You Can’t Do Anything, But You Can Do a Lot More Than You Think

 
By Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener

I’ve often wondered how good a singer I could become. You should understand that I have a terrible voice, no real ear for music, and no training whatsoever. Even so, I think it might be kind of fun to be able to belt out a song or two without making children cry and cats run away. The question of how good a singer I could be is at the heart of a wider issue: potential. People often talk about potential; we lament it when an athlete does not live up to his or her promise, we place kids into “gifted” programs based on their potential, and we get married (or otherwise commit to a romantic relationship) based on the potential we see in partnering. For as intuitive a notion as potential is, I have found in my conversations with friends, that people have only the loosest understanding of this topic. 

On occasion, I teach courses in positive psychology to university students. I enjoy posing the question of potential to them (and by extension, to you). I ask them basic questions such as, “Could anyone become a professional athlete with enough practice?” and “Can anyone who is legally qualified really become President of the United States?” These queries tend to frustrate my students because they invariably lead to a somewhat sour realization that not anyone can do anything. Put another way: People have potential, but not unlimited potential. As I like to say, “You can’t pick up a car and swallow it. You have some very real, physical limitations.” 

When I say this, my most astute pupils narrow their eyes and I can see the gears turning in their heads. Typically, one of them raises his/her hand and offers the tentative question, “Okay, so humans have physical limits. Not everyone can sing like an opera star or hit a home run; even with practice. But what about mental limits?” And, at last, we have arrived. What exactly are the boundaries of our mental powers? It seems that a more sophisticated understanding of this could be integral to success and would help people direct their efforts as they learn, grow, and generally engage in self-improvement.

It’s All in the Mind

Let’s get something straight at the outset. Studies reveal that there are real differences between people in mental ability. Some folks are truly better at picking up languages than others just as there are those who gravitate toward art, math, problem-solving, or being organized. This inborn talent will give some people a bit of a leg up in the potential department. That is, you will never play the piano as well as Mozart or draw as well as Picasso. Sorry. 

On the other hand, what if you could improve greatly? What if you could draw better than you believe? I have had recent experience with this. My father, who is 72 years old, just took up painting this summer. He started by buying a few prints of paintings and simply painted right over the top of them. This is, I suppose, a modern version of the type of copying that Da Vinci and Michelangelo did in their own art apprenticeships. From there, my father graduated to proper painting. He won’t be hosting a show in a gallery in SoHo, New York anytime soon, but his work is surprisingly good and much better than you might expect. His late-life flirtation with art is a real-world example that people sometimes don’t tap their own potential simply because they often don’t try. 

In the world of coaching, self-limiting beliefs are sometimes referred to as “gremlins”. That is, all of us hold pesky and unhelpful beliefs about our own nature and our own potential that likely hold us back. Remember how I told you I couldn’t sing? Interestingly, I have never put any real effort into it. What would happen if I took a voice class or joined an amateur choir? I might not front a stadium sell-out rock band, but I might be able to carry a basic tune. Similarly, it could be that most folks have more room for improvement in art, cooking, or language than they, themselves, believe. 

One reason, psychologically speaking, that we can improve more than we expect is because our expectations are off. Frequently, people are taught what to expect and what is, by extension, realistic. This can be easily seen in the psychological research on “stereotype vulnerability”. As the name implies, there are stereotypes about groups of people. Often, these are disparaging generalizations such as “Asian people are poor drivers" or "young people are hooligans” or “heavy people are lazy.” Researchers have discovered that members of these groups described by these stereotypes can be vulnerable to believing in and acting in accordance with the stereotype.

The classic study on this topic involved the stereotype that women are not good at math. To one group, they casually mentioned the “women are bad at math” stereotype and then administered a math test. “Do your best,” the researchers encouraged in a condescending way. The other group of women were not reminded of this stereotype before their own math test. How did the two groups fare? As you might imagine, the women underperformed when they were told that the test was associated with female underperformance. Interestingly, all of the participants in this study, whether they were in the stereotype condition or not, were really good at math! All scored in the 85th percentile or above on standardized math tests and all had taken calculus. A variation of this study also revealed that women performed better on math tests when they took the test with other women as opposed to taking the test with men. 

Researchers have also discovered several ways to combat this type of psychological vulnerability. One is simply through education. In one study, for example, women who were taught about the phenomenon of stereotype vulnerability (simply read the paragraph above and you have been taught about it!) were less likely to succumb to it. This means that, in your own quest for success, recognizing self-limiting beliefs as beliefs that may not be true, can help you escape them. 

It’s All in the Mindset

This line of research offers food for thought. We all harbor stereotypes, including those about groups to which we belong to. These assumptions may be related to age, body type, skin color, or virtually any other identifiable characteristics. What’s more, we harbor even more powerful stereotypes about human qualities themselves. We largely believe that artistic talent, intelligence, athleticism, and other characteristics are fixed. We harbor the intuition that we are born with these natural talents or we are not. Although it is true that there are genetic influences on these qualities, people often overlook the importance of effort and practice. Remember how I referenced Mozart and Picasso earlier? Although both were dripping with raw talent, both also devoted countless hours to their craft.

What this means, where your success is concerned, is that having the right mindset matters. This line of inquiry was pioneered by Carol Dweck at Stanford University. In a series of studies, she found that kids who saw their intelligence as a quality that could be developed outperformed those who saw intelligence as a fixed entity. She later replicated this research with adults, and with qualities other than intelligence. The take-home message is that, where potential is concerned, you might have limits but you probably haven’t hit them yet so it makes sense to put in a little more practice and effort. 

Which is why I am going to go warm up my vocal chords and see if I can develop a go-to karaoke song. 

About the Author 

Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener is widely known as the “Indiana Jones of Positive Psychology” because his research on happiness and other positive topics have taken him to such far-flung destinations as Greenland, Kenya, India, and Israel. Robert works as a researcher, coach, and coach trainer at Positive Acorn. He lives in Portland, Oregon (USA) and rock climbs whenever possible. www.positiveacorn.com