What Potential Do I Have in 2017?

          As we begin 2017 it’s a time when we are encouraged to set new year’s resolutions. Statistics show that these resolutions motivate people to renew fitness goals, recommit to stop bad habits and pursue objectives to improve at work and in our personal and family life. As I was thinking about starting off the new year on the right foot I thought about the question of reaching potential. The message of Worthy to Win tells people everywhere that they are Worthy and deserving of reaching their potential. What exactly is your potential? How is potential measured and are you aware of what your potential is for 2017?

          When I was a young teenager I recall hearing a motivational talk where the speaker said, “You can accomplish anything you want to in life if you have the right plan and are willing to work that plan as if your life depended on it – you can achieve it.” After hearing this talk I set a goal in my mind to become a Division I Tennis Player on a full scholarship. At the time I set that goal I was living in northern Minnesota in a challenging financial situation with little to no formal coaching. My start to tennis was very late compared to most juniors who would be on track to play at a DI level. If one were to analyze my chances of obtaining this goal of playing at an SEC division I college most would have said my chances were slim to none. At times others would share their opinion and seemed happy to tell me I was dreaming and that it wouldn’t happen. I heard that frequently enough that I wondered why someone else would expend so much energy trying to convince me of the limit to my potential.  I learned through this time in my life that I had to hold tight to my dream and work towards it one day at a time. Many people do not truly understand how hard they have to work. I recently heard this quote “Dreams are for one during their sleeping hours, work is for one during the time they are awake. So, the message is wake up and go to work everyday”. I lived this motto for several years and in the end I played for Ole Miss on a full athletic scholarship and had a great college experience. The doubters were wrong and my inner drive and determination carried me to my goal. ​

          My experience brings up the point that we all will have doubts and doubters in our life that attempt to pull us down and diminish our belief. This is part of the law of opposition and it is a universal law all people deal with. All great breakthroughs come from facing difficult challenges and working through them. In short, not giving up and staying focused and committed every day. Real potential begins with the mindset that allows you to have this daily focus consistently. Worthy to Win is about realizing the unseen potential that is inside each of us. When we know there is more potential and we want it to come out so badly. In the introduction to my book, Worthy to Win I talk about this in the introduction, “There are many roadblocks that can block experiencing your full potential.  In the world of sports, those obstacles include poor technique, strategy, fitness and mental focus. In some cases, it is economics when people lack the resources to get the required training or to travel to compete. Performers need to know where to look for the right answers and then know how to act on those answers. This applies to any skill - sports, business, and life.

          From 30 years of coaching, I have found that getting your head clear is the first step to your next breakthrough. Having the right mindset is the foundation to build for future good decisions. As a mindset coach I call this important process, “Mindset Development”. Behind all advancement or skill development is the inner belief system that says, “I can do this, I have it in me, I am worthy of getting the win!”

          As you ponder on your potential in 2017 know that there are two ways of evolving: deliberately and accidentally. You can either decide who you want to become and deliberately work toward that end, or you can just go with the flow and become whatever life makes of you. In that event, you will become whatever the fickle circumstances and forces of life and society will make of you; whatever is currently considered to be popular or in; whatever is easiest. But, whatever you become accidentally it will not be nearly the full measure of your potential. You will become just someone, somewhere in the middle.” ​

          As you think about your new years resolutions let me suggest to not settle for just a new years resolution that will lead you to become middle of the road. Instead, reach for your true potential and what that means for you this year. Remember, you are Worthy to Win. The potential is there…

Actions to consider:

• Write down the current state of your potential. Rate yourself on a scale from 1-10. Then decide where you want that potential to be at the end of 2017.
  
• List those things that have distracted you away from your potential in the past. Create a strategy to move past each of them.
  
• Take time each day to visualize for 15 minutes your potential coming out.
  
• Create a list of action items both physically and mentally that you will need to strengthen for the next 3 months to get you moving in the right direction.
  
• Set 3 month breakthrough goals (both outcome and performance goals). ​