Pursuing your potential is not found in attempting to be like someone else or achieving what others have done, but by tapping into the untapped reservoir within yourself.

Towards the end of George Bernard Shaw's life, a reporter challenged him to play the "What If" game.

"Mr. Shaw," he began, "you have been around some of the most famous people in the world. You are on a first name basis with royalty, world-renowned authors, artists, teachers and dignitaries from every part of this continent. If you had your life to live over and could be anybody you've ever known," the reporter asked, "who would you want to be?

"I would choose," replied Shaw "to be the man George Bernard Shaw could have been but never was."

What would have been your answer? Who is it you want to be? What is it you want your life become? If you had your life to live over what would be different? Just as Gandhi needed to lead his country to freedom, Mother Teresa needed to ease the pain of the sick and dying and Picasso needed to paint, we all need to discover or rediscover our true calling in life. However, pursuing your potential is not found in attempting to be like someone else or achieving what others have done, but by tapping into the untapped reservoir within yourself.

One of the best strategies to win the "What If" game, is to take an honest assessment of the unthinkable:

1. Imagine your life has just ended.

2. List some areas you wish you had taken time for one last time.

3. Ask yourself what golden moments or accomplishments in your personal or working life would make you smile in reflection?

Completing this powerful exercise gives you the answers and energy to change your life before it's too late by becoming focused on why you are here or your purpose for living. Remember, you are one of a kind and when you leave this world, you won't have any other opportunities to make an impact.

"A rose only becomes beautiful and blesses others when it opens up and blooms," says Dale Galloway. "Its greatest tragedy is to stay in a tight-closed bud, never fulfilling its potential."

When you began to view yourself as an endangered species with only a limited number of hours and resources at your disposal, answering the question of why you did not become the fully active, realized person that only you had the potential of reaching, becomes unthinkable.

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Copyright 2003, Joel Garfinkle, All Rights Reserved

Joel Garfinkle provides a step-by-step Dream Job process that has guided thousands of clients to find the perfect job and reach career fulfillment. For Career Coaching Services: http://www.dreamjobcoaching.com/coaching.shtml