Experience Vs Potential

Ever been in a situation where you were disqualified or gave up on something because of lack of experience? You are not alone. See every time someone gives you something to do for them, they will always want to know if you have done it before for them to have confidence that you can indeed deliver.  If you have no experience they will lower the bar for you and in a worst case, change their mind on the issue. Experience is good because it gives you the courage to do something. It is easy to think I have done it before I can do it again which is a very good motivation booster.

 I am reminded of the boy David when he was going to fight Goliath for all ye readers of the good book. He had to go before King Saul to prove his prowess in fighting Goliath and he gave experiences where he had fought a bear and a lion before. This was after King Saul had done his best to discourage him as he told David that he was just a boy and Goliath had been a fighting man from his youth, experience which David did not have. I mean is it not experience that gave Goliath the confidence and pride to stand and insult a whole nation for 40 days.  He is referred to as a champion from Gath; he had championed many battles successfully so what was different with Israel . Since David did not have any such experience he could not speak with such pride and arrogance. To cut the story short, at the end of the day Goliath was a dead man lying in front of David, dead with his many years of experience defeated by a boy who did not have any experience on the battle field. So I want experience bowing down to potential!

While experience is good, it’s just that in life there are many places it shall not apply. The way you fight one battle is not the way you will fight another. This is because situations or battles are different and unique in nature thus they call for unique and different approaches to address them. Something new, innovative actually has to be done to tackle them. This is where you switch from experience to potential.

Potential is untapped energy or power. It is a raw material which needs to be used to produce the experience. It has no limit thus when exploited it can produce unlimited opportunities. And because all of us are endowed with potential this is how to tap it:-

•    Be courageous – Well, that’s about the best advice you can give someone but here’s what it actually means- pursuing something out of the ordinary! When you are safely out of the ordinary zone we could call you something like….extra ordinary!

•   Be the why type – Yea, be that annoying kid who asks just about everything they come across. Why is this why is that why can’t it ……why to the end of it and know every detail of it. The opportunity is in the detail.

•   Be a listener - Listen to people as they are the opportunity. If they are happy about something, someone went out of their way to do something good that can be enjoyed by people if they are complaining about something –it is your turn to do something good! You are what they are waiting for!

•   So who said an egg has to be fried on a pan? How else can you do it tell us! The alternative could just save the day and the day after.

You soon will realize that potential is all you need to get all you need.  It is the real opportunity!