Hypothetical question

[Ummu Sufyaan]

Hypothetical question:

how does someone realize their potential (to achieve something)? sometimes one may stop themselves from achieving something because they dont believe they are not the right person for the job. but the problem isn't really that per se, its the fact that they dont realize/acknowledge that they have potential to begin with.

what stops someone from seeing their potential?

how does one go about seeing their potential?

how does one differentiate arrogance from potential...i mean how does one avoid taking their potential not evolving into arrogance.

[Danah]

immmm....Actually that is something comes naturally with trying. You can't grape a paper and a pen and start listing all your potentials and abilities. This comes casually like you try something then you realize that its within your abilities or beyond it. It depends on the situation itself. Sometimes you might have a humble potential on thing x, but you can be awesome on thing b. So it depends on the thing itself.

A good way to know our potential in my opinion is having a simulation of the big thing we are planning to do. If we made a progress on it then we can go to the real thing and do it. Say that I want to have a dawah website for example yet I am still not sure if its something I can do.
Now in order to know whether I can do it or not, I can test my potential by starting a small blog or even a small site with some few pages to see how commitment I can be to it and through my progress on the smaller thing I will know my own abilities.


This is what I think, its just my way of doing things...I hope it helps a bit sis

[Ummu Sufyaan]

i think i get you. what you are saying is that you should test your ability first by setting smaller goals. they are like the "litmus test" if you like. if you can accomplish those smaller goals, then it shows that you do have potential and that you can achieve something greater. and also, if you can achieve those smaller goals, then you are ready to take on the larger goals. is that right?

[Danah]

^ yes right!

[- Qatada -]

1) you know you're good at something and you like doing it.

2) you use that skill for Da'wah [inviting to islam]

3) you pray to Allah that He puts barakah in that for you..

4) You focus on researching that area of speciality for tips and ideas.

5) It becomes a speciality - due to; Interest, effort, learning, and barakah [blessings].


By continuously rechecking your intention i.e. if it is for the sake of Allah or not - you do not become arrogant.

[Haya emaan]

A good way to know our potential in my opinion is having a simulation of the big thing we are planning to do. If we made a progress on it then we can go to the real thing and do it. Say that I want to have a dawah website for example yet I am still not sure if its something I can do.
Now in order to know whether I can do it or not, I can test my potential by starting a small blog or even a small site with some few pages to see how commitment I can be to it and through my progress on the smaller thing I will know my own abilities.

that means first we have to test our self practically whether we have the ability to do that thing or not..
yeah thats right.. without practical experience u cant say whether u have potential to do that particular work or not

i had a question somewhat related to the topic..
some times we have discovered our abilities and potentials but the external environment doesn't allow us to use them as we urge to.. and we feel like our abilities are dying.. does they really die..??

[Danah]

that means first we have to test our self practically whether we have the ability to do that thing or not..
yeah thats right.. without practical experience u cant say whether u have potential to do that particular work or not

This is very important especially if you are consuming money, time, and effort in your project or idea...no one wants to waste any of those three elements on nothing. So you need to consume a little bit of those three elements before starting on the final project you want to work on.

i had a question somewhat related to the topic..
some times we have discovered our abilities and potentials but the external environment doesn't allow us to use them as we urge to.. and we feel like our abilities are dying.. does they really die..??

It might mean that your potential are limited within specific boundaries as a beginning. If that is the case then this should not hold you back from reaching your final destination though. You might start improving your own self on what you are already good in within the predefined limits you found yourself in, then you can move beyond that.

Again, if we use the same example of a Dawah project. If you realized that you can have dawah activities on your school only or within your family/friends circle then you can improve your abilities on that side before you widen your circle step by step.

In My opinion, I don't think that the abilities are really dying, its just the scare that we might feel when we start doubting our abilities if we move to something bigger.

[Revert 2010]

Salaam sis, I think patience is paramount when trying to realise a goal or work on a project, I agree that things should be done incrementally in stages. A person may sometimes need encouragement to forfill their potential and a bit of dialogue to help realise that they have dormant potential.

[MustafaMc]

My opinion is that one learns his potential to achieve a thing by pursuing his dreams. I started college in engineering, but I had trouble learning the calculus and physics. I learned that I had low potential in that area. I changed my major to agriculture and I started doing extremely well even though I didn't have a farming background. I was proud of my achievements and was perhaps arrogant, astaghfir'Allah. I think that I have learned that my abilities and my achievements come from Allah (swt) and that all praise and glory belongs to Him alone.

Allah (swt) has blessed me with a job that I enjoy and He has made my efforts at work successful. I have also learned that whether we succeed or we fail at what we try to achieve it is so only because Allah (swt) has willed it to be so. I am a gardener and today my wife and I are planting our vegetable garden, but whether or not it produces food for us to eat is for Allah (swt) to will or not. Usually our garden produces more green beans than we can eat, but last year Allah (swt) willed that we did not harvest a single green bean as all of the plants died without producing. Even though we did the best that we could, we could not make the plants produce food. With all of that said I believe that we should strive to do our best at what we do, but to not boast about our achievements or to lament our failures.

[Ansariyah]

Hypothetical question:

how does someone realize their potential (to achieve something)? sometimes one may stop themselves from achieving something because they dont believe they are not the right person for the job. but the problem isn't really that per se, its the fact that they dont realize/acknowledge that they have potential to begin with.

I think Allah has blessed with everyone with a hidden talent. Some people know it from young on what they want to become n they dont stop persuing that dream until they can live it.

what stops someone from seeing their potential?

Lots, its different for every case eg: Parents? Sometimes parents want us to become something we dont want to become.
Or People in general who dont want to see u reach ur goal 'think less of u'. When my Dad wanted to become a Pilot the son of a shepherd no one believed him, but he did it mashaAllah.=)
I dont believe that anyone can stop you from achieving anything in this world. People are just obstacles, u just gotta keep on going.

how does one go about seeing their potential?

Hard work, patience, believing in urself.

how does one differentiate arrogance from potential...i mean how does one avoid taking their potential not evolving into arrogance.

By being humble, and constantly remembering that if Allah wills you can lose it all.

[MustafaMc]

how does one differentiate arrogance from potential...i mean how does one avoid taking their potential not evolving into arrogance.

By being humble, and constantly remembering that if Allah wills you can lose it all.

You are right in that our success today can very easily turn to failure tomorrow. It also helps to remember that we will one day die and visit the grave. That should put things into perspective as to whether those deeds and achievements will be beneficial to us there or not.

[noorseeker]

Mashallah great question sister

When i think about this question it reminds me of when i watch these appeals to poor countries, or when you look at images of youngster living in poverty


It gets me thinking , these kids could be potential doctors, Business people. scientist, perhaps be the greatest thinkers of out time.

We will never know their potential because they will never have an oppurtunity to get an education or have a good way of life.

So in the same way we will not really know till we test our selves , to see how capable we are.

It depends if Allah swt chooses to show us .


Another question is what if you have potential in something, but it is haram

[Woodrow]

Just advice from somebody who has been down that road.

1. Learn there is no shame in failure.

2. Understand that all humans fail

3. the only people living today, who have not failed are those who never did anything.

4. The only real failure is to not try.


Have no fear of failure in any endeavor. Do your best and see the trying as being the success and do not worry about the outcome. You have not failed if you made a sincere effort and did your best.

Some thoughts:

When Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.

Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry.

Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded.

R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York City caught on.

F. W. Woolworth was not allowed to wait on customers when he worked in a dry goods store because, his boss said, "he didn't have enough sense."

When Bell telephone was struggling to get started, its owners offered all their rights to Western Union for $100,000. The offer was disdainfully rejected with the pronouncement, "What use could this company make of an electrical toy."

John Garcia, who eventually was honored for his fundamental psychological discoveries, was once told by a reviewer of his often-rejected manuscripts that one is no more likely to find the phenomenon he discovered than to find bird droppings in a cuckoo clock. (sort of a cute critique actually)

Rocket scientist Robert Goddard found his ideas bitterly rejected by his scientific peers on the grounds that rocket propulsion would not work in the rarefied atmosphere of outer space.

Daniel Boone was once asked by a reporter if he had ever been lost in the wilderness. Boone thought for a moment and replied, "No, but I was once bewildered for about three days."

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