by Gezelin Cantuba, VPG Contributor
In September, I had a belated birthday celebration lunch with Ashley and Stephanie. While there, Ashley presented two books for Stephanie and me to choose from. Ashley often seems to have endless suggestions of books for us to read and write our reflections. I ended up choosing Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant. This book caught my eye because after reading the little blurb of what the book is about, I felt that I could maybe relate to some of the topics and was interested in what insights this book could provide me. I’m glad I picked it up because it
ended up being an engaging read about the journey of pursuing growth within ourselves and helping others to cultivate their growth. It’s filled with inspiring stories coming from once-average people of various backgrounds, all with their own struggles learning to unlock their potential. The book is broken into three sections: “Skills of Character,” “Structures for Motivation,” and “Systems of Opportunity.” Personally, I was most drawn to the first and second sections of the book.
The first section, “Skills of Character,” was about discomfort, receiving advice, and imperfection. These aspects were great topics to pick apart at the beginning of the book as they hold us back from wanting to pursue our ambitions. Discomfort makes us afraid of trying new things and failing. Seeking advice can be intimidating as it implies you didn’t do well at something before. Also, the idea of embracing imperfection can be tough in practice as it means that you need to recognize your mistakes and learn to move on from them. These are not necessarily novel ideas for a book in a genre like this, but the author’s breakdown with example stories provided great food for thought. After every chapter, I found myself having to put the book down and reflect on where I see these themes in my own life and the possibility of where I can improve myself.
The second section of the book, “Structures for Motivation,” piqued my interest the most. This part talks about the daily grind/routines, what happens when you're stuck, and about motivation. As someone who pursues an artistic career, feelings of burnout, boredom, feeling stuck, or lack of motivation is like getting sick. In this case, the only medicine is to change your approach. I especially enjoyed the stories of Evelyn Glennie, R.A. Dickey, and The Golden Thirteen in this section. Their journeys and experiences are perfect examples of situations where these types of feelings come up. My biggest takeaways from their stories were introducing play into your medium to avoid boredom, the importance of breaks, backtracking in order to move forward, and that both high and low expectations are reasons for motivation. These lessons are coming from a place of prioritizing not the result, which is still important, but these methods are about taking care of your wellbeing in the process of achieving a result. Which is something I have seen myself and my peers have a tendency to ignore.
The third section, “Systems of Opportunity,” was more statistical and technical than the previous two sections, which is an interesting addition to the book. It included comparisons of educational systems across the world. One chapter talked about how working in teams affects overall intelligence. This part contained an inspiring story about the 2010 Chilean mine rescue. Another chapter leaned into how workplace practices have changed in order to accommodate certain kinds of people. I appreciate tackling a DEIA approach in this section.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested. This book is written in an engaging way. In between the text, there are even witty humor-filled images that match the text in a fun visual way. The general takeaway from this is that potential is not discovered through talent or accomplishment alone, although those can be helpful and give you an edge. Potential is truly found by developing, learning, and constant perseverance. This book is a hopeful and positive look into how the ordinary person can unlock their potential.
Comments