Why Your Personal Growth Strategy Isn’t Helping You Realize Your Potential

When people become conscious that they aren’t realizing their potential, they turn to some form of personal growth for help. Maybe you can relate… You want to be, do, and have more, and deep inside, you know you can. So you read books, take courses, invest in coaching, and “work on yourself.”

All your personal growth efforts are meant to accomplish one result: transformation. You want to morph from who you are now into someone who can be, do, and have more of what you desire.

Two Reasons Your Personal Growth Strategy Isn’t Working

But there are two flaws in this strategy.

First, you are doing tons of things in an effort to be a different person. Yet, you already are that person and always have been. You simply need to remember this fact and show up daily as your authentic self. This is the part of you that can realize your potential.

Second, if you put all your efforts into personal growth, you miss the opportunity to truly step into your best self. Achieving your potential requires focusing on personal and spiritual growth. The part of you required to fulfill your potential—to be the person you know you can be and create what you desire—is spiritual.

You might be wondering if the books, courses, programs, and coaches help you be someone who can achieve your potential. Of course! If that weren’t true, I wouldn’t be a coach. Nor would I invest in books, courses, programs, and coaches for myself if they weren’t valuable.

But I put my attention on both my personal and spiritual growth. And I keep in mind that all those tools simply help me remember who I am already. And my efforts are less toward doing and more toward being.

It’s Easier to Be You

You are a spiritual being having a physical experience. Therefore, remembering who you are—a spiritual being—provides the key to realizing your potential.

“Easier said than done,” you say.

Maybe. Maybe not.

After all, how hard can it be to shed all the layers you’ve tacked onto yourself as a way to hide who you really are? How hard can it be to recall your origins?

Okay… I admit it can feel f*cking hard to peel away those layers. And, like peeling an onion, it often brings tears to your eyes.

But you know what’s harder than peeling back those layers to reveal the real you? Being someone you are not. That takes a ton of effort. It’s literally exhausting.

So, while you think it’s not easy to be the “real” authentic you, it’s actually way easier than being someone you aren’t.

And if you put all your attention on doing things to be who you think you want to be, you’ll never get around to being the person you are.

You are a Spiritual Being

You came into this world as a pure soul ready to express your uniqueness—to be yourself. But instead, you are who you have become today due to conditioning and life experiences.

You are a spirit in a human body. That means your essence is spiritual. You can call it spirit, soul, or even Higher Self.

And when you express that essence, you show up authentically.

Despite this fact, like the rest of us humans, you likely spend most of your life being someone totally different. One of my coaches calls this the “un-self.”

But you are always you…that core essence. This is true even if that self or identity goes unexpressed or remains hidden.

You Forgot Who You Are

As a human being, you are made to forget where you came from as soon as you leave the birth canal. Remembering that you came from Source becomes part of your purpose as a human. However, humans spend most of their lives unconscious of their true character and continually bury that self deeper.

Without awareness, you add layer upon layer during your lifetime to hide your essence. You do so based on what you learn or experience.

By burying your authenticity, you feel safer in a world that doesn’t always accept or like those who boldly reveal their true selves. And the human brain wants to keep you safe at all costs. So, it gladly encourages any efforts to cover up your authentic self.

You continue this process until the authentic self is hard to see or experience. And you forget you are even a spiritual being expressing in physical form.

If and when you develop an awareness that you are not being authentic—that you are not a person who can realize your potential, you decide to transform yourself. You choose to change into someone who can be, do, and have what you desire.

And that’s when you, like many other humans, set out on a personal growth journey. However, you simply need to peel back the layers to remember who you are and find that powerful spiritual essence. And doing that requires spiritual growth.

A Broken Transformation Strategy

If you genuinely are interested in realizing your potential, it’s time to stop using a broken strategy to achieve transformation, is it not? Instead of focusing only on your personal growth, focus on personal and spiritual growth.

Since you are both spiritual and physical, you can’t realize your potential without expressing both aspects of who you are to the fullest extent. That means realizing your human potential requires realizing your spiritual potential, too.

Now, most humans will not become fully actualized in the sense of being 100% tapped into Source at all times or being able to perform miracles. But you can move toward higher levels of consciousness, openness to spiritual guidance, and self-expression. As a result, you can begin to express more of your authentic self.

To accomplish that, though, you must address the entirety of who you are.

The Magic of True Authenticity

When you begin expressing your authentic self, it becomes easier to do the things that allow you to have what you want. Your ability to magnetize what you desire will feel magical.

But it’s not magic; it’s a change in vibration. When you express yourself authentically, you raise your vibration. That higher vibration magnetizes things to you. Thus, you’ll find it easier to manifest.

From a place of authenticity, you also magnetize people to you. You can attract soulmate clients and relationships. People want to be around those connected to Source, show up aligned with their Higher Self, and express themselves from a soul level.

Hiding Who You are is a Disservice

I understand feeling trepidation about uncovering and showing up as your authentic self. After all, you’ve probably been judged or punished for being you in the past. And your brain has told you it’s unsafe to do so ever again.

It’s no wonder that you—in fact, most of us—are too afraid to be fully authentic. Doing so requires a new level of vulnerability and trust. And because we don’t trust that we will be okay, we continue to hide who we are. We reveal only a little bit of ourselves.

Yet, hiding your authentic self is a disservice to yourself, others, and the world. You can’t contribute fully if you don’t show up fully. And the part of you that can make the most significant difference—to fulfill your potential—is your spiritual essence.

And if you don’t express your authenticity, you also do a disservice to Source. In his book, You are the Answer, Michael Tamura writes, “We all have the same purpose for being here: to realize, through fully incarnating as a being, all that is God.”

Our souls come from Source. Fulfilling our potential involves expressing our spiritual nature.

Plus, Source needs us to do Its work on the Earth plane. We are the vessels that help the spirit realm impact the physical world. We are partners in creation.

You are Here to Express Your Authentic Self

Even though you have a physical body and all the characteristics that go with being human, know that you are a spiritual being first and foremost. Therefore, it is your job not only to remember but express your spiritual side.

Thus, to truly be authentic—to be yourself, you must be the spirit or soul within. That’s your “work.” That’s your purpose.

Tamura writes, “This is the journey of the soul we call Life. To be who we are, to have all that is within us and to fully express our divine heritage—that is the purpose for living and the destination of our journey.”

Embark on the journey. Use whatever personal and spiritual growth tools you choose, but keep in mind that you are spiritual and physical. You uncover your authenticity with a combination of personal and spiritual growth.

And once you express your authentic self, you can move toward achieving your potential and purpose.

Are you being your authentic self? If not, what stops you? tell me in a comment below. And please share this post with a friend.

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Photo courtesy of Elnur.