7 Tips for Achieving Your Full Potential

Everyone wants to achieve their full potential in life, whether that means being in good shape, achieving a particular creative vision, being the best version of themselves they possibly can be for their loved ones, or any number of other things.

Of course, it’s not exactly straightforward to achieve your full potential – which is no doubt why so many of us find ourselves feeling uneasy about this concept on a regular basis, and harbour the unpleasant suspicion that we might not actually be doing our best, or putting our best foot forward.

While achieving full potential will involve different approaches for different people, and in different situations and contexts, there are nonetheless a good few general rules and principles which can significantly help to increase the odds that you will be able to achieve your full potential, in whatever domain.

So, here are a few general tips that might really help you to achieve your full potential.

Don’t be nihilistic, be genuinely interested in and enthusiastic about things

Nihilism is perhaps the worst thing in the world when it comes to your ability to achieve your full potential.

Essentially, a nihilistic outlook is one where you believe that nothing has any particular meaning or value, and things are just pointless as a whole. Common personality traits that go along with a nihilistic outlook on life tend to include things like excessive sarcasm, bitterness, and a lack of enthusiasm and creative energy.

On the contrary, actually living up to your full potential requires you to be able to earnestly enjoy and appreciate things, and to find meaning in your own life.

Although there can be all sorts of different reasons for people ending up with their particular outlooks on the world and life at large, rejecting the temptation to be nihilistic, and instead looking for things to actually be genuinely interested in, fascinated by, and enthusiastic about, can help to draw forth the best part of you, and motivate you to engage with the world in an outgoing and life-affirming manner.

In other words, actually being enthusiastic about, and interested in things can really help to put you on the path to achieving your full potential and living a much better and more meaningful life as well.

Dare to try, and to pursue your dreams, even if you don’t get it right the first time

One thing which all too often keeps people from achieving their full potential, is  a simple and overwhelming sense of doubt and nervousness, which can end up making any significant goal or dream seem impossible and outright futile.

It’s important to realise, however, that you will almost always be better off by daring to try and to pursue your dreams, whether you “fail” or not, than you will be if you simply never work up the courage and motivation to go after things you value in the first place.

It’s also equally important to understand that almost no one “gets it right the first time” with ambitious goals or projects, but simply getting started, being truly invested in what you’re doing, and moving forward, can take you to a place where you really are successful, largely due to the incremental improvements you’ve made along the way.

These days, there are a range of options when forming a company that you can choose from, in addition to all sorts of different tools, avenues, and approaches that can help you to make any number of other personal dreams and projects a reality – or to at least take steps in the right direction.

To achieve your full potential, you actually have to be willing to try.

Be very mindful of your daily habits, since they largely form your destiny

When we think of big and lofty things, such as our personal destinies and the direction of our lives as a whole, we often don’t really pay much attention to the fact that these things are often heavily influenced by small daily habits – the things we do on a regular basis without necessarily even being very conscious of them.

Of course, certain actions and situations are impactful enough that they can transform our entire lives for better or for worse in one instant, but, generally speaking, all sorts of things ranging from the state of your career to the state of your relationships will tend to be shaped largely by what it is you do in the moment, day after day.

To achieve your full potential, then, it’s important to be very mindful of your daily habits, and to carefully select and shape them so that they lead you in the direction you actually want to go in.

The habit expert James Clear, author of the book “Atomic Habits,” has one very compelling idea on this subject: he suggests viewing each repetition of a given habit as a vote being cast for a particular identity we want to manifest and embody.

So, every time you go to the gym, you are reinforcing the character of someone who is fit and athletic. Every time you paint, you are reinforcing the character of an artist, and so on.

Don’t underestimate the power of habit when looking to maximise and achieve your full potential.

Do things that help to make you feel whole and in proper alignment

We all have certain internal intuitions and awarenesses that can help to give us an insight into whether or not we are living our lives properly.

Many people throughout history have commented that living and acting in a way that helps to make you feel whole and in proper alignment, internally, is the path to not only maximising your full potential, but also living in the most meaningful, authentic, and moral way possible.

At the very least, if you find that you’re constantly feeling uneasy, uncomfortable, or “misaligned” with regards to the way you conduct yourself, that’s a very good sign that you should look into making some changes, as you are not likely to be on the path to achieving your full potential.

Actually have an idea about what you want to achieve, and not just in a shallow sense

It’s difficult to achieve your full potential if you don’t necessarily know what it is you actually want to achieve.

Setting yourself certain goals, and thinking clearly about the direction you want your life to head in, can be instrumental in allowing you to achieve your full potential and to live in a way which helps you to feel satisfied and fulfilled.

Of course, it is worth pointing out that you shouldn’t just set yourself goals in a shallow sense, where you only focus on things like making a certain amount of money per year, getting a house of a particular size, or buying a particular brand of sports car.

While there’s nothing wrong with having material goals for yourself, it’s important to remember that there are many deeper and more meaningful things in life that you should be mindful of and focus on primarily, if you want to truly achieve your full potential.

After all, there are by all accounts many rich and famous people in the world who seem to be going through their own personal crises of meaning, and who don’t feel that they are truly achieving their full potential.

Turn up and “do the work” consistently, just make sure “the work” is worth it

Achieving your full potential is not just about putting yourself in the right mindset and orienting yourself correctly towards the world, it also has a lot to do with actually turning up, day after day, and “doing the work” even when you might not feel like it.

Persistence, consistency, and “grit” are all vital components in enabling you to achieve your full potential in any given domain.

At the same time, however, you need to make sure that “the work” that you’re doing is actually worth it. Consistently showing up and working on things that feel genuinely meaningful to you is uplifting and deeply rewarding. On the other hand, consistently showing up and working on things that you hate and find meaningless, is a good recipe for burnout and immense frustration.

Don’t get too stuck in your own head; regularly do things that put you in flow states

If you find yourself constantly stuck in your own thought loops, there is a good chance that this will end up getting in the way of your ability to actually get things done and achieve your potential, without constantly second-guessing yourself or giving in to the urge to procrastinate.

For this reason, it’s important to regularly do things that put you in a “flow state,” where you feel completely immersed in the activity at hand, and aren’t consciously caught up in your normal thought patterns at all.

Of course, a big part of getting into a flow state involves doing things that you actually find engaging, on a regular basis.

So, if you find that your day job isn’t providing this kind of opportunity or energy for you, be sure to engage in certain projects or hobbies on a daily basis that do tick the right boxes in this regard.