Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

Potential is having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future. Potential implies possibility.  It also implies the existence of undone work.

Furthermore, everybody has potential, but not everybody puts themselves in the position to reach that potential. Why? Well, it comes down to one’s ability to meet three requirements that are necessary to reach one’s potential.

1. Have self-awareness of what makes a passion, skill, ability, or talent unique to your personality and strengths.
2. Self-motivation to continually invest in a process that grows that passion, skill, ability, or talent until you become an expert.
3. The ability to convert that expertise into something valuable to a meaningful subset of society.

As you can see, reaching one’s potential starts with self-awareness, is cultivated by self-motivation, and is brought to fruition by creating value. While simple to explain, unquestionably this is a challenging process.

Most people never get beyond step one. Moving from self-awareness to self-motivation often creates an internal conflict. Accepting what you are good at (step 1) relative to what is valuable (step 3) is not easy. Unfortunately, a large percentage of people find that they are good at something they don’t enjoy. But that’s also the thing of value. Therefore, they have no self-motivation to invest in becoming an expert.

If you find yourself stuck in this dilemma, I urge you to consider mental skills training.

How Mental Skills Training Can Help You Find the Self-Motivation to Work Towards Your Potential

There is no one size fits all solution for self-motivation. Some people find their self-motivation when they have autonomy over what they do. Others find their self-motivation when they can easily see themselves continually making progress. Another type of person may need the context of a realistic step-by-step plan to find their self-motivation. And yet another type of person may need a well thought out purpose that relates to their passions to find their self-motivation.

So, the more one understands what innately makes them tick the better they can develop their self-motivation. This requires a process built on training mental skills.

My Approach for Helping Client’s Find their Self-Motivation

When I first start working with a client, I start by talking to their parents, coaches, peers, co-workers, or teachers to learn about their behaviors using Gallup’s approach.

1. Yearning: What activities or environments is the client repeatedly drawn to or eager to try?
2. Rapid learning: What new skills or activities does the client pick up quickly and easily?
3. Satisfaction: When is the client most enthusiastic and fulfilled?  Which activities is he or she excited about doing again and again?
4. Timelessness: When does the client become so engrossed that he or she seems to lose track of time?

The next step is to understand which one of the 5 big personality traits they best fit.

1. Openness: Known for their curiosity, imagination, and ingenuity.
2. Conscientiousness: Go getters with strong organization and execution skills. May have a tendency for perfectionism and being controlling.
3. Extroversion: Distinctly positive and have the potential for leadership due to their outgoing, energetic, and talkative traits.
4. Agreeableness: The quintessential team player due to their preference for cooperation. Typically behaves in a manner that’s considerate, generous, forgiving and trusting.
5. Neuroticism: Performs at the extremes with high highs and low lows due to being driven by emotions. Influenced by negativity and anxiety more than others.

Then I combine what I learn from these two approaches to categorize the primary form of self-motivation into 1 of 9 types:

1. Autonomy – Doesn’t like being told what to do and has a need to be self-reliant.
2. Competence – Wants to show mastery and craves moments to demonstrate their expertise in front of others.
3. Social Bonding – Needs to build relationships with others and pursue goals with friends.
4. Social Status – Must establish social significance and wants to be the “alpha” in their social circle.
5. Accomplishment – Loves planning and constantly wants to feel like they are making progress.
6. Knowledge – Wants to always keep learning new things and expanding their expertise.
7. Excitement – Needs to stimulate their emotions by taking on new and thrilling experiences.
8. Challenge – Must have purpose and seeks opportunities to push themselves and others beyond perceived limitations.
9. Creativity – Doesn’t like monotonous activities and needs to have a way to express their uniqueness.

Finally, using these 9 categories of self-motivation, I develop a custom plan and process for mental skills training that takes advantage of the client’s unique strengths and motivations to optimize their potential for inevitable success.

To find out more about my mental skills training programs, please contact me here.