The Cost of Ignoring Your Potential

Why are you here? Because your owner signed you up? Because you asked them to? It's because someone, maybe even yourself, sees the potential in you. Whether you're young, old, new to the industry, a grizzled veteran...doesn't matter. YOU HAVE POTENTIAL.
Oct 1 / James DeVito
Why are you here? Because your owner signed you up? Because you asked them to? It's because someone, maybe even yourself, sees the potential in you. Whether you're young, old, new to the industry, a grizzled veteran...doesn't matter. YOU HAVE POTENTIAL.
The moment you stop recognizing your potential and stop taking actions to reach it, that's the moment you stall out. Are you in your 20's or 30's and think "well, it's all downhill from here" or in your 40's, 50's, 60's and think "my best years are behind me"? Those thoughts are recipes for being in the exact same place you're in now in another 5, 10, 15 years and be wondering what happened.
As a service advisor, do you want to be thinking:
   -- in 5 years and say "my capacity to help more people hasn't grown at all, but I mean, I'm still helping enough."
   -- in 2 years and say "I still can't communicate effectively with technicians but man, it just isn't worth the headache..."
   -- in 1 year and say "Hey, my sales are GREAT. Nobody on my team likes working with me but that's their problem."
   -- in 6 months and say "My numbers are fine. I mean, I haven't been fired yet so I must be doing SOMETHING right. This is good enough."

All those things in bold? Those are the lies we tell ourselves that hold us back from reaching our potential as service advisors.
When you hold yourself back from reaching your potential in one area of your life (such as your work), that mentality bleeds into other areas of your life. When you ignore your potential, it robs you of a better future for yourself, both professionally and personally.
But this isn't just about you. When you are achieving your potential and even still continuing to look farther, you are able to give more. Give to your customers, give to your family & friends, give to your communities, and give to your team. There are people being taken advantage of at auto repair shops all over the country and they NEED YOU to step up and realize your potential so you can be there for them. You have friends who need someone to forge the path first so they can know what's possible. You have a team that needs more positive attitudes on those really tough days and needs someone to lead the charge on that "one more" waiter oil change. On that 5 o'clock brake inspection.

Can you go on cruise control in your work & life and come out the other side seemingly unscathed and just continue on as normal? Sure. BUT YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT. You're here. Don't ignore that potential someone else sees in you or that you see in yourself. Act on it! Apply what you're learning in Sales Fix to take your advising to the next level. Be the trusted advisor your customers need you to be.

Your potential is not out of reach. Can it take hard work? And can it mean being okay with change? Absolutely. But you're only as far away from your potential as you are comfortable with saying "this is good enough."