The grave yards are full of great men and women who never became great because they did not give their ability responsibility – Myles Munroe

So often you hear the phrase, uttered wistfully, “s/he has such great potential…” It expresses a vision of a person beyond their current state. The speaker sees more in that individual than what s/he is exhibiting at present. It is a vision of hope, faith, and promise. But that’s all it is – promise because the chasm between potential and performance is wide and it takes much work and perseverance to bridge it.

I’ve heard it said that the richest place on earth is the graveyard because therein lies bestselling books, architectural wonders, magnificent inventions, and scientific breakthroughs that never moved from potential to performance. They died in the hearts and minds of their creators of whom people said, “s/he has such great potential.”

Sure, there are many things that keep us from moving from potential to performance. These include: fear of the unknown, laziness, procrastination, bad company, and much more. But we will not dwell on the negatives this year. Rather, we will embark on a journey from potential to performance while overcoming such negative challenges as aforementioned. So where do we start?

We start at the beginning. Write out your goal, dream, objective, vision, product, or performance. In simpler terms, write out what you want to achieve at the end of your day, week, month, year, or life. Write it or draw it or color it or put it in a collage (we’ll talk about vision boards later). What’s your goal? Or what potential is in you that you would like to perform?

I have the potential to be a bestselling author and an influential youth speaker and coach. I would like to move these goals from potential to performance in 2013. What about you? What are your plans for the year?