Potential-as-alibi · also called the unrealized-capacity trap
how do I stop coasting on being capable
Potential-as-alibi is treating what you are capable of as though it were the same as what you have done, so that being able to do something becomes a substitute for actually doing it. It feels like self-belief but functions as a permanent excuse, because a person who could do something at any time never has to face a day they clearly failed to.
Potential is the only asset that grows while you do nothing and turns worthless the day you finally try to spend it.
What to do about it
Cross out the word could in your own self-description this week and replace it only with what you actually did.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
The Notes App Trap$6.99
The Mind Reset Blueprint$6.99
Stop Overthinking Now$6.99
The Voice Is LyingComing soon
Clear The StaticComing soon
The Two AM SpiralComing soon
Kill The LoopComing soon
Rewire The StoryComing soonPart of the Mind Reset series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- everyone says I have so much potential and it means nothing
- I know I could do it, I just have not
- being told I am talented never turns into results
- I live off what I could accomplish instead of what I have
- how do I stop coasting on being capable
- potential is not the same as doing the thing and I know it
- I am tired of being the person who could have
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.