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Releasing potential

Making the right choices leads to fulfilling career paths.
By Bryan Hattingh
Johannesburg, 01 Jun 2007

Blind spots, self-limiting beliefs, assumptions and speculations - all these factors limit people's potential and can end up trapping them in mediocre lives, their unconscious competencies and untapped potential lying dormant year after year.

Making the right choices can put paid to the sabotage patterns that tie people into career paths that are unfulfilling.

In life, people are most often constrained and confined by circumstances largely of their own creation. Their short-sightedness is generally a result of legacy views of the world, choices they have made, and a set belief in what is possible and what is not.

The fact is that people are limited only by what they believe they can and cannot do.

Efficient forward motion

Think of Parkour, the physical art of displacement. Its unofficial motto is: "To be and to last" (etre et durer). Parkour focuses on uninterrupted movement, the aim of which is to move from point A to point B as efficiently and quickly as possible, using all the possibilities of the human body.

It is meant to help overcome obstacles, which can be anything in the surrounding environment - from branches and rocks to concrete walls, and is practised in both rural and urban areas.

An important characteristic of Parkour is efficiency. The person must not merely move as fast as they can, but move in a way that is the least energy-consuming and simultaneously the most direct.

According to the founder, David Belle, the idea of Parkour is to use quick-thinking with dexterity to get out of difficult situations, and to be able to go anywhere that one desires.

To watch Parkour is to realise that most people's view of what is possible, is minuscule compared to what is actually achievable. It's all about unconscious competencies: most people have no idea of how much they know, or of their hidden potential, simply because they never explore the possibilities. All people possess skills they don't even know they have.

The problem is perception becomes reality. Worse still, the older people get, the more restricted and set in their ways they become, even though they may acquire greater knowledge along the way.

What is required is a whole new point of view, a change of vantage point, a different way of seeing.

Ever looked at the night sky through a telescope? Or at a feather under a microscope? That should provide an idea of how many elements make up every object.

Expanding one's view of reality is particularly important in today's fast-paced world - the rate at which change is happening makes it impossible to be a valuable leader if one chooses to sit on the sidelines. Global warming, political unrest, terrorism, fundamentalism, massive skills and resources challenges - all these factors are contributing to the re-shaping of the world.

This is where effective leadership becomes imperative. Truly impactful and positive leadership is achieved through example and character, not position. Leaders who are visionary, purposeful, focused, energised and impassioned inspire and galvanise groups of people.

Expect abundance

People are limited only by what they believe they can and cannot do.

Bryan Hattingh is CEO of Cycan.

People have been taught to avoid risk. The dictionary defines risk as the possibility of incurring misfortune or loss. However, if it is managed and mitigated, risk can bring about great success.

The history books are full of stories of people who risked everything to achieve the "impossible". However, during childhood, words such as "can't", "mustn't", "shouldn't" and the like are constantly bandied about.

People are always being told what they cannot do, and it is frightening to think of the extent to which this limits people's abilities in the long term.

There is so much abundance in the world. What are the expectations? Are people going to the pool of abundance with a thimble or a front-end loader with a fleet of trucks?

Take the plunge

From the day people are born, they set forth on the road to self-actualisation, but because they are conditioned to avoid risk, they become trapped in a place that does not make them happy. Self-limiting beliefs create habits that become the definers of how people live.

People constantly need to ask themselves what they are doing to counteract those habits. This is where a facilitator can be most useful and constructive in helping people to look at themselves in a holistic and positive light, and to think about options for the way forward.

All people have is experience; whether it is good or bad, it is how this experience is retained and perceived.

Rising heroes

As horrific as it was, 11 September is a compelling example of the good that can come out of evil. This devastation galvanised the people of New York and engendered levels of courage, sharing, fellowship and bravery never seen in daily lives.

As the Twin Towers were crumbling, so heroes were rising. In the face of such enormous tragedy, the power of the human spirit was remarkable. People are not always able to control what happens, but they can control how they respond to it.

It all comes back to the question of choice. How does one qualify criteria for success? Things such as title, position, the pedigree of an organisation, and earnings are all important factors when making career choices, but none are imperative. What is vital is to know the scope of the challenge, the opportunities for growth, and the ability one has to impact, influence and add value to those around them.

It is time to ask what about the opportunity is energising and impassioning. Is a person able to define his/her alignment with the corporate vision? That will determine how much one can enrich - and be enriched by - the organisation and those around them.

If a person is settling for less than best, choose another way and be prepared to do what it takes to reveal the light inside.

(This is a summary of a presentation given by Hattingh to a group of international business leaders in Dubai.)

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