The Horrifying Potential of Potential
Though the constitutions of laziness and achievement can vary depending on where and when you are, one of the few themes that has remained in tact from generation to generation and from place to place is that laziness is to be looked down upon while great achievements are to be celebrated. Laziness is the low road that anyone can take, and effort, often regardless of the outcome, is the high road that requires people to give themselves an extra push before setting foot. We see this every day whether it be in the media, the workplace, or in our social lives. Those who are achieving the most receive the most accolades, attention, and seemingly the most respect.
To everyone else (particularly those who really feel as though they are on the outside looking in), whether all of this validation is rooted in love or in envy probably isn’t worth paying attention to. Even if you were paying attention to it from that angle, I doubt it would matter because at the end of the day, the achievers seem to be fitting in with society a hell of a lot better than you are.
It should come as no surprise then, that everyone from all walks of life and with varying degrees of qualification, encourage others to not waste their talents. They claim that unfulfilled potential is a terrible thing and that we should appreciate and utilize the gifts we’re given, as they’re our gateways to becoming as valuable members of society as we can be.
As is the case with most things people have their minds made up about, however, there is another side that is usually not considered. That is the fact that the talent unique to you comes with an experience that’s unique to you. Because there is so much emphasis put on achievement, people often stop there and forget to look past that achievement and towards the person achieving it. We’re prone to hearing more about what they’ve done than about who they are. High achievers can be on top of the world one day, and completely forgotten about as soon as they’re no longer performing at the same level — and with little regard as to why.
Though they’re never associated with one another, rest assured there is a great connection between the ominous two warnings, “Don’t waste your talent” and “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should”.
The parallel proves itself relevant for many people, whether they’re in for a rude awakening that they don’t yet know about, or whether their talent has already consumed them and they’re too frightened to seek a way out of it.
What does this look like? Well, it usually starts with the realization that our time here is limited and that it’s of utmost importance to fill that time wisely.
Take Person A.
Let’s say she’s a wildly successful figure skater. She realizes this. But pump your breaks! Remember, more important than being a wildly successful figure skater, she’s Person A. She has a name, damn it, and her experience from skating isn’t what you envision it to be. It’s something that she’s been pressured into by her parents since she was a little girl and something she never really had a choice in. It’s consumed her life, and now that she’s old enough to make her own decisions, she finds that her talent is a waste of time because she never really enjoyed it in the first place. She instead chooses to pursue something else that she’s always been curious about.
Would it’ve been better for her to stick with the skating even though it made her miserable? Was doing away with her talent not a healthy choice?
Or what about Person B., who, AFTER being Person B., is a gifted singer. He, too, has an amazing talent and has found great success. Except, it’s come at a price. As his smile fades and his skin hangs a little bit more upon the receipt of each award, he finds that his devotion to his talent has taken away from other things he wanted to with his life and that he has become devoid of family, genuine friendships, or physical feats he’s now incapable of doing. It’s been a life unshared with other people or other endeavors. His talent swallowed him whole and at some point became too big for him to reconsider. Should he have not put his talent to the side, at least for a little while?
Then you’ve got Person C.! She KNOWS she can play professional basketball and she dreams of that lifestyle every day. But if she’s going to hate everything besides the end result — if she’s going to hate the daily practice, the travel, the time away from family, the inability to play other sports because she might get hurt, the commission she has to pay her agent, the cattiness from her teammates, the cheap shots from opponents — why would she possibly not waste that talent and do something else? It doesn’t make sense for her to live based on a dream rather than a struggle.
Look first at the person, not the talent.
You may be in a similar situation. The idea of your potential and what kind of life can come from maximizing it may have gotten to a point where it’s counteractive to your wellbeing. Maybe the pressures induced by your own version of achievement or the thoughts you imagine society is thinking about you have left you afraid of the uncertainty of trying something new. Sticking to your talent might feel like your only chance.
Well, fear not. We forget that we’re already wasting our talent on an everyday basis, and that’s because of two things you don’t know:
The first thing is that you don’t know what else you’re talented at or could be talented at. You have no idea. Everyday there’s a trillion, billion things you’re choosing not to do that you might be amazing at. You think all the people celebrated for being at the top of their industries are the most genetically capable group? The odds of that are impossibly small. I’ve never gone cross country skiing a day in my life, but if I put the time and effort in, I might have the potential to be the greatest cross country skier that ever lived. But guess what? I’ll never fucking know that, cause I’ll probably never go cross country skiing. This goes for anything. These top performers have gotten to where they are more because of their choices than because of their natural gifts, and that’s fine. We can’t attempt everything, and that reality means we’re wasting our talent for every single thing we don’t try.
And the second thing you don’t know is what’s going to be the right path to take for your health, your happiness, your fulfillment, everything. This is the unknown that resides over all things in life. You don’t know what will happen from one day to the next, and trying to manipulate that truth by utilizing your talents under the conditions of a lifestyle payoff rather than because they bring you legitimate joy is only going to end up in disaster.
