A thought by John C. Maxwell in his book, Talent Is Never Enough (p. 11). HarperCollins Leadership.  Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

And that is so true.

John continues, "Once people figure out where their sweet spot is (the area where they are most gifted), what often hinders them isn’t Lack of talent. It’s lack of trust in themselves, which is a self-imposed limitation. Lack of Belief can act as a ceiling on talent. However, when people believe in themselves, they unleash power in themselves and resources around them that almost immediately take them to a higher level. Your Potential is a picture of what you can become. Belief helps you see the picture and reach for it."

Later John says, "Your potential is a picture of what you can become. Inventor Thomas Edison remarked, 'If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves.'

"Too often we see what is, not what could be. People looked at Joe Namath when he was young, and they saw a skinny, undersized kid. They looked at him when he was in high school, and they saw a kid who hung around with the wrong crowd and didn’t do his homework. They looked at him when he was in the pros, and they saw a guy with bad knees. But he saw himself as a champion. If you could see yourself in terms of your true potential, you wouldn’t recognize yourself.

"When my daughter, Elizabeth, was in high school, she had a 'glamour shot' taken of herself to give me as a gift. That was the rage at the time. A person would go into the photo studio and be made up to look like a movie star. When I first saw the picture, I thought, That’s not the way she looks every day, but that’s Elizabeth. That’s truly her. Likewise, that’s what it’s like when you see and believe in your potential. If you were to see yourself as you could be, you would look better than you ever imagined. I just wish I could show you a picture of yourself with your potential intact."

He goes on, "Indian statesman Mohandas Gandhi said, 'The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.' Closer to home, it would also suffice to solve most of our individual problems. We must first believe in our potential if we are to do what we’re capable of."

He then says, "Cartoonist Charles Schulz offered this comparison: 'Life is a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.' What are we saving those gears for? It’s not good to travel through life without breaking a sweat. So what’s the problem? Most of the time it’s self-imposed limitations. They limit us as much as real ones. Life is difficult enough as it is. We make it more difficult when we impose additional limitations on ourselves. Industrialist Charles Schwab observed, 'When a man has put a limit on what he will do, he has put a limit on what he can do.' "

That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Yes, yes! #continuethought