Three Keys to Unlock Your True Potential

Lately, to the dismay of my family, friends, and staff, I’ve been working when I’m not sleeping. I take breaks here and there to eat and exercise. Of course, there are the vicious hide-and-seek bouts with the dogs too.

This weekend, I’m using the time to get more work done. This isn’t a complaint because it’s my choice. This choice got me thinking about priorities and what my work means to you .

As I took a quick break, my thoughts ran to what I’ve learned over the years and what I consider the most important aspects to success. More importantly, I thought about what I need to do—or anyone needs to do—to be supremely happy and successful.

It boils down to three keys.

So today, I’d like to talk about those three keys to help you get dialed in to living a fulfilled life.

Share Yourself .

I’m not speaking of your time or energy. I mean share your story with others. The art of sharing your own story is what connects you to the rest of the world. I don’t mean sharing in a selfish, narcissistic way. I mean vulnerably sharing the key transformations in your life, so others can benefit from your experience.

When you do this, people identify with their own, similar struggles. As you share what you learned and how you were transformed, they benefit from your experience even if they might do it differently.

The big trick here is to make sure you share how you were transformed. If you don’t offer up that most critical lesson, your story is simply a dead end for them from a learning standpoint. What’s more, you don’t achieve that connection.

Be Yourself .

This is what keeps you connected to you. There is no greater struggle than when what you think, say, and do are not in complete harmony.

Think about those times you felt out of sync or not yourself. What was missing? Likely, it was that congruence.

Being yourself puts you in the best position to offer your greatest gifts to the world—whatever they are. It’s also the best way to ensure your own happiness and sanity.

Give Yourself .

This is what connects you to higher powers. It also, oddly, provides the greatest return.

I’m not speaking of being generous with your money or time. Many people donate those. I’m referring to fully giving yourself to your purpose. (See 7 Signs You Found Your Purpose and How to Figure Out Your Purpose in Life in Fewer Than 600 Words .)

This starts with contributing your efforts fully to what you’re going to do and give to the rest of this world. This is giving everything you have to that calling.

I’d like to spend time on this one because this is what truly unlocks the world for you. Of course, the greatest reward usually requires the greatest sacrifice.

This will be lonely and painful.

It’ll be lonely because people won’t understand you. They won’t understand what drives you. They won’t understand why you’d want to work so hard.

It’ll be painful because the farther you advance, the less people available in this world who can help you. You’re in a territory so few have been. That’s why the most brilliant ideas have such lonely childhoods.

There is a terrible secret no one ever tells you about becoming successful. The greater your successes, the more—not less—you need to do by yourself to stay ahead.

So, when I said “this” will be lonely and painful, what did I mean by “this?”

There are essentially four characteristics:

Strategy :

You have a strategy for where you’re going in life. You seek an understanding of why the world works the way it does in this area. You question everything. You take nothing at face value.

Mindset :

You maintain a particular mindset. You understand limitations are something of the mind, not the universe.

Practice :

Once you have your strategy and no-limits mindset in place, you practice to perfection. By practice, I don’t mean brute force. Brute force or mindlessly working hard will never overcome intellectual laziness. You practice with an extreme sense of deliberation. You practice your craft well past the point of being able to do it perfectly. You practice it to the point you couldn’t possibly make a mistake because you are so dialed in.

That’s the huge difference between someone who’s good and someone who’s a master at their craft. The good ones take a break when they finally get it right. The greatest ones take a break when they can’t possibly get it wrong.

Discomfort :

You seem to live in a continual state of discomfort. Of course, I’m not talking about living in pain, but continually pushing yourself so that every day you’re a bit uncomfortable because you’re constantly trying new activities and undertaking new projects that progress you. You embrace this discomfort because you know it will make you a great pioneer.

Here’s a quick example:

If you want to be a great salesman of whatever your product is, you don’t simply learn how to sell that product or service. Most people can do that.

No, you’re giving yourself to your purpose and your trade.

You learn the sales techniques.

You learn the psychology behind why people do what they do or buy what they buy.

You use the products so you see can see them in practice.

You break ‘em on purpose to see what people struggle with.

You become empathetic for those customers.

You go back to the design teams to show them what’s happening.

You learn everything there is to know about your product’s industry.

You learn everything there is to know about the customers.

You become an industry–leading expert on the products, topics, and trend.

You become a pioneer to advance your industry and the world.

This evolution it what truly unlocks the world to release it’s greatest gifts and allows you to give your greatest gifts to others.

To recap:

Share yourself. This is what connects you to others.

Be yourself. This is what keeps you connected to you and keeps you the best you.

Give yourself. Give yourself to your purpose by going well beyond the basics because that’s what unlocks the greatest gifts.