comfort zone; learning, taking strategic risks and more importantly, believing in ourselves.

It’s very sad and unfortunate to see people who spend major time on minor things and spend minor time on major things. When we begin to see ourselves like the vision we envision, what we seek will begin to seek us. However, it’s important to note that until we see the potential in ourselves and develop it, we might not be able to transcend to another level.

We all have the capacity to change the world, our community, school, politics, family, organization, associations, business, church etc. That capacity lies in our potential. When one begins an internal cleansing of himself, people will see it and once they know how genuine they are, they’ll naturally be attracted to follow them.

Poser: if you have the capacity to change one thing in the world, what will it be, and why?

It’s instructive to note that the fastest way to succeed in life is by working on purpose. Your potential is tied to your purpose. When you work on purpose, you won’t struggle to succeed. This is how purpose works, it doesn’t matter how many people do the same work you are doing, once you are doing what you’re called to do, the universe has a way of aligning with you. What took other people years and resources to achieve, you will get with relative ease. As a matter of fact, while others are struggling, you’ll be receiving favor.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, how do we develop our potential? Your potential starts with knowing who you are, knowing the values and principles you stand for; your potential starts in believing in yourself; your potentials starts with having self-confidence; your potential starts with knowing your strength and weakness; your potential starts with identifying with your inner voice; your potentials starts with knowing the right course to study in college, as well as knowing the right career path to follow, the right business, and the right partner or relationship to be involved in.

Still on developing one’s potential, one must be very intentional on the organizations, associations, relationship, core values, and vision they hold dear to heart because they all have a role to play in shaping one’s potential, their world view and the people around them.  

In conclusion, it’s important to state that one can’t succeed outside their purpose. Authentic success comes with working on purpose. So, your greatest task should be in discovering your purpose. Quit worrying about how to figure out your potential. Your potential is in your purpose. So, figure out your life’s purpose. When you do that, your potential will naturally flow with you.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator.  He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny.  He can be reached via info@gloemi.com