How do determine if you successfully fulfilled your potential? How do you define potential?

Discussion in 'Philosophy' started by Messiah Decoy, Feb 18, 2015.

  1. Aren't there countless ways to fulfill different potentials within a person?
     
    There's reaching your potential as an athlete, as a musician, a cook, a parent, an artist, a historian, a public servant, a humanitarian, a womanizer, a philosopher, a warrior, etc.
     
    The list goes on and on.
     
    So is about reaching one potential, reaching a few potentials or acknowledging that the potentials must exist and not reaching at all.
     
     

     
  2. You have more potential than time to fulfill it.
     
  3. I think the first obvious realization to be made is that there is no  ONE potential to be fulfilled. Most of your potentials will not be fulfilled by default, simply because there are many of them and only one you. (On this plane of existence at least). 
    As the OP outlines originally, there are several fields one could excel in.   Michael Phelps for example did not fulfill his potential as a musician.  He seems like a fairly bright young man and if he had put as much time into music as he did into swimming, he would have been a much better musician than  he is today, perhaps even a world recognized one.  Regardless of how well he'd do, one thing is certain - he'd be better than he is now, not having invested said time into music.   The point I'm trying to make is, no matter what you dedicate yourself to, the more time you spend on that, the less time you are spending on other things.  This is not something to be lamented but simply a byproduct of our limited time matched against the ever growing number of things to do.

    Additionally, if/when a person chooses a particular field to dedicate themselves to, they are still subject to all sorts of external stimuli that can affect whether or not they excell in said field.  For example, if a gifted young athlete has a drug addict/criminal family around him, his chances of athletic success are smaller than that of someone who has a functioning and supportive family structure in place.
    There are obviously cases of people overcoming circumstances to rise to the top of whatever it is they're pursuing, but those are generally exceptions, not the rule.

    Finally, there is hard work.  Talent means nothing if one is not willing and eager to put in the time in developing it further and growing. This may be the single most important factor when it comes to achieving one's potential in anything.   Personally though, I think  "hard"  work is an almost always inaccurate statement when referring to the greats in any activity.  Yes, it does refer to hours/days/years of labor put into whatever it is one is pursuing, but most successful people I have met, whether in business, sports, or music, rarely looked at the time put in as "hard".  They enjoyed the activity and therefore putting in exorbent amounts of time into it was more second nature rather than work.   True enthusiasm about an activity makes most if not all time put into said activity not hard.

     
     
  4. I like to think life is a dream and you are the dreamer. You can do anything. You just have to actually do it.
     
  5. I'd like to add, potential may have no limit. We have what is possible in our lifetime and what is ultimately possible. Someday perhaps we can will things into existence, but for now, that is merely a potential. Potential is that which can be and that which is, is potential thats been actualized.
     

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