The Potential Principle: A Proven System for Closing the Gap Between How Good You Are and How Good You Could Be

by Mark Sanborn

You may honestly be able to say (and have others say about you) that you are the absolute best in your field--the best athlete, scholar, CEO, parent, mathematician, teacher, mechanic . . . whatever it is that you fill out the “occupation” box with. But being the best at something only means you are better than everyone else. It doesn’t mean you are the best you. Your potential is higher than where you are right now.Leadership expert and international bestselling author of The Fred Factor and You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader, Mark Sanborn invites you to get better. Not better than others, but better than you! By learning to employ Sanborn’s uniquely designed “Potential Matrix” to specific areas of their lives, readers can gain the tools they need to see breakthrough improvements in places they previously thought had reached their maximum potential.Every day, you have the exciting opportunity to be better. To pursue your true potential. To make what you thought was your best, now second-best. And then the next day, start again. You can be better.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Self Help, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Productivity

176 pages, Hardcover

Published September 5, 2017

About the author

Mark Sanborn is an international known author, motivational speaker, and the president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea studio for leadership development. He gives nearly one hundred presentations each year on leadership, team building, customer service, and mastering change. Mark and his family live near Denver, Colorado.

Reviews

[Amber Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great nuggets - very valuable information. Easily applicable. I attribute a lot of positive change in my life to this particular book.

[Kare Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frankly I thought I was on the path for some time while to recognize my best talents and the flip side, where others’ with complementary talents can make them become valuable allies yet after reading Mark Sanborn’s powerful book I did not realize that I was not optimizing my potential. I was not using the four traits together that he amply demonstrates enable us to optimize all that we could be, for ourselves and with and for others. It was worth reading Sanborn’s book just to discover the difference between reflecting and thinking yet the huge bonus was learning how to use all four capacities together. And morality matters as Sanborn clearly reflects in his compelling guidance. Whether your life is going extremely well or you are facing dire hardships, his actionable insights can put you on a more satisfying path in all parts of your life. I loved Sanborn’s previous books, Fred and Fred Factor and The Encore Effect – and this book takes me further on the path towards a meaningful life. His character-driven approach to living a more meaningful life is especially uplifting in these tumultuous, sometime reactively mean spirited times. If you, too, want to life up to your potential – and want your family and friends to go on that path with you - then this is the best book I can recommend for you to read.

[Ruchir Gandhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

To the point...

The matrix that provides you with the ability to better your best. Four quadrants of matrix
1) Thinking
2) Learning
3) Performing
4) Reflecting

Every one of us can make ourselves better. But choice lies with ourselves, what I consider important in my life?
I can disrupt myself on a focused area with above matrix by refocusing, Engaging others, increasing my abilities and finding purpose.
Very brief but effective guide to reach your Highest potential !!!

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Potential Principle: A Proven System for Closing the Gap Between How Good You Are and How Good You Could Be by Mark Sanborn is an insightful book on how to transform our best into better.

This is a book that will definitely appeal to people who are intently focused on perpetually developing into the best version of themselves.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have doubts about this book before reading it. I’ve read a number of books on the importance of uncovering, understanding and maximizing potential and I had a feeling this book was only going to echo what I’ve already heard from other authors. I am happy to admit that I was wrong.

Mark presents a very unique approach to how readers can address and ultimately maximize their potential. As expected, he explains why we should be interested in improving, then highlights the path to improvement and the means for doing it.

The path to improvement that Mark expounds on is what he terms The Potential Matrix. Some readers may be familiar with it, but I wasn’t. This new discovery provided me with a new approach to how I can further maximize my potential. I’m sure that I’ll be going back to it from time to time to ensure that I’m implementing it in different areas of my life.

Another new discovery for me were the means that Mark shared for achieving perpetual improvement. Those four tools are disrupting, refocusing, engaging and expanding. By no means was it the first time I’d been presented with these concepts. However, the way in which Mark suggests implementing them were fresh to me and motivated me to want to start trying them as soon as possible.

I found this book to be very eye-opening. The concepts aren’t new, but they are presented from a very unique and intriguing perspective. That’s the primary reason why I enjoyed this book so much. However, I’m certain this book will not be for everyone. For some readers, the concepts and Mark’s approach likely won’t be something “new”. If that’s the case, the amount of value they’ll take away from this book will likely be limited.

If readers have a genuine desire to improve themselves, their lives and their performance, this book is sure to add value to their lives. If readers are new to the concept of potential and interested in learning how to maximize theirs, this book is without a doubt a must read.

I received this book free from the publisher through their book review bloggers program and I was not required to write a positive review.

[Pono Akina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Sanborn's "The Potential Principle" is a learning experience. I recommend all those who want to be a better version of themselves, find what they are passionate about, and have help to achieve their dream, this book is a must read. I enjoyed reading and learning the different formulas about being a better me. This is a book I can refer to when I need help, or when I can give advice. Great Book.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy.

A tiny bit hard to get through because of the bigger principles involved, I think that while the author did an amazing job on the topic, there might have been too much heaviness that for me as a reader felt a little tuned out. I think the main thing for you to enjoy this book more is to really be interested in the topic and have a lot of time to really learn instead of just reading a story.

[T-Bone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pros: this was the ideal length for this genre. Anything over 150 pages always gets repetitive and goes off the rails. This didn’t, and I appreciate that. It is also presented in a way that isn’t overly complicated. Overall some good nuggets and, at times, thought provoking strategies.

Things that didn’t work for me: way too many quotes from other people, most of which I’ve never heard of so some of the impact is lost.

[Steven Haiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book but the matrix not so much

I know that the potential matrix is the crux of the book. This is not how I analyze my actions. This aside I enjoyed the book and it has actionable ideas to improve in various areas of your life.

[Avi-Gil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received through a Goodreads Giveaway.

Eh.

[EDGAR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Siempre es buena redescubrirse y darse cuenta de las capacidades con las que contamos pero en ocaciones son toma tiempo explotarlas.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it is not too uncommon to encounter self-help books that seek to encourage the reader on to further success in life [1], this book seeks to provide a context for self-help and personal improvement that puts such efforts into a 2 x 2 matrix and into a context.  Its purpose can very easily be seen to be part of a tendency among many people to look for greater formalism in life, and how one feels about this book will depend in large part on one's attitudes toward this formalism.  The author candidly discusses his faith as well as his flexibility in looking towards and improvement and offers an ideal world of constant toil and effort under the sun that would likely earn it the sobriquet 'vanity of vanities' had it been around during the time of Solomon.  In particular, the author straddles some serious lines that point to the most important conflicts of our time, praising our society's love of what is new and up-to-date, which is responsible for a great deal of the waste that we see around us and the decline of people building things that are made to last, while also encouraging the use of the past to disrupt the present because of the tendency of others to be chronological snobs without a knowledge of history.

In terms of its organization and structure, this book has a strikingly formal one as one might expect from its approach and purpose.  The first part and the first two chapter of this book are devoted to explaining why one should improve in light of current conditions and the fear of falling behind after an introduction of the potential principle as a whole.  The whole book and the author's whole argument is premised on the fact that we as individuals and institutions can achieve far more than we believe possible, and that selling ourselves short discourages us from making the efforts that would make great improvement possible.  The second part of the book discusses the path to improvement, as the author introduces the 2 x 2 matrix of potential dividing one's opportunities for growth into four qualities:  performance, learning, thinking, and reflection.  The third part of the book looks at the means of improvement, with chapters on various strategies for growth such as personal disruption, refocusing, engaging others, and increasing our own capacities.  The book closes with a personal look at what matters in driving our personal improvement as well as some appendices that give sixteen combinations of matrix and breakthrough improvement that combine the four strategies given into the four areas the author had posited, as well as eight questions for making oneself better.

I found this book to be a useful one as well as a deeply personal one, and also enjoyed the way that there were discussions at the end of each chapter where people who have achieved success gave testimonials of a sort on how they made great strides and great improvements in their lives.  In general, I found this discussion to be focused on worldly success based on current contemporary trends towards continuous improvement with the lack of stability that we find in our contemporary world.  This is not a book that is directed towards the kingdom of heaven, whatever the religious beliefs of the writer, but rather one that is written to encourage people to be better in our present world here and now.  Those who are interested in such success will find much here to enjoy, but not all readers will feel equally sanguine about the author's relentless focus on how to achieve more and better through constant efforts at growth and changing one's habits ruthlessly and having a drive for constant and ceaseless personal improvement.  The author seems not to want to dwell on the larger reasons for resistance to change or on the power of the habitual for a great many people.   Perhaps that would make the subject for another interesting book.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[陈 元伟 · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is always room for more...

Instead of saying the cup is half empty, half full or using humour.

Very good book which provokes me to continue to improve. I like the reminder on using checklist, the process on how one moves his discipline from one level to another, and lastly the part on how to engage with others to learn.

[Melisa Buie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of his research is out dated but overall good presentation of material.

[Brittany Mazzola Leath · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did the audio for this one and it was only ok. Good info but nothing groundbreaking. I’m inspired to think more and share that thinking more frequently though.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, I think it is one to re read