Reach Your Greatest Heights

"You can’t live off potential for the rest of your life."

I came across this quote on twitter, but, unfortunately, there was no source. As soon as I saw this quote I fell in love with it. So many people thrive on what others have said to them regarding their ability level, their intellect, or who they are as a person. Alas, instead of working on improving themselves even more they seem to hit a plateau on many levels. This is because once a lot of people reach the point where compliments are being thrown at them left and right, they feel they don’t have to work hard anymore. People get complacent far too easily, lose the mental and physical edge they may have once had, and from there it's a long fall from the top of their high horse.

Take for example the so-called “sophomore slump” in sports. A rookie phenom will come into a league and work their ass off right out of the gate and try to prove themselves. They'll put in the hard work day in and day out that is necessary to establish themselves as a great player with a tremendous work ethic. All of the focus is on how much potential this athlete has to be “one of the greats” and how much he/she has shown it in their first year. Then this particular athlete gets into a position where they've already had success, knows that they're in a position to succeed, and then slacks off the next offseason in the weight room and on the field. So, while many others were working to get better and improve, this particular athlete has been in quicksand due to their ego and can’t seem to get out.

It happens all the time in sports. Top draft picks in the NFL never make the pro bowl, but undrafted guys become big impact players and win games because they will always have something to prove. Success is a direct correlation with hard work.

This quote doesn’t just have to apply in sports either. You can apply it to student life, your job, or quite possibly the most relatable application to many people, which is in relationships. People always work so hard to impress that special guy or girl, but once they have that person, the effort doesn’t continue at such a consistent basis. Maybe the effort doesn’t even continue at all. New relationships are full of flowers, passion, and “I love you.” As the relationships mature, you either continue to put in the same effort to maintain the fire and passion, or you slow it down or stop completely. It’s the people who continue to work hard for each other that end up staying together.

Now apply that to fitness, dieting, or sports again. If you keep working hard and maintain that focus, your possibilities are endless in what you can do with your life. It’s the Tom Bradys and Peyton Mannings of the world who work their asses off every day in preparation who are some of the greatest of all time. It’s Jon Jones and GSP in UFC, it’s the Dustin Pedroias in baseball, and it’s the new YOU if you can channel your energy into the right things in your life.

Forget about even athletes for a second. How about the cancer patients who have to fight every day for their lives. How about the war veterans. How about the single parents who have to not only make their children's lives amazing, but need to do something for themselves every once in awhile. Make that connection in your brain, whatever your situation, and then when your focus is there, make sure that everything you do, you do it with a burning passion that nothing else can rival. Fight for your happiness. Fight for your success.

Every single person in this world has amazing potential within them, but so few use it. The truly successful people in life take that potential, harness it, and work hard to reach it’s peak. Truth be told, I don’t believe anybody has actually ever reached their true peak potential. There is ALWAYS room to improve. You can’t strive for perfection, but everybody should always be striving to improve in some aspect of their life. I’d even go so far as to say we should always strive to improve ALL aspects of our life. Always try to be one day better than you were yesterday.

The biggest problem is people either think they’ve reached their peak and put their efforts on cruise control, or they get discouraged when they fail a few times and end up quitting because they think what they’re attempting is impossible. Realize what you could be, and it’s what you will become.

“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.” - Thomas Edison