Tag Archives: exceptional

Using your Hidden Power

Perhaps it is a bit of an overgeneralization, however, my personal experience is everyone has capabilities that remain unused for most or even all of their lives.

These hidden abilities are often related to things outside our comfort zone.   That is they are not a situation where one feels safe or at ease and without stress.  Just the opposite.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

The power to overcome obstacles and achieve great things is usually available to you.  Embracing and unleashing these powers which lie dormant, perhaps  even purposely buried by social and environmental constraints, can be extremely pleasurable.

It requires effort and self motivation to gain the confidence to use unfamiliar and uncomfortable skills and behaviours.  Going outside of your “go-to” behaviours is never easy.  It is however almost always satisfying.

Stretching Yourself

It can be frightening to try something new, to boldly go where no one has gone before.  Lots of things can go wrong.  There could be physical and mental anguish involved.

The benefits of expecting yourself to perform beyond expectations, are not always obvious.  This limits the motivation to do things we are not sure we can do.

Hence, as I noted a majority of us just stay in our comfort zones, safe and secure.  It may be we do not even realize we have hidden talents.  We are not motivated to seek them from within, rather to rely on others to see us through.

Sadly by not doing everything we are capable of, by self imposing unneeded constraints so much valuable and joyfull life experience can be missed.

Seeking Extraordinary

When you get up in the morning do you plan to be extraordinary.   Are you seeking the exceptional?

Planning to Astonish

Being extraordinary probably will not just happen.  To astonish, that is achieve the exceptional, requires planning.  This is a conscious activity.

To some degree being extraordinary is subjective.   I know I am exceptional but what do others think.

The reality is to be truly extraordinary, that is exceptional or astonishing needs to be recognized by others to truly fit the classification.   Without external validation, just thinking  you have achieved the extraordinary isn’t enough – maybe it is for you but the internal satisfaction is just that – internal.

Why Bother?

Get up, seek to be great, seek to achieve.  This is not an effortless set of activities.  Sometimes I have trouble with the first one alone – getting up.  So, what’s the business case?  Why not just go with the flow, what’s wrong with just being ordinary?

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I personally live by the ethos that as I travel through life’s adventures, seeking maximum personal pleasure is my goal, as long, of course, as it does not impinge on the pleasure of others.

What if people said I was an exceptional basket ball player like Magic Johnson?    Wouldn’t it make me feel good.  Sure it would.  (I am a terrible basketball player by the way and not trying to imply otherwise).  It would probably give pleasure to others as they watched and cheered for me as well, satisfying both my pleasure and others.

I am not suggesting we should all seek to be basketball superstars.  The point is not in the achievement but rather in the seeking.  The underpinning of this is planning.  If you don’t plan to be exceptional, if you don’t seek it,  attaining the the goal is unlikely.

And the point

It is kind of a theme through out my posts, if you don’t know what you are trying to achieve, you won’t know when you achieve it and most likely it won’t be exceptional.

A final note:  Thanks to my friend and former colleague for bringing up this topic for discussion today, very thought provoking.