The quote, “You never really know what you are capable of, until you go out and try.” has been attributed to the award winning actress Sarah Michelle Gellar but is has to be one of the most overused cliché on Planet Earth. So overused in fact that it no longer means anything. That’s a tragedy. With the loss of that fundamental axiom, we’ve lost one of the most effective tools for self-improvement.

It is a cold hard fact that we don’t really know what we’re capable of, until we go out and try. We simply cannot grow by staying in our comfort zone. To grow, we must push our limits. Once the mind has been expanded by a new experience it never goes back to its original size.

Personal growth is a matter of climbing to a higher plateau, getting to be comfortable on that new plateau and then reaching for the one above. Self-actualization is processional. One step leads to the next and every new step that is taken open an entirely new vista where new options and new possibilities become available.

In simpler words, we cannot write a book before we know how to read one and learned the rules of grammar and we can’t do those things before we’ve learned the alphabet. Expertise has to precede achievement and that expertise is acquired by pushing our limits.

By continually pushing our limits we grow more confident. Starting new projects where the outcome is uncertain becomes easier and easier and the fear of failure diminishes progressively.

At a certain point we even get to realize that there is no such thing as failure. There is just the logical result of decisions made and actions taken. At that stage, there are no more failures. Simply learning experiences.

The great existential question is not, “Is the glass half empty or is it half full?” That ultimate question is, “Are we half asleep of half awake?” Personal growth is not stifled by lack of possibilities or lack of talent but through complacency. To put it into more vernacular terms, most of the time we’re not growing because we’re asleep at the switch and not pushing our limits. It’s as simple as that.

The ultimate purpose of life is to sustain life. Life means growth and growth can only be made possible through struggles and efforts. A muscle that is not used will atrophy and weaken. So will the brain. To stay healthy, vibrant and growing it needs exercises, it need challenges.

There is a French proverb that essentially says, “The hardest part of writing in placing the pen on the paper.” That is also true for any endeavor where the outcome is uncertain. The hardest part is to get started. Once the first step is taken, everything else seems to fall slowly into place until the project is completed and finished.

One of the purest and greatest joys a person can experience is found in the satisfaction of seeing that personal growth is taking place. That’s what motivates the athletes; it’s what inspires the artists and what sustains every achiever that ever lived.

We live the fullest when we get that sense that we are growing. When we realize that we are now able to achieve what was impossible before, when we see that the size and scope of our achievements are expanding and growing. There is no feeling like witnessing self-growth and personal actualization. It is the ultimate source of satisfaction.

We are born with nothing but potential and a clean slate. It is our moral duty to develop our potential by filling that virgin slate with the tales of ever expanding achievements. Such is our ordained destiny and the path to a meaningful and rewarding life.

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