You’re Not Wasting Your Potential - Even If It Feels That Way

4 min read

Potential - it’s always had something of a double meaning to me energetically.

When someone says, “They have so much potential,” I know it’s meant as a compliment. But a part of me has always responded with, “So what?”

What’s the point of all that potential unless you can actually do something with it?

I’ve got a science background, and being a visual person, the idea of ‘potential’ always takes me back to school - watching my physics teacher holding a ball in the air. “This has potential energy,” he said. “This energy will stay potential until I let go. When I release it, all that potential becomes kinetic energy - energy in motion.”

That stuck with me.

When I hear someone say a person has potential, I picture them suspended. Not stuck exactly - but held in place. Paused. Waiting. Full of promise that hasn’t gone anywhere yet.

And the thing is, that image always felt a little painful to me.

Because I’ve often been the person with potential. Brimming with ideas, talent, insight... and still feeling like I’m not doing enough with it. Like I’m wasting it.

Potential can feel like failure. Like you’re letting down this imagined version of yourself - the one who should be further ahead by now. The one who was supposed to have figured it out already.

Reframing What It Means to Be "Full of Potential"

You - just as you are - are full of potential.

Your ideas.
Your creativity.
Your ability to connect, to lead, to help.

Your business and the way you dream of showing up in the world.

All of it is humming with possibility.

But I want to gently ask: How much of it are you actually able to access right now?

Because for many of us - especially those of us who are sensitive, thoughtful, recovering from burnout or trying to rebuild our capacity - potential isn’t the problem. It’s momentum.

It’s not that we don’t have the ideas or the drive or the skill. It’s that something - often invisible and layered - is holding us in place. Keeping us suspended.

And for me, that ‘something’ used to be my health.

Even in the depths of chronic illness, I could see my skills, talents, and passion sitting there idle. Loads of potential - but I couldn’t do anything with them.

As my health started to improve, I was brimming with ideas, insight, and creativity... and still feeling like I wasn’t doing enough with it. Like I was wasting it.

(And as I write this, I’m starting to wonder about the connection between potential and imposter syndrome. There’s something there - about how being full of potential can actually magnify that feeling of not doing enough. But that’s a thread for another time.)

Anyway, back to my original train of thought...

When it comes to releasing our potential, what we need isn’t more hype, or pressure, or a better productivity system.

We need to understand why we’re paused.

We need tools that meet us where we are - emotionally, energetically, and practically.

We need support that honours our natural rhythm, not just our ambition.

This Is Why I Do What I Do

My work isn’t about “unlocking your potential” in the shouty, coaching-world kind of way.

It’s about helping you find what’s holding that energy suspended - and gently guiding you back into movement.

That momentum doesn’t have to be loud or fast or dramatic. It just needs to be yours.

Because the thing is, your potential doesn’t need proving - It needs permission.

A Free Tool to Help You Begin

If you're feeling like your potential is stuck and suspended in your hands, you might find this helpful:

I created a short quiz that doesn’t tell you what to do next - it helps you understand how you naturally work best.

Because sometimes it’s not about pushing harder or figuring more out. It’s about working with your rhythm instead of against it.

This quiz offers gentle insight into your unique working style - so you can begin aligning how you work with who you are. And that’s where things start to move.

👉 Take the quiz here and start unlocking your potential from the inside out

Because your energy doesn’t need fixing.

It just needs freeing.