‘You have potential.’
When I was going through school (wow, that feels so long ago) that was something I heard a lot. I might have done well in maths, written a good essay, given a talk that people liked. I used to love hearing people say it. I used to revel in my supposed ‘potential.’
I had potential all the way until the end of school, at which point I was failed potential. My marks were above average but far below my school’s expectations.
I went off to University, started an Arts degree and relied on my grand potential to push me through. Result? I flunked out. And when I say flunked out, I mean flunked out. My second semester marks would have been lucky to push double digits (I never bothered to find out what they were.)
When someone says you have potential, they’re merely telling you that there’s a gap between where you are and where you should be. And if someone says you have ‘huge’ potential, it means you have got a lot of work to do.
Potential is nice but it is meaningless. I’m sure there’s heaps of 40, 50, 60 year olds leading comfortable but crappy lives who once had potential. I don’t want to be that guy.
Recent Comments