You were born a genius to make a positive difference, not to be a trend follower. You are a spiritual being in a human body with a creative mind. Like other human beings, you have unique heart desires, strengths, experiences, and DNA to make an impact in the world. So, if you are going to aim for anything, aim to be the best version of yourself. Make your life matter by realizing your full potential.

Sadly, many may die with their treasure within. As we speak, some people have a high risk of losing their jobs to machines by 2027. The irony is human beings have untapped potential superior to machines' capabilities. One needs to focus on knowing their true self, mastering their mind, and developing skills to do jobs well that machines can not do. You can also work on aligning your career with your passions.

Self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence. -- Viktor Frankl

Knowledge of your true self and determination to transcend social conditioning and identities that limit your potential is vital to maximizing your potential. True self is full of potential and has no social identity. It is neither superior nor inferior. On the other hand, social identities are false-self identities that limit our potential. Our ancestors created social conditioning and identities with limited information under certain conditions. Some of these identities have lost their relevance in a rapid innovation era. They are not in accord with the nature of human beings and things.

Knowing your true self is the key to developing your strengths. Building success on inner strengths and competencies makes sense. It is like building something great on a strong foundation that will stands the test of time. It is the same for individuals, organizations, and nations too.

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. -- Leonardo da Vinci

Your true self is full of potential. However, without self-mastery, external things will control your mind. The quest to maximize your potential will be a mission impossible. Knowing your true self is key to self-control, joy, peace, and great success. So, if you want to understand others or achieve self-mastery, take the time to know your true self first. If you are going to master anything, master your mind first.

Self-education and truth-seeking are necessary to live a successful life. Our current education system focuses on intellectual intelligence. But a high frequency of thoughts of fear, anger, ego, greed, lust, envy, indulgence, and laziness impair our judgments and cause economic poverty, inequalities, corruptions, injustices, and other disasters. On the other hand, patience, discipline, courage, faith, love, and truth-seeking are some of the virtues to help you become the best version of yourself.

The freedom to be the best version of yourself and do what you love is key to success. The ability to love self and connect and serve others in the spirit of love and compassion is vital to create a better world. Remember, self-care is self-love. Without that kind of love, you will create disasters for yourself and others unconsciously. So, take care of your body, mind, and spirit in a way that will make you a great asset.

There is more urgency for us to tap into our potential now than ever. Unlike previous generations, technology is advancing at an accelerated rate. Our world is interconnected physically and virtually. Physical strength is no longer necessary in the era of rapid innovation. We have reached a point where knowledge workers need to have the ability to learn fast and tap into the other forms of intelligence. Remember, everything is changing at a faster rate. Whatever was a hot trend of last year is probably long gone. Playing catchup on things you lack strengths is the recipe for disasters. A fixed mindset and lack of intrinsic motivation in a rapid innovation era is a disadvantage too.

The artificial general intelligence (AGI) models will be able to perform some of the human intellectual intelligence tasks. Generalization and recommendation tasks can be done by current AI models. In addition to that, there are platforms and robots which are replacing humans as we speak. The solutions are designed to address our own and other people's pain points. But we forget some of the conditioning are to blame for our misery.

It is not possible to understand human beings' capabilities and challenges unless you know your true self. Social problems are not easy to tackle. Each of us has a mind that is invisible to others. We can make our minds as we see fit. Like AI models, our mind is a black box. Garbage in, garbage out applies to it too. False-beliefs and distorted information impair our judgment. Knowing what you know and what you do not know, and your strengths and weakness is vital.

The power and control systems are not suitable for agility and innovation. The commander who attempts to control others is blind and does not even notice he turns assets into liabilities. We need to do our best to address the problems now because the stakes are high. It will help to reduce the risks of existential, economic, and environmental crises. The right system to empower people to maximize their potential is necessary to succeed.

We are the master of our own mind. Spiritual, emotional, and other intelligence are necessary to realize your potential and succeed in a rapid innovation era. It is what sets us apart from machines. Human beings have the power to self-control, think independently, innovate, and respond effectively to change in our world. Remember, without people there is no organization or nation. You need people to innovate or invent things to maximize value of other people. 

The great leaders, investors, innovators, and thinkers I have studied, know themselves, and they self-control and spend a lot of their time learning, thinking, and doing what they are passionate about. They also have a growth mindset and don’t fear the unknown. In contrast, most people fear the unknowns. They do not know that unknowns are an opportunity to advance science and technology. There is little or nothing to be discovered from the knowns.

For example, Isaac Newton had a Bachelor of Arts. But that did not stop him from venturing into the unknown to advance physics and mathematics. Of course, Galileo and others before him made it possible for him to do that. On the other hand, Leonardo Da Vinci did not have a high school diploma. But he learned his craft through apprenticeship and from nature. He also had a growth mindset. The determination to continue to learn, grow and achieve mastery. That helped him to create amazing things in his lifetime. So, whatever excuses you have, chances are they are your limiting beliefs.

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." -- Albert Einstein

Still, some of you will say only people who were born genius can achieve greatness. But ancient Romans referred to the spirit within us as a genius. So, there is genius in you. All human beings are spiritual beings. You need to awaken the genius in you and make an impact.

We have a creative mind and the power to self-control and maximize our potential. It will be a tragedy to live your whole life as a human being without knowing your true self. The least you can do is to begin a journey of self-mastery. Weigh your choices by imagining yourself at the end of your life journey as a human being. As you reflect on how well you lived your life, ask yourself, what kind of positive difference would you have wanted to make to your family, friends, communities, organizations, nations, and the world? What problems would you have liked to solve? Do not worry about how to, because it will limit your potential. Every great thing created in the world began with a vision.

It is never too late or early to start. You can still make the best of the time you have left. Self-actualization requires self-knowledge, intrinsic motivation, a growth mindset, and transformation to achieve self-transcendence. When it comes to self-mastery developing inner strength makes more sense. Inner strength is the key to true happiness and maximizing potential. In the end, self-transcendence and aligning your vision, strengths, and passion will help you maximize your potential.

About Author

Hendrika Kuffar, is writing a book on art and science to maximize human potential. Her heart desires to help people to maximize their potential and the value of their organizations. She is a critical thinker and creative problem solver with a background in engineering. In the last two decades, Hendrika has learned about business, investments, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, economics, technology, and other subjects in science and engineering. She has written articles on technology, the strategies of high-performing organizations, investment, and tackling social problems. Hendrika has several years of experience integrating data, coordinating projects, researching, and engineering.