How To Fulfill Your True Potential
My Struggle With Consistency
Throughout my life I’ve wavered back and forth on the consistency at which I do the most important things for me. Right now I’m consistent in some of the most important areas of my life. But if you’d asked me 6 months ago, I’d have said I’m struggling with a few areas.
You might experience a similar phenomena in your own life. Are you truly doing everything that is most important to you on a daily basis? Or are there certain priorities you’re letting slip?
Everyone I’ve spoken to about this tend to agree: we go through stretches—seasons of life—where we are more diligent in some areas of life. In other words, we struggle to be consistent at being consistent.
In Fig. 1, you can see that the person who struggles to be consistent will make progress, then plateau each time they fail to be consistent. This is because although they exert solid consistency during some seasons of life, they fail to do so all the time. For example, if you are consistent in the gym, at work, and reading but you aren’t getting enough sleep, you will inevitably experience a setback at some point—perhaps an injury at the gym due to fatigue.
The line that is constantly going up represents someone who is consistent with their highest priorities in life. As a result, they constantly improve, with little, if any setbacks. For example, somebody who prioritizes their family, work, and health in harmony will rarely experience a setback of their own doing. If meditation is part of their routine, they will even be equipped with the skills to overcome an unforeseen setback that no one could have seen coming—like having the courage to push through a layoff at work.
The delta between the same person who is consistently consistent vs. that same person who experiences periods of inconsistency in their life is untapped potential. I call this the Self Actualization Gap.
How To Live Life On Your Own Terms
Closing the self actualization gap will free you from a life where you struggle to stay afloat. Instead of passively letting things happen to you, you will proactively live life on your own terms.
Do you want to be making $400k/year? Close the self actualization gap.
Do you want to live in Egypt, blogging from your personal computer as a living? Close the self actualization gap.
Do you want to bench press 275 lbs? Close the self actualization gap.
Do you want a great marriage with your wife? Close the self actualization gap.
The key to closing the self actualization gap is to:
Identify the most important priorities in your life. For example: Family, faith, work, health.
Have one overarching ‘center’ of your life. For example: “To be the best version of myself for the betterment of others.”
Maintain balance between all of your priorities in life by being laser focused on your center.
The key is to always go back to the center to live your ideal life. If you’re doggedly persistent about work, but travel is one of your priorities, you may forgo a trip you are excited about because you’ve made work your highest priority. Instead, go back to your center, “To be the best version of you for the betterment of others.”, and you’ll realize that while work is certainly important, it’s not everything in life.
In the same way a wheel with uneven spokes doesn’t roll as well as a wheel with balanced spokes, it’s important to have balance across your life to keep progressing to the best version of you. For the wheel, all spokes come from the center. In the same way that your life’s priorities emerge from your center.
A balanced wheel rolls much faster, and is much more effective at getting you where you need to go than an unbalanced wheel. Much like the improvement you can make when all domains of your life are perfectly balanced. Through an ongoing process and discipline needed to sustain that balance over time.
Key Points
The difference between where you are and your full potential is the Potential Actualization Gap.
When you close this gap, you become free to live on your own terms.
Identify your core priorities in life, and achieve balance between all of them to close the actualization gap and unlock your true potential.
Perfect balance between your priorities in life can be achieved by having a center that you always go back to to order your priorities.
A balanced person is like a perfectly balanced wheel, capable of going wherever you want to go with greater ease than one who is unbalanced.