Wasted Potential
Do you have any recurring dreams?
I have one that happens so often; it screams, “Something meaningful is here!”
That’s as far as my limited understanding goes. I know the dream is important, but what to do about it?
Before I tell you about the dream, some context...
Growing up, I was an athlete. I loved playing every sport imaginable. (Besides football, my skinny bones can’t take a hit.)
I was most attracted to and talented at basketball. I loved the sound of the ball swooshing in the net, the smell of old gymnasiums, and the squeaky sound of my shoes moving through the court.
Not to mention, I was lightning-quick and could drainnnnnn 3’s. I played travel teams until high school and then had a breakout freshman season, averaging over 20 points per game.
It was at this time my basketball career hit a turning point.
In another life, I can see myself doubling down on training, sweating my ass off in summer sessions, and fully committing myself to the sport.
In that fiction tale, I see a scholarship to some Division 3 school, an intimate college experience, and cherished sports memories.
Yet, my insecure 15-year-old self headed down another path. Freshman year, I started drinking. Once alcohol entered the picture, basketball was never the same.
I completely botched my sophomore year tryouts, not realizing how out of shape I’d be from beer and cigarettes. While I still made JV, it was a disappointment and one I never recovered from.
I still played my final two years, but I look back and see a mountain of wasted potential.
Cue recurring dream.
I find myself back in my high school gym, practicing drills. I graduated from high school, however, I have another chance to suit up and play a final season with the team.
I’m so excited to devote myself to the training and take advantage of the opportunity. It’s as if I can’t get enough— I do drills, run sprints, I’m ready to redeem myself.
Then, at some point, I wake up. As I open my eyes to reality, a wave of disappointment hits. In my dream, I’m re-writing my script, tapping into unlived potential.
When I awake, I sit with the realization that I’m a balding 34-year-old, and any potential to compete in basketball is long gone—there will be no redemptive season.
Or can there?
Good or bad, the unfulfilled potential of my youth has driven me for the last nine years.
I’m not kidding myself that I had any real shot at basketball. The number of mediocre players lamenting what could have happened in high school is endless. That’s not what’s important.
What matters is that I never really tried—I never saw what I could have been—even if it wouldn’t amount to much.
This existential regret haunts my dreams.
When I stopped drinking, I got that chance back, although not in sports, but in life.
While it no longer involves basketball, I’m here to express my fullest creative potential.
I don’t want to wake up to a dream when I’m 94, to a life I didn’t fully live.
I know one Truth— We are all capable of so much more than we think.
Some choose to find out what that means, and others settle for wherever the boat of life drifts them.
I’ve done things I never thought I could do, and it’s just the beginning. The journey of self-exploration excites me.
The possibilities are endless.
Maybe you’re like me.
You sense you have great potential and don’t want to leave this place with regrets.
You want to experience ALL that life has in store for you.
You want to get your creative ideas off the ground and feel fulfilled.
I help people do just that.
A principle of my coaching is everything is always more than it seems.
To realize our potential, we need the support of others who can reflect back what we don’t see, give us direction, and challenge us to break out of routine.
Since I was eight years old, I had a gift for seeing the potential in others.
Now, I not only see it—I have the skills to help people access it.
Are you ready to unleash your potential and see what’s possible?
I have openings in my coaching practice.
If you want to work 1-1 with me, send me an email, and we’ll have a chat.
Rooting for you and your real-life dreams.