Take-Home Test

Adrian Savage doesn't deal in ink blots and brainteasers. He doesn't employ a leather couch or harbor an analyst's fixation on childhood memories. But he does know how to peel back psychological layers to reveal the values and habits that dictate our decisions and limit our potential.

Cofounder of the UK-based Potentia International, Savage helped pioneer a system of "profiling" that helps people discover dormant talents and possible career callings. Normally, constructing a personal profile is a multihour process, as a Potentia facilitator poses a range of situations and analyzes a respondent's answers. A Web-based version of the Potentia system will debut April 15. In the meantime, Savage has created the following take-home test -- an abbreviated version of the Potentia profile for Fast Company readers.

"The Potentia system is made up of a number of linked elements, all of which are essential to the work we do with people and organizations," Savage says. "Two of those elements are habits of thinking, which gauges a person's problem-analysis skills, and values. They are two of the most important elements to grasp."

Read the Main Story: Do You Realize Your Potential?

Exercise 1: Habits of Thinking

Step 1. Think about a handful of provocative social or ethical issues that cannot easily be solved. Compile a list of questions like, Why is the level of literacy in some developed countries lower than it was 100 years ago? How can we make good health care available to everyone?

Step 2. Ask a friend to pose these follow-up questions to you for each scenario discussed. (Your friend should not engage in a debate.) Think deeply about the questions and share your thoughts. You should list all the thoughts that bombard your mind rather than concentrate on just one detail.

• What information would you like to have before starting to think about this topic?
• This is a big topic. How would you analyze it and break it up into its constituent parts?
• What patterns or trends can you see, within the current situation and in the future?
• What is the complete context for this topic? How does it relate to other matters that are occupying thoughtful people and leaders at this time?
• Can you give a compelling vision that could unite people to produce what you believe to be the right kind of solution to all the problems posed by this topic?

Step 3. While you answer each question, your friend should take note of the following observations, keeping in mind your normal behavior:

• How easily and quickly did the reply come? Was it typical of you? Was it slower than usual, with verbal hesitations?
• How far did you "run" with the question before coming to a stop?
• How much energy was in your response? Did it seem as if the question really interested you?
• How often did you seem to stop and think before giving an answer?

Step 4. At the same time, you should make mental notes, such as:

• Does the question interest and excite me?
• How relaxed do I feel? Does it feel natural to think about the topic in this way?
• How much effort is involved?

Step 5. At the end, go over your friend's notes and your own feelings about each question. Make special note of the following:

• Questions that provoked easy and fluent thinking. When was your speech rapid, animated, and engaged? This kind of thinking took place within your comfort zone.
• Times when you slowed down, both in speaking and thinking, to come to grips with the kind of thinking required. Which questions slightly irritated you because you felt that they were phrased incorrectly or concentrated on topics of lesser importance? These indicators suggest that you were entering your stretch zone, the primary area of underutilized potential.
• Questions that felt tough, almost impossible. When did you grow visibly irritated with a question because you felt it was irrelevant or pointless, even stupid? Your friend may have noticed that you tried to mask this irritation with humor or sarcasm. This behavior suggests that you were entering your stress zone.

"Stress-zone thinking is foreign thinking that you have probably developed little or no facility with," Savage says. "The stress zone indicates areas of potential that are very tough to access, and may demand more long-term effort and tenacity than you are willing to invest."