With youth: How to awaken one’s potential?

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Acharya Prashant: Just ask me how to not lie sleeping, don’t ask me how to awaken my potential.

The potential doesn’t have any habit of sleeping, you forcefully put it to sleep, intelligence is not habituated of lying dormant. You habitually put it to sleep by acts like these (pointing to two students gossiping) and then you ask why is life so miserable, why my potential is lying unutilised; because you are hell bent upon living a stupid life.

You are asking me what do I need to do to awaken my potential, I am saying don’t do anything, you are already doing too much, in fact, stop doing what you are doing right now, once you stop doing, you find that the potential that intelligence starts expressing itself, stop doing that you are doing so much, even at this moment there are two kinds of people over here:

1. Who are not doing anything, who are just sitting and letting the listening happen.

2. Who are doing a lot.

And what would that doing mean, that would mean fidgeting with the pen, that would mean thinking a lot.

Who do you think is understanding me?