I Can See Your Potential Before You Can with Maria Di Pietro

Sometimes other people can see something in us that we can’t yet see ourselves.

After more than 25 years as a psychologist, Maria Di Pietro says she can often see the potential in people before they can see it themselves.

Earlier in her career, that frustrated her. If she could see what was possible, why couldn’t they?

Experience has changed her response.

In this short extract from our On Experience conversation, Maria talks about seeing potential, why people don’t always act on what seems obvious to others, and what she’s learned about allowing people to change when they’re ready.

Edited Transcript

Geoff: What are you thinking of or feeling when you’re talking to someone about this?

Maria: I love this question. Do you know what? Through my whole career as a psychologist, I can always… Well, usually I should say, almost always, I can see the potential in people before they can see it. ‘Cause I always think we’ve got much more potential than we allow ourselves to see or feel.

And so it used to frustrate me, I’d think, “If they just did that,” you know? It doesn’t frustrate me anymore, but yeah, I can see the potential of change, for change in people when they either can’t see it yet, or they don’t want to see it, or they’re too frightened to change it, or whatever the reason is. So then my job is to help them get to that, that version of themselves somehow.

Geoff: And is that a joyful experience for you? It sounds like it is.

Maria: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I think it’s a wonderful feeling having someone come in feeling terrible and negative or crying or angry or whatever, and having them leave with a smile on their face or saying, “that was really good.” And, sometimes, I’ve done a lot of EAP, [Employee Assistance Program] like for corporates, and sometimes people are told they have to see the psychologist.

And at the end they go, “Oh, that wasn’t so bad.” I go, “It wasn’t, was it?” You know? So that’s always nice. I love what I do and I love people and I always have. So it is a joy. Yeah.

Geoff: Yeah, I can hear it in your voice. It sounds like you get a thrill from it. You’re trying to help people.

Maria: There is an… How do I put this? Like an acceptance also. Some people, they just don’t want to change. So even though they’ve had a session, it’s been a good session, they really are reluctant to keep going. And so, at first I used to kind of feel a bit unhappy, if you like, about that.

But now I think, well, everyone’s on their path. When they’re ready, you know, they’ll come back…