Philip Adams said, “When people say to me: ‘How do you do so many things?’ I often answer them, without meaning to be cruel: ‘How do you do so little?’ It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don’t. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.”

Chances are good that you were not brought up to think that you could explore countless possibilities. Most of us who arrived after World War II, have been counseled to trod a narrow path in life. Pick one thing and stick with it, no matter what, has been the popular message.

That was not always the case. Consider Leon Battista Alberti who lived in Florence in the 15th century. He was an architect, author, classical scholar, musician, stage designer and town planner.

He was also known for his elegance, personal style and athletic ability and was reputed to be able to jump over a man from a standing start.

According to author Charles Nicholl, “He created a career for himself which hadn’t really existed before: a kind of freelance consultant in matters architectural, scientific, artistic and philosophical. In this role he served the papal Curia and the courts at Urbino and Mantua, as well as the Medici and Rucellai in Florence.”

While others didn’t know they could, Alberti didn’t know he couldn’t and so he created a remarkable life that made glorious contributions to the world around him. Many scholars consider Alberti the first Renaissance man.

We have no idea how many lives he inspired, but we do know that he was a powerful role model for a young teenager named Leonardo da Vinci who aspired to live an equally rich and creative life.

Finding a passion, any passion, opens our hearts to falling in love with life itself.  It’s difficult to explore possibilities if we have surpressed our passions. Ignoring the promptings of our heart, means turning a deaf ear to the call of those passions.

Many people think passion is a singular thing, but people who live passion filled lives are usually passionate about many things. Studies have shown that the more sources of passion we have, the happier we are.

Passions can change during different stages of our lives, too. As a growing  person, you will outgrow some passions as you grow into new ones.

To many people, success means having more; to the possibility thinker, success means being more. We may not aspire to master as many things as Alberti did—but could we?

The authors of The Creative Spirit think so. They write, “The French playwright Moliere tells the story of a countryman who asked what prose was, and was astonished to find that he had been speaking it all his life. It’s the same with creativity, which half the world thinks of as a mysterious quality that the other half possesses.

“A good deal of research suggests, however, that everyone is capable of tapping into his or her creative spirit. Your creativity increases as you become more aware of your own creative acts.”

Those who have studied human potential seem to arrive at the same conclusion: when we begin to make available to ourselves our own possibilities, it’s like drilling a well to an untapped energy reserve, like finding a bank account we haven’t used.

The only way to really know what’s possible is to put yourself into the game. Sitting on the sidelines and watching may be amusing, but it’s not the road to discovery. You’ve got to put yourself into the game and play fullout.

Explore. Create. Discover. Not only will you create a fascinating life, you’ll never run out of new possibilities and ways to astound yourself.