A perspective on potential

"People usually judge you based on where you are at currently, not what you could become eventually. Don’t let one comment stop you from trying. File it away or use it as fuel. Focus on getting better. Someone else’s analysis of your current position doesn’t tell you anything about your current potential."

I love this quote by James Clear (taken from his inspirational newsletter). It is so relevant for leadership or when hiring someone.

We often get fooled by looking at the current status. We focus on what we observe, on qualification, on facts. We believe that we get a good picture of a person, but in fact … we always just see the top of the iceberg. We get to know a tiny part of a human being — never the entire individual. That is just not possible. Even if we spend our entire life with somebody, we will never get to know that person 100 percent.

But: we can try. We can show real interest and try to deep dive in someone else’s perspective. It is always worth doing. Not only does it strengthen the relationship, it will always broaden our own horizon, our own life and way of seeing the world.

Getting back to potential — so hard to grasp. Sometimes we see a spark in people and can imagine what that what we saw could grow into in some years. Or we observe indicators that we assess as limitations to someone’s potential in a given area. 

Sometimes we believe that we see something in someone. And this mere belief makes the person grow into what we saw in them. But then it can be a projection of our imagination onto them.

Most of the time, it is impossible for us to know someone’s potential. Maybe if we cannot see it yet, it could be there in five or ten years. Interests change, experiences evolve, environments never stay the same — let us try to not put people into boxes. Or at least, let us open up those boxes from time to time and carefully check whether it is still the right box we put them in.