The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "The Nature of Potential".

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The Nature of Potential
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
MAXIMISING YOUR
POTENTIAL
The Nature of Potential

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The Nature of Potential
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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The Nature of Potential
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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The Nature of Potential
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
It is astonishing to realise that we each possess skills and
abilities that nobody else possesses quite like we do. We are
each gifted with unique strengths and talents, whether this
is a talent for display on the world stage as an outstanding
performer or leader or star, or on a small stage as someone
who makes a difference to just a few other people. Some
believe that the talents we have are a freak of nature: the
result of hereditary genes, the circumstances of our
upbringing, or pure luck. Others believe that our talents are
divinely inspired, the genius of the Roman gods. Whichever
belief we accept, the fact remains: we are unique and it is
up to us to decide in our lives just how we are to make the
most of what we have and bring our potential to fruition.

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Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
WHAT IS POTENTIAL?
Potential is the possibilities we all have inside us to perform
to a level of maximum effectiveness. Our potential is
limitless, not limited.
There is a basic urge inside all human beings to improve
themselves. This manifests itself in some or all of the
following ways:
1. The pull towards self-improvement
2. The recognition that we are uniquely talented
3. The application of our own special genius
4. The necessity for do-it-yourself
5. The ability to move between states of survival,
maintenance and development
6. A belief that we can determine our own success
7. The belief that we develop ourselves when we learn how
to change.

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SELF-IMPROVEMENT
There are two pulls in the human condition:
1. the pull to stay where we are and consolidate what we
have
2. the pull to discover what is still possible, what we could
achieve, how far we could go.
The result of these two opposing pulls is that some of us -
perhaps the majority - choose the path of safety and
security while wondering what we might have missed.
Others take risks, go on adventures, seek to maximise what
they possess, even at the expense of a quiet life.
The Adventurer in us loves the thought of discovering what
lies hidden but the Consolidator doesn't want to pay the
high price. Managing the discovery of potential at minimum
risk is the skill of self-development.

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Maximising Your Potential
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HAPPINESS AND GOALS
Philosophers since Aristotle have linked happiness with the
attainment of goals. That is why we find so much
satisfaction when we reach our goals and happiness in the
work that takes us there.
For many people however, life is unhappy and unfulfilled.
Daniel Yankelovich carried out extensive research into how
people felt about their workplace achievements. 8 out of 10
people admitted that they could do much better.
1. in a study by the California State University, Fullerton,
80% of people wished they were in a different job than
the one they were in
2. in a University of Michigan study, more than one in four
employees surveyed said they were so unhappy with
the products they made at work that they wouldn't use
them themselves.

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TALENTS
A talent was originally an ancient unit of money which in
time came to mean a special gift. None of us knows where
our talents come from nor why we have been gifted them.
The studies of self-development writers tell us that...
1. every single one of us possesses talents in some form or
another
2. our talents do not depend on background, upbringing,
social class, job, ability or disability; hence the belief
that they are divinely gifted
3. talents lie hidden inside us until we discover them
4. none of us possesses a greater or lesser talent than any
other person: it is their use and application which
distinguishes the so-called "talented" from the so-called
"less-talented".
Many religions believe that it is part of the purpose of living
to use our given talents to the full.

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Maximising Your Potential
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TALENTS AND POTENTIAL
It is the mix of talents and other factors which produces
potential.
Potential can be regarded as the sum of talent, personality,
will power, self-belief, drive and ambition, circumstances,
opportunities and positive thinking.
"If a man has a talent and cannot use it he has failed, If he
has a talent and uses only half of it he has partly failed. If he
has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he
has gloriously succeeded and won a satisfaction and
triumph few men ever know." (Thomas Wolfe)

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Maximising Your Potential
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GENIUS
The word "genius" means innate talent. It derives from the
Roman mythological belief that everyone had two guardian
spirits which attended them from birth to death; "geno" is
Latin for "to be born". One of the spirits was a good genius
and brought good fortune; the other was an "evil genius"
and brought bad fortune.
More popularly, the name "genius" is given to people who
have displayed outstanding human achievements,
endurance or accomplishments. We think of people like
Alexander the Great, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci;
Shakespeare, Goethe, Newton, Napoleon, Mozart, Einstein,
Churchill, and in our own times, Bill Gates.
But these people were no different from us. Their
physiques, brain sizes, human strengths and qualities were
essentially no different from any other. What was possible
for them is also possible for us.

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Maximising Your Potential
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THE QUALITIES OF GENIUS
Tony Buzan and Raymond Keene in their book, "Book of
Genius" define history's geniuses as those displaying the
following qualities:
1. vision: the ability to see yourself succeeding
2. desire: the passion to reach your goals
3. faith: the belief that you will succeed
4. commitment: the willingness to act
5. planning: the steps to realise your goals
6. persistence: the determination to get there
7. subject knowledge: a thirst to know about your subject
8. mental literacy: an understanding of the brain's power
9. positive attitude: a certainty that you’ll do it.
10. intuition: the ability to feel your way forward.
11. a master-group: a team to support you
12. an internal master-group: a mental image of supporters
13. truth: an awareness of what is true and real
14. courage: the ability to face fear and go on.

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GENIUS WITH A BIG G
When we think of the geniuses of the past, we think of the
men and women of history whose achievements were
outstanding and whose works we still see today: of
Shakespeare and his insight into the human spirit; of
Leonardo and his amazing range of creativity; of Goethe and
his gift for language.
But we would be wrong to think that geniuses are confined
to history and to species of human being different from us.
Their ability to make outstanding contributions shows us not
what is impossible for us, but just what is possible.
"I don't care what you've accomplished in your life or what
your IQ is. You were born with your own unique kind of
genius. And I mean that in the fullest sense of the word. Not
genius with a small "g" as opposed to Albert Einstein, but
Genius with a big "G" like Albert Einstein." (Barbara Sher:
"Wishcraft")

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SUCCESS
There can be few concepts about which people disagree
more than the meaning of Success.
In popular imagination, success is related to fame and
wealth, but self-development writers do not always agree
with this.
1. "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the
key to success. If you love what you're doing, you will be
a success." (Herbert Cain)
2. "Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start
thinking of yourself as a success." (Joyce Brothers)
3. "Success seems to be connected with action. Successful
people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they
don't quit." (Conrad Hilton)
4. "To know how to wait is the great secret of success."
(Joseph Marie de Maistre)

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DO-IT-YOURSELF
In our days of super-states, super-nations and super-
organisations with cradle-to-grave care and dependency
cultures, it is easy to adopt the view that it is up to others to
manage our own self-development.
After all, maximising employee potential results in self-
motivated employees; employees who achieve more;
people who learn more and can apply more: all valuable
benefits for the organisation.
But, as Chris Argyris of the Harvard Business School has
pointed out, the natural inclination of organisations,
particularly the large ones with the larger resources, is
against the kind of people self-development produces.
The conclusion is that self-development is a do-it-yourself
skill and a do-it-yourself activity.

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SURVIVAL
All of us in our adult lives find ourselves predominantly in
one of three states: survival, maintenance or development.
A state of surviving is about living from day to day, managing
to get by, keeping our heads above water. Survival is when
we just manage to beat off outside forces that threaten to
overwhelm us.
For most of us survival may be a rare experience which we
meet just a few times in our lives: perhaps a serious
financial crisis, an emotionally disastrous relationship,
illness, job difficulties or an emergency. Fortunately, the
ultimate survival tests - war, famine and natural disaster -
pass most of us by.
Survival is a state that is like a shipwrecked sailor afloat on a
life raft in a hostile sea struggling to cling to any passing
wreckage.

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Maximising Your Potential
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MAINTENANCE
The state of "maintenance" is one most people are in for
much of their lives. It is a safe balance between ourselves
and our environment which occasionally may go against us,
if we are unlucky or in our favour if we are lucky.
Maintenance is the steady job, the money in the bank for a
rainy day, the relationship which is fine but based on routine
and security. Maintenance is like being on a surfboard on
the open seas. We can thank God that we're not in the
water floundering around; most of our efforts are focused
on staying upright and not falling off.
Yet, as we sail along, without any other aim than to stay
upright, there is the nagging feeling that perhaps there is
more to life than just drifting along aimlessly.

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Maximising Your Potential
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DEVELOPMENT
The state of development is of a different order to survival
and maintenance. Whereas these are ways of coping with
our environments, development is a state which we control
and determine ourselves.
We move from survival and maintenance into development
when we decide that our lives will be qualitatively better
than now, that we will use our inner gifts and strengths and
that we will move to new goals and achievements.
If survival is like a swimmer in a hostile sea and maintenance
is like a plumber on a leaky boat, development is like an
oarsman with a course, a plan and a destination.
Just as we as individuals can be at any of the stages of
survival, maintenance or development, so too can teams
and organisations.

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DETERMINISM
Philosophers and thinkers have for centuries puzzled over
the extent to which our lives are in our own hands and the
extent to which they are pre-ordained. Their theories give
rise to three views:
1. Grandfather's Genes: this view says that we are who we
are as a result of inherited characteristics from parents,
grandparents, great grandparents and so on.
2. Mother's Upbringing: this view says that we are who
we are because of where, when and how we were
brought up. The influences of environment, teaching,
culture and customs determine how we think, feel and
behave.
3. Self-determinism: this view says that we have enough
free will to determine our own lives.
Within the limitations of inherited genes and environment -
you cannot be US President if you aren't a US citizen - you
can become anything you truly want to be.

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HOW WE SEE OURSELVES
Many people have what we can call "Ptolemyian" views of
themselves (after Ptolemy, the ancient Egyptian astronomer
who believed that the earth was the centre of the universe.)
They believe that they are the centres of their own worlds,
fixed and unchanging. If they face unsatisfactory situations,
it is not they who are to blame but others.
The result of Ptolemyian thinking is that individuals do not
see the need to change and grow: they cannot imagine a
world in which they are not at the centre of everything.
By contrast, there are people who see themselves as in a
state of movement, change, development and growth:
these have Galilean view of themselves (after Galileo Galilee
who first propounded and proved that the earth was a body
that, like other planets, moved in the universe.)

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THE OPTIONS OF CHANGE
When you are in a situation which is neither fulfilling nor
satisfactory, there are usually four options:
1. Do Nothing. This may work but it also leaves you open
to what others may do. It also may extend the unhappy
situation that you don't like.
2. Change the Situation. It is not always within our power
to change the situation eg a job you need to keep.
3. Leave the Situation. This may not be possible either.
4. Change Yourself. Always possible.
"There's only one corner of the world you can be certain of
improving and that's your own self." (Aldous Huxley)

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Maximising Your Potential
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THE GREATEST REWARDS
All of us have two distinct choices to make about what we
will accomplish with our lives.
The first choice is to be less than we can be. To earn less,
have less, do less, and think less. To make less effort and
practise less discipline. These are the choices that lead to an
empty life, a life of constant apprehension, instead of a life
of wondrous anticipation.
Our second choice is to strive, produce and accomplish as
much as we possibly can. Just as a mighty oak reaches up
towards the sky, we have the worthy challenge to stretch to
the full measure of our capabilities.
Our ultimate life objective should be to create as much as
our talent, ability and desire will allow us to create. The
greatest rewards are reserved for those who bring the
greatest value to themselves and those around them as a
result of who they are and who they have become.

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Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn