The Nature of True Potential

Our potential is only limited by our own thoughts and of course what the human body can do. Not what we think the human body can do, but what it actually can do. Often we are limited by the thought that something can not be done just because it hasn't been done before. As a child I read about the first man to break the four minute mile. Until the mid-20th century it was thought that man could not run a mile under 4 minutes because our human bodies were not built to do it. So it was an impossibility. So nobody did.

In 1945 Gunder Hagg came close when he ran a mile in 4 minutes, 1 second and 4 tenths of a second. It took nearly a decade for Roger Bannister to make his place in history by running a mile in 3 minutes 59 seconds and 4 tenths of a second on May 6, 1954. The barrier was not physical, but emotional. Everyone knew it couldn't be done so it wasn't done. Bannister did not follow conventional wisdom when it came to his training; he was a medical student, who used his knowledge to condition himself. Bannister stretched the limits both physically and mentally. He knew that he could do what others knew to be impossible: break that four minute mile and he did it. Just a few months later on June 21st John Landy ran a mile in 3 minutes, 57 seconds and 9 tenths of a second. Once the barrier was broken there was no going back.

Another one of my true potential heroes is Thomas Edison, the inventor of so many useful things. I can not decide if the phonograph or his camera that takes moving pictures is my favorite Edison invention. The man was a clearly a genius, but as a child, Thomas Edison was declared to be stupid by his school teacher. How easy would it have been to believe the authority figure and let all that true potential go to waste? Luckily for him, his mother believed in him and his potential so she home schooled him. One of my favorite quotes by Edison is "I have not failed. I just have found 10,000 ways that don't work." Isn't that mentally freeing to know we haven't failed; we just have eliminated a bunch of ways that just don't work for us.

Think about how you have limited your potential by accepting conventional wisdom as your own thoughts and beliefs. I do believe that most of us, me included have not reached our full potential. Some of us are aware of this and occasionally make attempts to stretch our limits. I myself have stretched the boundaries of my self imposed limits on occasion. I have to laugh at myself because of how I tend to make changes; I try the new way for a while then I fall back into my old habits. I don't do this because the new way isn't working, no I do it because it is working and I get nervous about it. Sometimes I think my picture should be next the words "fraidy cat" to help illustrate the definition. I usually stretch the boundaries of my own established limits with one big jump, then I pull back to regroup. After regrouping, I try again by stretching my limits slowly, falling back a bit before stretching again until I gain the courage to go full steam ahead.

I believe we can begin stretching our boundaries to reach our true potential by first starting with a dream, then get practical and figure out what you need to accomplish to making it a reality. Then comes the hard part - follow through; living up to your true potential demands that you push beyond what you perceive as your limits. In short having a dream isn't enough we must back it up with hope, resilience, perseverance and work up a sweat.

References:

Running History Roger Bannister Breaks the 4 Minute Mile Part 1 by David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace

Academy of Achievement: Sir Roger Bannister.

www.thomasedision.comlechinsky