“Baby, you’ve got what it takes” – Michael Buble

This is post #27 in my quest for 30 in 30.

Personal development. It’s a subject that so many people have something to say about. Many of us follow them in the hopes that they will provide us with the missing link to our happiness or success. We view them as having the answers that we need in order to progress in our lives. Some speakers count on this need. Some act as gurus with all of the answers that will complete you but there’s just one thing that you should know despite all of the information that someone else can throw at you. Everything that you need to be great, you already have.

When we try to better ourselves, very often we tend to think it’s because something is broken. Maybe we think that we’re missing some essential ingredient that is necessary to be great or to live an amazing life. None of this could be further from the truth. We’re not broken and nothing is missing. Everything we need to be amazing already exists inside of us. It’s who we already are. I was reading all about potential energy recently because let’s face it, physics is pretty cool. So the definition I read for potential energy was “energy stored within a system”. This is to say that all the energy that an object needs to do whatever is possible for it to do already exists inside of the object. Well, we are really nothing but objects so it would stand to reason that within us lies the potential energy to do whatever it is we want to do with our lives. We all have the potential to live the lives we dream and to do the things that we want to do. I also went on to read the following about potential energy: “According to the principle of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created or destroyed; hence this energy cannot disappear. Instead, it is stored as potential energy”.  So with that we know that we all have within us the ability to do anything we can think of and that nothing can take that away from us. We aren’t lacking anything. Nothing is missing. We are not broken or damaged in any way that could keep us from reaching our full potential. Everything we need already lies within us. We just need to make the decision to use it. We need to convert our potential energy into kinetic (energy it possesses due to it’s motion). Once we do tat the laws of nature take over and keep us moving. Eventually, we may stop again. Our momentum may dissipate and our progress may slow, but our potential for great things is always inside of us.

When you go forward reading what your personal development folks are saying or that your life coaches are teaching, try to shift the way that you perceive their message just a little. Don’t look at the message as the potential to find what’s missing. It’s not a way to fix you. Look at it more for what it is, a catalyst to get you to act on your potential. It is the proverbial fire under your ass that starts you converting your potential energy into kinetic. Believe me, sometimes a good kick in the pants is all that’s needed to make great things happen. Don’t stop listening or learning from the motivators you follow. The message and the intention is typically good. Just remember that you already have what you need. Our ability to achieve greatness is as inherent as our bodies ability to create its own heat. We’ve all got it and it can’t be taken away. We’ve just got to trust in ourselves enough to get it all moving.

Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.
-JB
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Today’s Music: Nothing Else Matters
by: Metallica
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