Chris' Christian Blog

The Measure of Potential

"The Measure of Potential" 

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The Blog City Prompt Forum Prompt for Monday January 16, 2016 is "What do you think people mean when they talk about a person’s potential and can human potential be measured?"

I believe potential is what people perceive the ability of a person or thing to be. I have had people say that I had the potential to be a great writer. I know that they mean that, given the right circumstances, my writing talents and skills could make me the next famous poet. I don't really see that happening in my life time because I realize I don't have the one thing that makes famous poets into famous poets. I don't have the money for a publicist to go ahead of me from town to town across the country broadcasting my name and convincing people that my books are a must read. I know this is the case because I am a published author. In fact I published four books.Three were soft backs and one was a hard back. I'm neither rich nor famous, although my first book was actually published 14 years ago. I'm not famous because I am an unheard of writer. People don't care to read anything from somebody they have never heard of. A good publicist could convince people that something is so hot that they just have to have it, when the publicist doesn't even believe it. It's a matter of convincing others. I mean if somebody would have played a rap song to the crowds back in 1970 they'd have been thrown out on their ears. Yet some publicist heard it ans developed a marketing scheme to convince a select few that it was the hottest thing since the Beatles the noise people call rap became a best selling genre of music.

it isn't a matter of how much potential a person has. It's a matter of how much money a person has to convince others to even consider that potential. When my books were published my family all bought copies immediately, not because they were family because loyalty never convinced my family to do anything. They bought them because they had sampled my work before I was published. They knew I was good. A few people throughout the area also bought copies because they too had sampled my work and knew it was good. Then the sales pretty much trickled off and died. When i inquired as to why, I was told that my publishing contract only had an Internet marketing clause. People could see pictures of books written by this unheard of person and basically blow them off because they were merely pretty pictures on the screen.

Potential can be measured today, just as it has been measured since man first started walking the planet. It's measured by a man's wealth!