Filling the Gap Between Potential and Success

There are two perspectives I have encountered when talking with people about their observation of other's success or talents. It breaks my heart when I hear either one.

They sound something like this.

"It's not fair, it just seems like they can do anything, and they don't even have to try. Everything in life just goes their way."

or

"I wish I could do things like them. They are so good at so many different things, but I'm not good at anything."

They look at others, and perceive an unfairness of gifts, talents, or success. It is as if God or the Universe loved the one person and thought little of the other.

Before we go any further in this discussion, it needs to be said, there are some people who are just more naturally gifted than others. They learn easier, find success more often, and have a greater number of talents.

That has always been true, and it will always be true.

Please hear me when I say, don't get stuck there.

That doesn't mean only some people have gifts, intelligence, and luck. Everyone has these things, some people just have more.

You can't change that, and neither can I. So let's not waste our time there.

Instead, allow me to share some good news with you.

All of us are given a measure of potential. Every single one of us.

The problem is, many people never do anything with that potential.

I heard it described this way, "Many of us have been given hundreds of acres of potential, but we only cultivate the soil of half an acre."

Unfortunately, many people stop where they are, never trying for more, never moving past what is comfortable and easy. They use the excuse, "I will never be like them, so why try?"

It is easy to get stuck on what is typical and allow that to validate our stance of non-effort. Statistics say, that if my parents didn't graduate from college, I am less likely to graduate from college.

If my parents didn't make it, I won't either, so why try?

Well, my parents didn't graduate from college, but my sister is an RN. Why? She chose to till the ground of potential she was given, and now she is reaping the harvest!

You may not see much now, you may not see where this potential can take you, but please don't stay where you are, on the off chance it does not work out.

If you chose to till the ground of potential you can see now, you will find that you have even more than you knew.

When I graduated from High School, I was certain that college, success, or promise would never happen for me. I wasn't a good student, I wasn't very bright, and I didn't see any gifts I had that could be translated to the real world.

I left High School not expecting much, and I lived a couple years with that lack of expectation.

Finally I came into a season where I thought, I may fall flat on my face, but I have to at least try to be more, to do more than this.

It was a scary place to stand. I felt like I was standing on a cliffs edge. I felt like I was jumping off into uncertainty. I might fail, I might wish I never even tried. This hope I was clinging on to, might blow up in my face.

I questioned whether or not it was even worth the risk.

The funny thing is, looking back now, I can see it wasn't a cliff I was standing on, it was a field.

It wasn't about taking a crazy risk; it was about choosing to do the hard work of investing time and energy into my potential.

I am not saying I am a raging success with piles of money and worldwide fame. I am however, doing more than I was.

I am doing things now I never dreamed of doing ten years ago. I chose to till the ground of potential around me, and I was rewarded for my efforts. I also found there was more potential than I saw before, and more ground to till.

Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 

God's Word says, you and I have been given all the potential we need, in order to accomplish great things.

So where are you putting the hard work in today, to produce something greater tomorrow? Where are you tilling the soil of potential in your life?

Don't stand back wishing you had what others have. Instead, do the work that is necessary to fill the gap between your potential and the success you will produce.