What is Keeping You From Reaching Your Potential in Life and in Your Home?

Are you reaching your full potential in your career? Your life? What about in your housing decisions? In your home?

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, says that there are things that keep people from fulfilling their potential:

• Lacking the courage to try
• Trying to please everyone
• Imitating the desires of others
• Chasing status without questioning why
• Playing superhero and trying to do it all alone
• Dividing attention between too many projects

When it comes to your housing decisions, do you lack the courage to try something new? Perhaps you’re afraid to make an initial housing investment due to high interest rates, skyrocketing insurance costs, or a mortgage that looms too large in your mind. Or maybe you want to remodel, but you’re afraid you’ll make a wrong decision or won’t get your money back out of your investment. Maybe you’re afraid to scale down, trade up, or move from your predictable and safe space because there are just too many unknowns.

Fear can keep us from all sorts of things, but if you lack the courage to try something new, you may find yourself stuck. Safe, but stuck. Stuck with the same status quo. Fear can prevent you from taking action, pursuing opportunities, making decisions, and from reaching your full potential, in life and in your home. Don’t let fear stand in your way of achieving your housing goals. Embracing risk can encourage creative thinking and lead to new ideas or solutions for your home and your housing needs. Maybe it’s time to step outside of your comfort zone and explore new paths. Don’t let fear paralyze you and keep you from pursuing your dreams.

Perhaps you don’t lack courage, but rather, you’re trying to please everyone with your decisions. You want to make a housing decision and change your living situation for the better, but what will your family think? Your friends, neighbors and colleagues? Trying to please everyone leads to stress and anxiety and it will also keep you stuck because you can lose touch with yourself and end up neglecting your own needs. What do you want? Need? When you’re in touch with your own wants and needs, you’ll have direction and a better sense of purpose, and ultimately, a more fulfilling and satisfying housing outcome.

James Clear points out that imitating the desires of others and chasing status without questioning is another potential killer. In our industry, we see this all the time. People want what others have and often try to imitate the flavor of the day, without giving much thought to their own needs or desires. Just because something is trendy or in vogue, doesn’t mean it’s right for you. When you prioritize external validation over intrinsic fulfillment, you lose out on what is truly important to you. Ultimately, you may end up dissatisfied and disappointed when you try to imitate others.  Just because your neighbor has smart-home technology, is it right for you? Do you really need a yoga room? A home electrical vehicle charger? Maybe you do and maybe you don’t. Just make sure your decisions are based on your needs and not born out of imitation or social standing.

Ahhh…and then there is the whole playing superhero and trying to do it all alone. How many people fail to reach their full potential because they refuse to ask for help and guidance? This holds true in every aspect of life, including your housing decisions. Seeking professional advice is wise because it allows you to access specialized knowledge and expertise from someone who has dedicated years to a particular field, providing insights and solutions that you might not have considered on your own. When it comes to your housing potential, getting help will bring you clarity and keep you from making costly mistakes. Your housing choices are complex and they carry great impact, so throw off  your superhero cape and ask for help from the professionals.

Lastly, when it comes to your home and your housing decisions, stay focused and prioritize what is right for you. Dividing your attention between too many projects leads to decreased productivity and slower progress, not to mention burnout. Staying focused and prioritizing allows you to manage your time well, to achieve your goals faster and to accomplish more by directing your energy towards what is important to you. When your attention is divided, you can miss important details and make mistakes. When you prioritize what is important, you’ll feel less overwhelmed by uncertainty or indecision.

James Clear is right. There are things that keep all of us from reaching our potential. So, if you want to achieve your full potential – in life and in your home, take courage, stop trying to please everyone else, ditch the status symbols and forget what others are doing, and by all means, stay focused and get help because when you do, your dreams will come true.