Hi, I'm Helen Tupper and I'm Sarah Ellis.

And you're listening to the Squiggly Careers podcast where each week we talk about a different topic and discuss practical ideas and actions to help you find your way through our squiggly world of work.

And this week, which is my first week back after a holiday, we're talking about how to explore your potential.

Before we get started,

Sarah, did you miss me in my week of holiday? Oh, I wasn't ready for that question. Of course.

Is that the right answer to that? I totally put her on the spot. It's because she never shows me

any sign of affection, everybody. So the only reason I could do it is by putting her on the spot

and forcing her to respond. Well, I did miss you, but then also you were still on

WhatsApp a bit, so I'm not sure you were having a hundred percent digital detox, shall we say.

It's because it's like, I just, A, I enjoy it and also sometimes I find it easier than looking

up to my children. They may listen to this podcast in the future and be really upset with me for saying things like that.

So this week, yes, we are talking about how to explore your potential.

We don't think that this is about how does everyone rise to the top

and how does everyone be the very best or that potential is this thing for the chosen few or a quest for

perfection. Our perspective on potential is that we all have undiscovered potential and that we can

all explore that if we choose to. It might not be the right time for everybody right now. Maybe

if you've got a lot of other things on, it might not feel like I've got your energy to do it. But if you do have the energy and the interest, then we want to help you

to explore your potential by sharing some different tools and ideas and actions to support you.

And there's a quote that I came across from Robert Kaplan from an article that will share

a Harvard Business View article about potential. And he said that

fulfillment doesn't come from clearing hurdles others set for you. It comes from clearing those

that you set for yourself. That resonated with me because I think potential is not what other people

...