Imagine an unlimited life; a life without fear of failure; a life where you treat obstacles as stepping stones to success. We all have the potential to get to this level.
Unleashing your potential is like discovering hidden treasure in you. There is something extraordinary within each of us, but we must dig deep to uncover it.
What’s your Real Potential?
Your real potential is the ability to evolve into something better continually. Potential varies from person to person; but, we are all capable of scaling up into successful and happy lives. But, most of us are confined by our self-constructed walls.
How to go from Ordinary to Extraordinary
1. Know Thyself
What gets your heart thumping in excitement? What motivates you? What interest of yours has stayed with you throughout life? What are the activities in which you excel?
If you aren’t sure, it’s time you start expanding your self-awareness. Observe what activities make you happy. What gets you out of bed with anticipation and what makes you feel fulfilled at the end of the day. Align your life with things that you love.
2. Get Paid for Your Passion
Once you zero in your interests, passion, and what you’re good at, design your life around them; channel your attention and effort into those activities.
Initially, you may only get to dedicate your weekends or mornings, but with a bit of planning, you can get to work, full-time, on what you’re good at and love. The goal is to create a career path that incorporates the things that you would do, even without pay.
3. Never Stop Learning
An extraordinary life is a product of continuous improvement. Ordinary into extraordinary, At the end of each day, you should have learned what you didn’t know before. If you aren’t learning, you’re declining.
4. Set High Expectations
Don’t be cynical and start thinking, “Extraordinary things never happen to me.” Expect great things from you and those around you. Dream big, and go for big ideas. As the Norman Vincent Peale aphorism goes, Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.
5. Be Financially Independent
Being financially independent is different from being rich. Financial independence is living within your means. It’s not waddling through debt.
You can look at someone’s house, and cars, and think, “Wow, this guy is rich.” But in reality, they might be neck-deep in debt. That’s not extraordinary.
Extraordinary is when you can sleep soundly at night knowing that when push comes to shove, you’ll still be alright – you’ll have a roof over your head and other essentials. Dream big, but live within your means and plan for adversity.
Having a safety net allows you to make riskier moves without risking obliteration if things don’t work out.
6. Accept Success as Well as Failure
If you explore many things and you’re adventurous in your endeavors, you will win a lot, as well as fail a lot.
When you’re thriving, things can go wrong, and they’ll go wrong. Conversely, when you’re on a losing streak, there are always upsides. What makes you ordinary into extraordinary is the ability to weather the storm without losing focus.
There are going to be stormy days; there are going to be sunny days. So cultivate the emotional, mental, physical, financial resources to make it through.
7. Work Harder
What sets extraordinary people apart is the great lengths they are willing to go. A winner does what’s expected, and goes a bit further.
To be ordinary into extraordinary, you can’t just do the bare minimum. You have to go beyond that. You’ve got to over-prepare. You’ve got to over-execute. You’ve got to over-deliver.
So work harder. Go through the process. Pay your dues. Change the ordinary to extraordinary.
8. Understand Your Strengths and Weaknesses.
You must always be aware of your strong points and your limitations. Knowing your strengths will direct you to your areas of expertise, bolster your self-esteem, and fuel your ambition.
Conversely, being aware of your limitations gives you awareness of your blind spots, and direct you to what may be holding your back. Without a deliberate effort to counterbalance your weak points, you will stumble and fall.
9. Take Risks
The main reason why most people don’t cross ordinary into extraordinary territory’ is that they avoid risks. Going out of your comfort zone not only helps you grow, but it also strengthens character and increases your overall understanding.
10. Look Beyond the Horizon
Do not set hard limits around what you can or can’t do. Unshackle yourself from preconceived notions, and don’t let other people’s words limit you.
A lot of people will tell you achieving certain things is impossible just because they don’t have the drive and character needed to achieve them. And many times, we assume we’re incapable even before we try. So let go of such assumptions and beliefs and expand your horizons.
11. Set Goals
What do you want to achieve in the short-term? What’s your end goal? Don’t drift aimlessly. Set short-term goals and long-term goals and channel your energies towards achieving them; you’re likelier to attain extraordinary success when you have a clear picture of how it looks like to you.
12. Surround Yourself With Positive Thinkers
Iron sharpens iron. Failures strive to stop others from trying. So surround yourself with dreamers and achievers. People who have dreams, desires, and are dedicated to achieving them will inspire and push you into achieving yours too.
13. Find Balance
You can’t be extraordinary without a strong commitment to personal development and self-improvement.
There are four critical areas of improvement you should focus on: mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical. It’s almost impossible to succeed in one area, without paying attention to other areas.
You can’t experience long-lasting spiritual breakthroughs when your health is poor. Also, you’re unlikely to cultivate new thinking patterns if you’re still tangled in toxic relationships.
So your pursuit for improvement should encompass your mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health.
Whatever you focus on inflates. If you’re committed to self-improvement, even the tiniest growth will positively impact all areas of your life.
A positive change in one permeates into other areas, slowly you start to grow and heal. This puts you in a path to the extraordinary. Extraordinary people strive to improve all these aspects of their lives continually.
Ordinary people seek distractions and entertainment. Extraordinary people seek learning, constructive criticism, and mentorship.
14. Fill Your Days With High-Quality Tasks
Being ordinary doesn’t take much. Ordinary means you can mindlessly binge-watch TV. Ordinary means you do things you hate just because you aren’t brave or responsible enough to say no.
Conversely, being extraordinary demands massive effort. It requires you to focus on valuable tasks like reading, taking care of your health/body, solving challenging problems, and diving deep into activities that’ll help you achieve your dreams.
You can’t soar to extraordinary levels when spend your evenings imbibing over-priced drinks with colleagues who are equally stuck in a rut.
Rising to extraordinary heights costs energy, focus, attention, and time. For most people, these vital resources are already spread too thin. A lot of their attention is channeled to social media, email, TV, and complaining. Their energy is zapped by their overconsumption of alcohol, drugs, porn, sensationalized news, and other distractions.
For you to attain an extraordinary life, the bulk of your resources should be channeled to activities that push you closer to your given goals.
15. Stick to Your Values
Finding a principled person is rare. The ideals of people rarely match up to their actions. Sticking to your values is difficult because it’s easy to be swept up with what’s in vogue and the values being espoused by the majority in society.
Over drinking alcohol is easy. Binge-watching TV is bliss. But, getting enough sleep and waking up early is uncommon. Working to be smarter and to be emotionally and physically healthier is rare.
The world is continuously working to distract you from the things that truly matter – your family, friends, passions, beliefs, and legacy. To be extraordinary, commit to your values. Don’t follow the wisdom of the crowd.
16. Follow Your Unique Definition of Success
At some point, you should come up with your definition of success. Giving up the conventional definition of success is one of the hardest things that one can ever do. This is because it is woven into our cultural narratives, and therefore it colors how we appraise our lives.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, an artist, or an athlete, fame and fortune are seen as the ultimate markers of success.
But, your success should only be defined by you. If you let others decide what success is, you likely will never attain that success. And if you do, it won’t be fulfilling because it won’t be hinged on the things you truly value.
It’s by adopting these habits that you’ll attain your true potential. At the end of it all, it’s all about believing in yourself, continually striving to improve, having clear values, and defining your success.
