When it comes to developing your story, one of the key components is identifying, assessing and fully leveraging the potential you have as a sales professional. Everyone has potential. It’s up to you as to whether you choose to recognize it, embrace it and fulfill that potential that exists within you.

My grandfather came to recognize the potential he had in him and chose to fulfill that potential by inspiring the lives of those he encountered every day. He knew early on, going back to his days in World War II, that the bigger the obstacle or the bigger the goal, the more important it was to have others who believed in you even more than you believed in yourself. This philosophy was put to use on the battlefields in Europe and again on the battlefields throughout some of the toughest communities in San Diego.

My grandfather leveraged his knowledge and skills and embraced his own potential by proactively engaging and inspiring others to do the same in their lives. Many of those he reached out to in his lifetime, beyond just family and friends, were hundreds of misguided souls who had lost the sense of who they were and felt they had no potential. Organizing a baseball league and instilling lifelong values and skills through his coaching, these individuals not only regained clarity on the potential they had lost sight of, but they also came to realize my grandfather believed in them more than they even believed in themselves.

Over several decades he set the framework and provided the guidance for dozens of kids and even adults to discover their innate potential and fulfill it. Those who genuinely wanted to change their lives followed my grandfather’s guidance and opened their minds to the possibilities of perennial success.

The results of having my grandfather believe in them more than they did in themselves were astounding. Hundreds of boys and girls who could have wound up in prison or dead in the streets were awakened to a new set of possibilities. Today many of those boys and girls, now full grown adults, serve as a beacon of hope to their own children and others for what can be achieved with one’s potential, no matter the obstacles.

Some questions to consider:

· Who do you have in your life that sees you bigger and better than even you see yourself? What kind of potential do they see in you?

· How does the belief someone else has in you affect your performance as a sales professional?

· Are you overwhelmed by the pressure and expectations they have of you? Or do you embrace that and use it to improve your performance?

· What level of potential do you see in yourself as a sales professional? Are you achieving this potential or wasting it