Potential Doesn't Produce!!

[sensei8]

Some many years ago, I heard Dai-Soke say to us at an informal gathering at his house one Sunday afternoon..."Potential Doesn't Produce!!" That caught our attention, rather unavoidable, yet that woke up our complacency, that which we all carry from time to time while on our MA journey.

This statement was the wakeup we all needed; the shock of it all, was unbearable. I know for a fact, I needed that wakeup AND that shock.

Dai-Soke said...

"All of the potentiality in the words can't produce anything!! To produce anything of quality effectiveness, one has to put meaningful effectiveness in sincere actions."

If I'm at a job, and you're my boss, and I exhume all of the potentiality in the world, yet, I produce nothing of tangible value, no matter my potential, then I'll be fired with cause. The old saying that goes...

"Potential has a shelf life." ~ Margaret Atwood

Actions speak louder than words!!

How can I produce, if I hide behind my potentials; afraid to live up to them daunted!?!?! After all, potentials are untapped opportunities. They're there, and they've been properly nourished, but remain quite dormant.

Let your potentiality free while what you produce escapes unbridled.

You want to be an effective MAist?? Then produce effectively beyond your potential; your potential will hold you back from greatness, if you allow it. Your potentiality are only the building blocks, that your knowledge and experience leaps from.

Your thoughts, please!!

Edited July 8, 2018 by sensei8

[OneKickWonder]

I think many people fail to realise their potential. Many new martial artists for example believe their potential is to to move like martial artists do in the movies. Ie they believe they will do in one attempt what a stunt man on wires can look like he's done, after a few dozen takes, and then edited and augmented with CGI. Many such new martial artists fail to realise that they have the real potential to not actually look like they're doing very much at all. They fail to even see that balance, breathing, timing, positioning, judgement, calmness of mind, and an intricate understanding of the subtleties of how the body moves and works count for infinitely more than pulling off a beautiful tornado kick for example.

I think some clubs don't help in this respect. A curriculum that places more emphasis on the really showy stuff than the subtle stuff for example will turn out black belts that can raise a round of applause from a crowd of spectators but couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag if caught in the middle of a bar brawl.

I think true potential is not in technique at all. I think it's in a thorough understanding of the principles of movement and judgement behind those techniques.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Having potential means nothing if one doesn’t do anything with it. It has to be developed, cultivated and practised to result in any sort of benefit. A person who is a natural athlete but doesn’t train is eventually going to stagnate in skills and be surpassed by one who has less potential but trains diligently.

[sensei8]

Should the student be dismissed from the school if only the potential arises to any task??

Oftentimes, students need to overcome low self-awareness, weak motivation, and focusing on the wrong qualities. One of the job's of the CI is to strengthen the students abilities to get out of their own way.

My chronic lower back pain is now keeping me from producing as I use to. Two questions...

1) Should I be put to pasture??

2) I've the proven knowledge and experience, however, will my potentiality replace my ability to effectively produce??

I know what I can and can not do, as far as my lower back is concerned. In that, I'm good out of the starting blocks, but as the day progresses, I slowly digress where mobility isn't favorable to produce anything physically effective.

If I can't produce due to my chronic lower back pain, then what good am I??

Even at the start of the day, and all day, I must be extra careful as to how I move. If I move the wrong way, I run the high risk of my back going out. So severe that I might wet on myself, and I can't move without experiencing very sharp pain.

[OneKickWonder]

.

If I can't produce due to my chronic lower back pain, then what good am I??

I once watched a programme on TV about a judo master. Possibly grandmaster I can't remember. He'd been promoted from I think 9th dan to 10th Dan by popular vote from a committee of senior Judoka. The old man couldn't even practice judo anymore when he was promoted. He couldn't spar with anybody, and he could not longer demonstrate anything beyond the most basic techniques.

So why then did they promote him?

Quite simply, he still had immense amounts to offer. Barely able to even walk, his mind was still sharp as a tack. He was able to teach subtleties that go far beyond the basic mechanics of the moves. Watching two senior students participating in randori, he was able to advise why a technique worked, why a technique failed, how are failed technique could have been performed or set up subtly different to make it work, how to breath, when to relax and when to tense up, and a million other things that I don't yet understand.

In short, although he could not longer DO, he had everything to Teach that even most senior instructors could still learn from.

[JR 137]

“Remember, the saddest thing in life is wasted talent. You could have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t do the right thing, then nothing happens.”

~ Lorenzo, “A Bronx Tale”

Talent and potential are one in the same in this thread IMO.

[sensei8]

“Remember, the saddest thing in life is wasted talent. You could have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t do the right thing, then nothing happens.”

~ Lorenzo, “A Bronx Tale”

Talent and potential are one in the same in this thread IMO.

Both don't mean that one can produce; actions have to occur.

[Shizentai]

Although overly simplified, I like to think of skill acquired over time as S in the following equation

S=N^(E*t)

where N is your skill level now, t is some length of time, and E is effort put in over that length of time. People tend to put too much emphasis on N. We think too much about the starting point, where we are now, even though it's the steps we take from there that matter the most.

As a kid who had little to no obvious potential physically, I've luckily been free from the burdens of unmet, over-inflated expectations. It has been my great fortune to fly under the radar of most people until the right moment.

edit: 400th post. ZING!

[singularity6]

Although overly simplified, I like to think of skill acquired over time as S in the following equation

S=N^(E*t)

where N is your skill level now, t is some length of time, and E is effort put in over that length of time. People tend to put too much emphasis on N. We think too much about the starting point, where we are now, even though it's the steps we take from there that matter the most.

As a kid who had little to no obvious potential physically, I've luckily been free from the burdens of unmet, over-inflated expectations. It has been my great fortune to fly under the radar of most people until the right moment.

edit: 400th post. ZING!

You may want to specify that N >1 and E > 0 to ensure positive growth. A couple other cases could be interesting to observe:

If 0 < N < 1 and E > 0, you'd have a decline to zero over time.

If 0 < N < 1 and E < 0, you'd have positive growth, but this model only seems to apply with the high ups in government or major corporations.

[Shizentai]

Although overly simplified, I like to think of skill acquired over time as S in the following equation

S=N^(E*t)

where N is your skill level now, t is some length of time, and E is effort put in over that length of time. People tend to put too much emphasis on N. We think too much about the starting point, where we are now, even though it's the steps we take from there that matter the most.

As a kid who had little to no obvious potential physically, I've luckily been free from the burdens of unmet, over-inflated expectations. It has been my great fortune to fly under the radar of most people until the right moment.

edit: 400th post. ZING!

You may want to specify that N >1 and E > 0 to ensure positive growth. A couple other cases could be interesting to observe:

If 0 < N < 1 and E > 0, you'd have a decline to zero over time.

If 0 < N < 1 and E < 0, you'd have positive growth, but this model only seems to apply with the high ups in government or major corporations.

As per my original stipulation, it is an overly simplified equation (in other words, I left a lot out for sake of clarity of impact).

Still, thinking logically, it seems unlikely that a person would have negative current skill or be able to apply negative effort over some unit time, at least as I have conceived effort to be actions taken towards self betterment. The minimum a person could have or apply respectively would be zero.

so really, it would importantly be N ≥ 0, or E ≥ 0, although I agree it's unlikely that a person truly has 0 skill.

Also, you are right, we did not agree upon what index for N or E should be used, integers & what not being my original intent. For this comment, I refer back to my original sentiment:

Although overly simplified

Semantics are fun as heck, but I'll stop here.