Imagine a race for a rabbit, eagle, and fish. The rabbit will make the eagle and fish look useless. It will helplessly outpace them both. If the eagle and fish are given another chance to prove their mettle in a flying competition, the fish will end up more useless. While the eagle soars in the sky, it will be gasping for breath on land. Truth is, the fish is not useless ― not at all. Its potential has consistently been measured on the wrong scale.
Society has found a way of putting all of us in the same race. Little does it know that it is easy to misjudge a (wo)man’s potential when they are put in the wrong competition. Unfortunately, many have died frustrated running the wrong race.
In life, the potential of many has been misjudged. Many have written off what their children can do based on what other children can do. Some people have found themselves in the wrong places because they never found their right place in life. They wanted to be in university like everybody else. Little did they know the place of their potential was, maybe, in the market.
While trying to fit in, many fall out. While trying to obey society’s dictates, they end up slaves to those they should have led. When our potential is misled, our destiny is misled, too. If it is hard to find one’s life assignment, life becomes a cycle of failure. Until discovered, a potential looks like a problem. The day that potential is discovered, it solves a problem.
When we live life like a herd following their shepherd, we end up in a ditch of uselessness. It is only the (wo)man who has not found use for their potential who regards themselves useless. If your potential is useful, you automatically become useful.
How does one discover their usefulness? Find what you love to do, and do it with all the love you have. While doing what you love, you solve problems you have. That is potential at work!
God created a good world. He gave us potentials to make this world better. Just imagine how we would have lived without the human inventions we enjoy today. Imagine life without a car ― life without computers ― you name them. Wherever potentials are in use, life becomes better!
If life is better with potential, it goes without saying that it becomes worse when these potentials waste away. Whenever you see a problem making life uncomfortable, know that somebody has the solution to it. They are yet to discover and exploit the potential sitting inside.
Potentials are solutions. Whenever you see a solution to a problem, know that it is potential at work ― and everybody has such potential inside of them. If you are not yet solving a problem, you are wasting your potential. Ask yourself, “Of all the problems in the world, which of them was I born to solve?”
Any person you admire is a (wo)man who has learnt to activate their potential. Despite all odds, they have found the problems they can and must solve. They stand tall among their peers because they have found the exact need their potential meets.
Every (wo)man is endowed with a potential. Whether abled or disabled, nobody is without a gift or talent. Unfortunately, many never get to use theirs because of the environment they find themselves in. Potential is a seed. It grows only when the soil is fertile.
Sitting inside many of us are solutions to global challenges. We have the potential to turn these challenges into opportunities. Unfortunately, these potentials found the wrong soil.
Some will find the place of their gift in the classroom. Others will find theirs elsewhere. If we force everyone to find their place in the same place, many will emerge as useless. They will be forced to swim when their place is in the skies.
Society’s standards are supposed to be a foundation for us to build our potential, not a wall to limit us. Just because something has not been done before does not mean it is impossible. People who leave a legacy are those who dare to find the place of their potential and not those who fit in because of fear.
Life is hard when you have yet to identify that one potential you are best at. The only place a fish may be useful may be the soup if it lives all its life trying to compete with the rabbit.
Some are like fish. They have spent all their lives either flying or running. Society has given up on them because they cannot fly, and they have given up on themselves because they cannot run like many others. Until a fish swims, life will be one hell of a living!
You start seeing people’s potential when you stop judging them by other people’s potential. Even though oranges and apples are both fruits, they have different harvest seasons. Such are our potentials. We have different blossoming seasons.
In life, no one is born to only admire the potentials of others. Everybody is gifted in their own special way. We are all born to find our use. Unfortunately, people are left useless when their potential is measured with the wrong scale.
Have you measured your potential yet? Was it with the right or wrong scale? If the scale is right, you will find a need for your potential. If it is the wrong scale, your potential will have no need. Needs will always be a part of life, and this is why our potentials will always be a need.
If you have ever called somebody useless, go back and apologize to them. You just did not know what they were capable of. You did not know they were a walking solution.
Everybody is a package of unique potentials ― a package of solutions to real-life problems. They have either not found their potential yet or their potential has always been measured on the wrong scale. Happy New Year! Afehyiapa!
By Kobina Ansah
The writer is the Chief Scribe of Scribe Productions (www.scribeproductions.com) and Scribe Communications (www.scribecommltd.com)