4 Ways to Discover and Maximize Your Potential

Your potential. What comes to mind when you hear this phrase? According to Wikipedia, personal potential is a person’s ability or strength, whether still undeveloped or already expressed, but not yet fully visible or used to the fullest. In short, personal potential is the ability within us that has not yet been properly developed.

Why do we need to recognize and maximize our potential? Because God wants us to explore and develop our potential, which the Bible refers to as talents or gifts.

“But I don’t know what my potential is. How could I possibly develop it?”

Why Do You Need to Know Your Potential?

Have you ever seen someone who often struggles with their work, cannot enjoy what they do, and is also unsuccessful in their efforts? Do these things sound familiar, or are you experiencing them right now?

It may be because you still do not know what your potential is, and you have not used it to the fullest. So, those difficulties or struggles arise not because of laziness or a lack of discipline, but because you do not yet know yourself well.

You need to understand that every person is born with different potential. Some people have a strong leadership spirit, learn technology-related things easily, are gifted in teaching, or are creative in creating new things, such as food, books, songs, and so on.

When someone who is not good at or does not enjoy administrative tasks works as an admin, they may feel stressed or bored. Still, it is possible that one day they may also come to enjoy their work, and even like it.

However, when someone does something that aligns with their own potential, they will enjoy their work and grow rapidly, surpassing those whose potential is not in that area.

God has given you unique talents, and when you recognize your potential, you will be able to develop it. In the end, you will become a successful person who brings glory to His name.

Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will stand before kings; they will not stand before obscure people. - Proverbs 22:29

Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank. - Proverbs 22:29 (NIV)

How to Recognize Your Potential

1. Pray

Ask God to show you what your potential is. God, who created you, knows best what your blueprint is. As it is written in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to Me, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

2. Ask the people closest to you

“What are my potential, strengths, and weaknesses?”

In addition, you can also take free tests that can help you understand your potential, including:

• Personality Test (personality type, multiple intelligences, learning style, left-brain / right-brain ability) at personalitymax.com
• 16 Personality Types at www.16personalities.com/id/tipe-kepribadian
• Multiple Intelligences Test in Indonesian at akupintar.id/tes-kemampuan

Psychological Analysis Results Are Not Final

Use the tests above to help you know yourself and as guidance for growth. In other words, this psychological information is useful for strengthening your abilities and potential, not for defining who you are. Do not get trapped in analysis results and make them an excuse not to grow.

For example, based on the 16 personality types, I am an INTJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging). In one analysis, it says that an INTJ’s weakness is difficulty empathizing and connecting emotionally with others.

That is true to some extent. However, on the other hand, I realize that I am a follower of God. That means I can change if I keep doing His word. God’s word must stand above all such analysis. And I am grateful that by continuing to practice His word, I can have many friends and connect with them.

Let psychological information be one guide for knowing ourselves and developing our potential, not a final verdict about who we are. In God, we can change, grow, overcome our weaknesses, and become what God wants us to be. We can grow and maximize every potential He has given us.

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. – 1 John 5:3-4

How to Maximize Your Potential

After discovering your potential, do not stop there, but develop it. Do not be satisfied with a certain talent label, or rely only on natural talent without training it further. You must work hard to sharpen your talents consistently steadily so that you can grow in extraordinary ways.

For example, one of my highest multiple intelligences is linguistic intelligence. I like things related to writing. Based on the INTJ personality type, I enjoy and am able to create good systems and strategies. Right now, I am in the process of maximizing that God-given potential in various areas, such as work, ministry (worship), and personal life.

Develop your potential by:

1. Experimenting

Experimenting does not mean you have to leave your current job. For example, if you like teaching, you can ask your supervisor or leader for an opportunity to teach a topic in a certain training session. Or, you can share your knowledge through social media, such as YouTube, Instagram, podcast, and many more.

By experimenting, you can build experience and develop competence gradually. If you continue in your current field, you will become even more skilled. But if in the end you decide to move to a different field, you will not be shocked or jump in empty-handed without any skills at all.

2. Take online classes and learn from people who are more experienced 

The point is, do not be afraid to try and do not be afraid to fail. If you do not develop your potential, you cannot grow. When you succeed in developing one area of your potential, God will add more potential within you.

Refusing to try or learn new things is like closing the door to God’s blessing on your potential or talents. In the parable of the person who had one talent and did not develop it, that talent was taken from him and given to the person who already had ten talents (at first he had five, then it became 10 after being developed).

Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. – Matthew 25:28

Come, let us recognize our potential and develop all of it for the glory of God. May one day we hear God say, “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master’ (Matthew 25:21).” Amen.

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Reference: id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potensi_diri

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