There is no such thing as potential

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The things that don't happen in this time/space have the potential to occur in alternate universes.

So, to fulfill your potential you must build a machine that lets you travel to alternate universes!

Or, if alternate universes like that exist, you-in-every-universe would fulfill your potential, no matter what you end up doing here. Maybe this is the universe where you fulfill your potential to become a homeless drug addict.

Exactly. Or an AS addled misfit.

If such things exist.

Wink. I think they have the potential to exist.

That's right.

I think I've finally managed to figure out what "potential" means.
I've been thinking of it in terms of probability.

But this misses the point.

Potential as in "You've got potential!" isn't actually meant to be a factual statement at all: it's a rallying call.

"You've got potential! Live your dream!" is like a cheer.
The person saying these words is behaving like a cheerleader cheering you on.

These words are supposed to motivate you and whip you into a frenzy of action.

Similarly, an Army General shouts: "You all have potential. We'll defeat them!" to soldiers before battle. The General is trying to "give the soldiers an extra push" so that they'll fight harder and be more "fired up".

The General doesn't say: "Some of you may die. Some of you may not. I really hope we'll win this battle, but the statistical odds aren't really in our favour. We'll have to just see how it goes. We have the potential to win or not win. Unfortunately, we won't know if we've won until we get out there and fight for a while."

The soldiers would refuse to fight if they were told about all of the uncertainties!

It's the "Go Team we can win!" philosophy.
No pressure or anything *sarcasm*.

The trouble is, that approach doesn't seem to really work with me.

If someone says to me: "You're brilliant. You have great potential!"
I feel a strange mixture of friendly warmth coupled with intense embarassment.
The embarassment becomes so intense that I find myself wanting to crawl into "dark hole" away from all of the attention. If lots of people are saying this to me, I start to wish that the floor would swallow me up.

When I do try my best and "fall flat on my face" (fail) I feel resentment towards the people who encouraged me to "follow my dreams".

As for the battlefield analogy...

Sometimes, charging onto the "battlefield" of life like a crazed Bezerker yelling the warcry:
"I've got potential!"
isn't always the best strategy.

I don't know. Maybe people use the words "I've got potential." as a source of comfort in their very confusing lives:



I asked a friend what the song was supposed to mean.
She repeated it word for word. She said I was trying to read far too much into the lyrics.
She said that the lyrics don't mean anything other than what they say.

So basically, the whole song is about gossip.
The words "I've got potential" are conversational padding, just like the rest of the phrases.

Or in other words...
Blah blah blah blah blah...