I was watching "Young Sheldon" on Netflix and I learned a new physics term that's so relatable! "Potential Energy". You know when you just feel so alive for something! Like "jump out of bed, I forgot to eat breakfast, I'm daydreaming about it in the shower" kind of alive?
I love that feeling! And now I know there's a scientific term for it. I felt it was worth discussing, especially if you miss that feeling and want it back.
Have you ever watched a coiled spring and considered the invisible force it holds within? That compressed metal spiral contains something remarkable: elastic potential energy, just waiting for the right moment to spring into action.
What fascinates me most about this simple physics concept is how perfectly it mirrors our human experience of growth, authenticity, and reaching our full potential. A topic I'm enamored with! Coca-Cola executives explored this idea with me during a training I led called "Limitless Thinking Through Fluid Art."
The Science Behind the Spring
In physics, potential energy represents stored energy that's ready to be converted into motion. When you compress or stretch a spring from its natural resting position, you're doing work on it. That work doesn't disappear, it gets stored as elastic potential energy within the spring's coiled structure. The spring becomes a temporary storage system for mechanical energy, holding onto that power until it's released.
The beauty lies in what happens next. When you let go, that stored energy transforms into kinetic energy, propelling the spring back to its original shape with remarkable force. The spring doesn't just return to where it started, it often goes beyond, using that stored energy to create movement, power mechanisms, or launch objects through space.
The Human Spring: My Journey to Authenticity
For years, I lived like a compressed spring, but not in the way that builds potential energy. Instead, I was compressed by the weight of others' expectations, constantly worrying about what people thought of my ideas, my work, my authentic self. I found myself following rather than leading, dimming my natural creativity to fit into what I thought other's wanted me to be. (I was also a perfectionist of epic proportions)
This kind of compression doesn't store positive potential energy, it depletes it. I was like a spring forced into an unnatural position, unable to return to my true form or harness my real power.
The transformation began when I made a conscious decision to release those external pressures and return to my natural state, my core values, authentic voice, and creative vision. It looked like practicing the art of no longer shaming myself for mistakes and challenging my inner lies about my value through a process I developed for myself and others called "The Lies I Tell Myself" project.
Just like a spring returning to its equilibrium position, I started to feel that stored energy within me come alive.
Authentic Energy in Business and Life
The moment I stopped trying to be what others expected and started being authentically myself, something magical happened. My potential energy began converting into kinetic energy, real, measurable movement in both my personal and professional life.
In my experience design consulting practice, this shift was transformative. When I stopped mimicking what I thought clients wanted and started bringing my genuine perspective to branding, graphics, and marketing challenges, my work became more powerful and distinctive. Clients began responding not just to my technical skills, but to the authentic energy I brought to their projects.
This authenticity principle applies to every aspect of brand development. When businesses try to compress themselves into what they think the market wants, they lose their potential energy. But when they return to their core values and authentic brand voice, they create the conditions for exponential growth.
The Physics of Personal Branding
Your personal brand and business identity work exactly like that coiled spring. When you're authentic to your core values and natural strengths, you're positioned at your equilibrium point, the place where you can store the most potential energy. From this position, you can respond to challenges with maximum force and creativity.
But when you're constantly trying to be someone else, adapting to every external pressure, you're like a spring forced into an unnatural position. You can't store energy effectively, and you certainly can't release it with power when opportunities arise.
The most successful brands I work with understand this principle intuitively. They know their authentic voice, they're comfortable with their natural positioning, and they use that authenticity as a source of power rather than trying to compress themselves into someone else's mold.
Your Spring Awaits
If you're feeling compressed by external expectations or stuck in an inauthentic position, remember the spring. Your potential energy is still there, waiting to be released. The question isn't whether you have the power within you, it's whether you're ready to return to your natural state and let that energy flow.
Sometimes that arrives in the form of partnering or linking up with another that breathes life into you. Those are the best kind of business associates, friends and romantic partners
Let's work together to help your business spring into its most authentic and powerful form.
Victoria Wynn is an experience design consultant specializing in helping businesses discover and express their authentic brand voice through strategic branding, graphics, and marketing. Connect with Victoria to transform your potential energy into measurable business results.
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