How to realise your limitless potential

January 25, 2016September 11, 2024 Mark Kirwin

How to realise your limitless potential

Every human starts off with limitless potential – anything is possible – So why is our potential not always reached, what it happens and how to control it [our self-talk]

We all need feedback an automatic system of self-correction to make sure we are still on track or within the acceptable boundaries of performance and delivery [like radar or sonar]. If you don’t have an acceptable way of collecting feedback you run the risk of running aground or worse sinking [to continue the boating analogy] Throughout life we begin to collect feedback, as a baby – the baby [you or I] realise that when an adult appears at our crib and smiles at us – if we smile back, then the interaction continues – and so life goes on we do something and the world around us reacts and we then adjust or change our behaviour depending on what we thought or wanted the reaction to be.

We also begin the process of an internal dialogue to confirm or redress the worlds response – this is our self-talk

No-one talks to you like you

There is a well-known syndrome in Psychology known as Imposter Syndrome [Link] which suggests that everyone is in danger of undermining their own confidence and performance.

Lou Tice in his book ‘Smart talk for achieving your potential’ [Link] looks at how your self-talk develops and can either be an extraordinary help of a devastating hindrance to your potential achievements and indeed your life in general. He also gives some excellent advice on how to change and control your Self Talk to get outstanding results.

Shirzad Chamine, in his book Positive Intelligence [Link] goes even further dividing this self-talk down into positive and negative elements, giving them personalities and traits which you can explore and learn to recognise and manage. Shirzad suggests that with a little thought and practice you can improve your personal performance by as much as 40%

Shirzad has an excellent free positive intelligence survey [Link] which helps you to identify your own saboteurs and provides an excellent tailored analysis of the ways to counteract these saboteurs.

Chamine identifies 10 ‘Saboteur’ traits which are connected to human’s primeval personal survival strategies. These ten all ‘work for or with’ – “The Judge” Chamine also identifies 10 ‘Sage’ traits which again he argues are connected to our primeval Thrive strategies.

The Judge – the master Saboteur

The Judge is the universal Saboteur that afflicts everyone. This is the one that beats you up repeatedly over mistakes or shortcomings, warns you obsessively about future risks, wakes you up in the middle of the night worrying, fixes your attention on what is wrong with others or your life, etc. Your Judge is your greatest internal enemy, it also encourages, enrols and activates your other Saboteurs and in so doing, causes you much of your stress and unhappiness, and reduces your effectiveness.

The Sage – the protector

Chamine goes on to explain how to weaken all the Saboteurs and at the same time suggests we focus some development time on improving the strength of our Sage traits.

How they work:

Chamine suggests that your mind can be either your best friend, or your worst enemy. Saboteurs start off as our guardians to help one survive the real and imagined threats to our physical and emotional survival as children. By the time we are adults, we no longer need them, but they have become strong influential invisible inhabitants of our mind. “Hijacking” our actions and feelings without us realising.

Your Positive Intelligence Quotient is identified as the percentage of time your mind is serving you vs sabotaging you. Your PQ indicates how much mastery you have over your own mind.

Your Saboteurs cause all your stress, unhappiness and negative feelings

It is true that your Saboteurs have successfully PUSHED you to improve and succeed through fear, anxiety, blame, shame, guilt, etc. (Negative Reinforcement). However, research shows that you would succeed even more if you were PULLED by your inherent positive feelings Your SAGE traits – those of curiosity, compassion, creativity, love for yourself and others, and love for contribution and self-expression (Positive Reinforcement). Research suggests that by building your SAGE traits you will not only be more successful but you would be far happier and less stressed. – What’s not to like!

Saboteur assessment report

The Saboteur assessment report takes you through the comprehensive list of Saboteurs and Sages giving useful information including

A description; the key characteristics, what it makes you think like, how it makes you feel, how you justify your thoughts and feelings, what the impact is on you and on others and finally the origin of this function.