Adam Grant’s Hidden Potential: 5 Essential Insights to Reach Your Goals

Adam Grant, an influential organisational psychologist at The Wharton School, is known for his research on motivation, generosity, and creativity. With popular TED Talks, a well-regarded podcast, and best-selling books like Think Again, he has become a leading voice in helping individuals and organisations thrive.

In his latest book Hidden Potential, Grant explores the idea that we can all improve at improving, with evidence based and actionable insights into how we can build the character and motivational structures to reach our potential, and how to create opportunities for ourselves.

There are so many valuable insights and inspiring real life stories within the book that I recommend reading it in its entirety. These are a few that stood out to me especially, and that I am trying to implement in my own life.

Ask for advice, not feedback

As I explored in this article, it's more effective to ask for advice rather than feedback. This is because asking for feedback is backwards-looking, often leading people to criticise or praise you. Whereas asking for advice is forward-looking, encouraging people to coach you. 

This is effective because the whole point of asking for feedback is to learn and grow from past actions by doing something differently in future (or continuing with successful actions).

Not all feedback is valuable

Relatedly, while feedback is essential for improvement not all feedback should be considered equal. This might be unintentional in the case where the person giving feedback doesn’t actually have the relevant expertise in the area, such as a family member giving you advice about your work. In some cases, feedback may be intentionally unhelpful, such as when it comes from a competitive colleague vying for the same promotion.

The ideal coaches to listen to for feedback and advice are those who have relevant experience (credibility), know you well (familiarity) and want what’s best for you (care).

Novelty and variety can help avoid burnout and boreout

Boreout, a term coined by researchers in the field of workplace psychology, describes the emotional exhaustion that occurs when you're chronically under-stimulated. Unlike burnout, which stems from overwork, boreout can be just as damaging to your well-being and productivity.

Prevention of burnout and boreout is key to achieving your potential with. It is possible to avoid both by introducing novelty and variety into they way you practice your skill. This can involve alternating between different skills you are practicing, or switching up the tools and methods you are using to learn those skills. Even small tweaks can make a big difference.

Be proactive about rest and recovery

Another technique to avoid burnout is to actively build breaks into your schedule, rather than waiting until you are burned out or bored out before being forced to take a break.

Contrary to the messages from ‘hustle culture’, taking time for rest and recovery is proven to improve your performance by helping to sustain your passion (pushing through when you are exhausted is never enjoyable), to unlock fresh ideas (those brilliant thoughts you get in the shower or when taking a walk), and to deepen learning (sleep is so important for your brain to process ideas).

Reframing relaxation time as an investment in your performance and well-being is helpful for me - rather than seeing it as a ‘waste of time’.

Take the roundabout path to progress

Whether in your career, personal development, or even creative projects, sometimes the most effective route to success is not the most direct. Embracing detours can lead to unexpected opportunities and new perspectives, ultimately accelerating your progress.

Sometimes this might require finding a new path. For example, You may have reached as far as you can progress in a job, and then next progression requires someone else leaving - if they are unlikely to do so in the near future, the best option to progress might mean finding a role somewhere else. This involves reestablishing connections and institutional knowledge in a new organisation, but ultimately could get you where you want to be faster. This is a difficult one to accept - that progress might mean abandoning our current plan and starting over.

To determine the what that new path looks like, seek advice from multiple guides or mentors. Asking multiple experts or mentors is key here as no one person has the exact same experience as yourself. Ask them for advice about key experiences and turning points in their own journeys, and tell them about what you have done and tried so far.

Another strategy, particularly if you find yourself languishing - a sense of stagnation and emptiness - is to build momentum by taking a detour. An effective way to do this involves pursuing a side project or hobby. Making progress here reminds you that progress is possible and can reenergise you.