1 Simple Lesson Which Can Change Everything About Your Future Potential

How a pot plant died and shared wisdom on what you’re capable of.

Last weekend I salvaged a plant pot, from a very dead pot plant.

When I pulled the contents of the pot out, it was painfully clear why the plant had died.

What I held in my hand was a perfectly formed replica of the pot itself.

The plant had been desperately trying to grow but it had nowhere to go.

Its roots had filled the pot so thoroughly, you could hardly see any soil.

The horticultural term for this is ‘root bound’. It is defined as when ‘roots form into a dense, tangled mass that allows little or no space for further growth.

The plant was capable of growing so much more, but its growth had been limited by the walls around it. Walls that I (as the plants owner) had imposed and had failed to expand.

Starved of nutrients, the plants’ potential was lost.

You’ve made a pot

We all have things we have the potential to be great at, but we are often blind to that potential.

When you’re pondering a career change or even just lacking fulfillment in your work and life, it is to these blind spots we must look.

A career coach will often ask “what do other people say you’re good at?” or “What do people come to you for help with?”

Often the answers to these questions offer promising clues as to the direction you should take. In my experience, they are often things the person has never explored.

Our inability to notice what’s right in front of us, limits our potential growth.

For some, their potential within an area of interest or skill is knowingly suppressed. It is restricted by fear. It is restricted by sacrifices made for others. It is restricted by the little voice inside which asks you “and who do you think you are?”

The blind spot is the pot. Self imposed sacrifice is the pot. Fear is the pot.

When you have something you’re passionate about but rarely do, you’ve put your passion in a small pot. There is nowhere else for it to grow.

Your potential cannot grow beyond the confines of the pot you have created for it.

Remember, my plant died. Don’t let yours die too.

Re-pot

The path from hobby to expertise requires a commitment to mastery. At the very least it requires an appetite for experimentation.

It requires you to be intentional about allowing your potential to be realised.

When you change the size of the pot there is nothing (until it fills that one too) which prevents growth.

Your ideas and your interests shouldn’t have walls around them. You don’t know how big they can grow if you don’t allow them to grow.

So what is that thing for you?

What skill do you have which you secretly know you’re good at, but you’ve never really tested just how good you could be?

What passion have you kept in a small pot for too long?

Where are you limiting your own potential?

Where are you allowing your abilities to go untapped?

Here’s my challenge to you:

Go work on this thing that you seem to be good at and that you love.

Go work on that something you’re passionate about but don’t spend much time doing.

Go find a way to develop that skill beyond the constraints you’ve placed around it.

Go change the pot.

Go and find out what you are capable of.

About the Author — Kevin Rozario-Johnson

By day, I work as a Communcations lead for an NHS Mental Health Service. By night, I think, I read and sometimes, though not nearly enough, I write. Previously a coach who helped people who were stuck in their careers get unstuck and equip themselves for the changing future of work.

More stories like this can be found at the nimbla publication

And you can follow me on Twitter @Rojoclick

Photo by Kyle Ellefson on Unsplash