T

he seed principle is one of the most powerful in the whole universe. I believe it is the biggest principle God put in place and everything else hinges on it. In fact, I believe that God is much more interested in all things in life being aligned to this principle than in popping miracles here and there. This statement is as controversial as it gets. If God wanted to operate predominantly through miracles, He would have created us all at once and we would all be owning iPads and iPhones and driving Teslas all at once.

On a scale of 1 to 10, God has placed all of us on a 10 in terms of potential. It is up to us to do all it takes and develop that potential to an actual 10. Today, the biggest world changers around us have deliberately moved up the scale in milking all the potential they have, leaving nothing to chance. It is an excavation through which all of us have been sent to.

Sadly, not all of us will live to a 5, let alone a 10 in terms of maximizing our potential. I think it is beautiful to get frustrated now when we realize our potential has not been excavated than to be comfortable. Why? Because in the end, when all is said and done, that frustration will come to haunt us in a major way and we might not have any time to do something about it.

The following are the ways that you are wasting your potential.

1. Lack of Purpose

Purpose produces unimaginable doses of passion, because it creates a vision towards which we gravitate. A man with a purpose will  not wake up the same time everybody wakes up. He is a man filled with intentionality in life, urgency in living and consistency in execution. The greatest thing we can ever posses in life is not an academic paper or a materialistic trophy of some sort. No. The greatest thing that we can ever have is a compelling vision of something greater than ourselves. It is the first way in which your potential will be excavated.

Might I also add that purpose is always inherent to what you care about. Chances are that God has already equipped you with talents, gifts, family, networks or possibilities that revolve around maximizing these resources in order to fulfill your purpose in life. I think the sorriest thing in life is to exist with no purpose and no vision. [ictt-tweet-inline]To the degree you are passionate about maximizing your potential, to that degree you are clear about your purpose in life.[/ictt-tweet-inline]

2. Ignorance

There are four levels of competence. The worst of them all is the unconscious incompetence. This means that you do not know that you do not know. Some people say that ignorance is bliss, but in this case it is the most expensive liability in your life. This ignorance I might add, is institutionalized. That is why you will find people who are highly educated academically but lack information of their purpose for living. In the first point, at least some people know that they need a vision yet they don’t have one. On this point, the greatest vision is for a job, a vocation that will enable us to pay bills and survive, growing up Maslow’s pyramid. It’s the worst ignorance ever. It makes people’s potential lie dormant because this ignorance only serves to give people comfort and not significance.

3. Godlessness

Yes, I have seen very many “Godless” people do great things in life and exploiting their God-given potential. On the same token, I have also seen those who consider themselves spiritual and Godly live way below their privileges and thus dull their potential that God put in them. Those fall in the category of lack of purpose or ignorance. It cuts both ways.

However, at the heart of misuse or disuse of potential is a Godless heart. It is easy to go on a tangent and do things directly opposite to what God placed in you because you care less about God anyway. Godlessness has an element of rebellion in it.

However, those who know that one day they will have to give account of all the gifts and talents that God gave them will go on full throttle to develop and deploy them to maximum use.

4. In-congruence

I have always debated against this school of thought that says, “I can do all things”. No you cannot. You are not God Almighty. Back in High School, there was a guy from a rival school called Bill. This boy could play virtually every game. From Hockey, to Basketball, to Handball and finally to Rugby. He was special in his gifting. At the second term games, he would finish a hockey match and dash on to the basketball court to play…without resting. Today, he is nowhere near the potential he had because he never focused on one thing to develop it. Interestingly, [ictt-tweet-inline]Potential is developed to the degree that you realize your gifts, talents and skills, but also deploy them in a focused and consistent way.[/ictt-tweet-inline] If you are doing a million things at the same time, you do not have time to develop each of them to world class status, and I believe that is where God wants all of our potential to be. So let’s stay focused and congruent, true to ourselves.

5. Lack of Fervor

I tell you, the rarest thing you see today is men and women who are filled with passion. Passion is energy greater than death. It is an internal push that is brought about by a great resolve to see a vision fulfilled. Where there is no vision, there is no passion or fervor. Unfortunately, the passion I see these days is for football fans spectating their different teams. I am also speaking to myself on this point. When is the last time I was so passionate about a cause in life greater than myself? When is the last time that I went against all odds to fulfill a calling? A man with passion will most definitely delve into their raw material for their vision and purpose in life. This raw material is their potential. Their gifts, talents and skills. One without passion couldn’t care less about their potential.

5. Disorganization

Let’s just call it lack of planning. People just show up each Monday with no clue of what they want the day to bring forth, let alone the week. Life is structured in such a way that we are either Masters of it, or we are slaves to it! A Master in life is fully organized, pulling out of life what they want, deploying themselves to their full potential in an all balanced way. A slave is disorganized, always responding to what life hands them, never at all reflecting, anticipating and envisioning. Today, the greatest number of slaves this world ever saw are in existence. How do you identify them? They are those who do not plan their lives. You want to raise your potential? Learn to plan each week.

7. Fear

The greatest fear is the fear of the unknown. That is why most of us have decided to side with God so we can have a knowledge of where we are going when we finally expire. Fear though has held very many people including myself from fulfilling our potential. We are afraid to go pitch something that has never been pitched before. We are afraid that we shall be turned down. We are afraid that we shall be laughed at. We are afraid because we are overly self conceited. This fear keeps us from stepping out of our comfort zones into the unknown. The degree of exploiting our potential is directly proportional to the number of times we dare delve into the unknown territories of life. This means that we have to conquer our fears. In fact, the more we conquer of fears, the more we develop our potential.

8. Inconsistency

The second biggest enemy of success after fear is inconsistency. There is no way you will develop your potential by being inconsistent. That is why my biggest goal in life is to be the king of consistency in every endeavor I have. I know it is a tall order but there is going to come a time soon, and the time now is, that I will be writing an article each day here on Life Signatures. What does that do? It speeds up the development and deployment of my potential. Nothing creates apathy and kills the momentum for development of your potential like inconsistency does.

9. Wrong Company

Man is a social animal. We are influenced greatly by those we live and work with. In fact, everyone has an estimation of what they think you can do and who they think you can amount to. There are those who will limit your potential, and there are those who will push you and prod you until you shine. But nothing kills potential so fast like few trusted men and women that you hang around. People have some group think mentality and they always want to fit in. Exploiting your potential is going to raffle some feathers and make people uncomfortable. They will start telling you that you are too intense and that you should slow down. There are 7 billion people on earth, you can get better friends.

In closing, I think the biggest sin ever committed is the sin of rebellion. One facet of rebellion is never exploiting our God given potential. Let’s take heed.