focused on that mission. Below she shares three things that can help you step out of your comfort zone and achieve your goals:

1. Train your brain to learn new things by embracing uncomfortable situations

To Unleash Your Full Potential, Do These 3 Things

Carolina Águila giving one of her motivational talks to a group of women.

CREDIT: CAROLINA ÁGUILAOne of the toughest parts about starting something new is getting the courage to take that first step. We’ve all been there– one moment we feel excited, but then the next the voice inside our head

creeps up to silence our passions

. We tell ourselves things like “I have too many things going on" or “I’d like to start my own business someday– but not now.” These feelings are what often stand in the way of us

taking the leap

and following our intuition.

Carolina Águila knows all about these feelings. Born in Viña Del Mar, Chile, Águila went from almost failing out of high school to starting a venture that took her to NASA’s campus. I sat down with her to hear about her journey in self-fulfillment. When she was 16, she was on the verge of dropping out of school. “Everyone would tell me ‘you won’t amount to anything’ and ‘you’ll never be a good student’. And in Chile, the mentality is that if you don't study a certain thing or pursue a specific career, you will be a failure. No one tells you that you can start something of your own. But even in that moment, I knew I loved science and I that I wanted to do something with that.”

After eventually graduating, Águila went on to take her PSU’s (the Chilean equivalent to the SAT’s)– and failed. For many at her age, an event like this would have been devastating: these exams are the only way to get accepted into universities in the country. But she decided to fight this challenge head on. “I knocked on everyone’s door until one of them gave me a chance. I ended up going to UNAB to study Biotechnology Engineering. I knew I had to work– and over the next six years, I put my head down and studied. I didn’t go out, I gave up everything. And to me, at that time, I felt like I was finally waking up.”

PROMOTED

Her dedication allowed her to excel. As she rose to the top of her class, Águila also became interested in the intersection between science and business. This led her to start AFLOX, a biotechnology startup that eliminates aflatoxins in crops with the goal of reducing the number of people affected by these toxins in third world countries. AFLOX has received support from organizations like Startups Chile’s The S-Factory 2015 and INITTIA 2016. In 2016, she also received the Her Global Impact price supported by Fundación Mustakis– each year, they give out one full grant to a Chilean woman to represent Chile in the Global Solution Program (GSP) at Singularity University.

Throughout this journey, Águila has become an expert in teaching others how to adopt habits that will allow them to push further. She is passionate about helping people reach their full potential and has started a second venture focused on that mission. Below she shares three things that can help you step out of your comfort zone and achieve your goals:

1. Train your brain to learn new things by embracing uncomfortable situations

Always strive to put yourself in uncomfortable situations and thrive in that uneasiness.

Águila explains that when she first started pursuing her degree, she struggled to find the right way to study for her courses. “I hadn’t really discovered a method for studying successfully while I was in high school, so when I got to college, I was really lost. I decided to try various methods. I'd ask myself, 'do I learn better by writing or walking around? Do I study better early in the morning or late at night?' It took me months to find out what works exactly for me. It was constant trial and error. Through that, I discovered that everyone has different skills, and

what works for some might not work for another

. You just need to put yourself through these uncomfortable situations to figure it out.”She also tells me that she faced similar challenges when she first got to Singularity University. When she arrived, Águila didn’t speak a word of English and had to figure out how to communicate. “I had never traveled by myself and I didn’t know the language. It was really difficult in the beginning. But everyone kept telling me that the

human brain is very smart

and that if you push through those barriers, you can learn.” In the first few weeks, she started testing out different techniques and was able to teach herself English. At the end of the second month, she could understand over 70% of her classes.

1. Don’t believe what people say you can’t do

More often than not, you’ll find people in your life that can make you feel like you can’t achieve certain goals. Águila tells me that the best thing you can do is to not listen to what people say and follow your passion. “If I would have listened to my teachers and friends, I don’t know what would have happened. People always told me that I couldn’t do all of these things because I was too much of this or that. The moment I let all of that go was the moment I realized I could really do whatever I set my mind to.”She explains that to drown out these thoughts, she always strives to do the opposite of what her mind is telling her to do. If she suddenly thinks that she’s too afraid to do something, she’ll do the exactly that. She experienced this when she started working on AFLOX. Up until that point, she was used to working in a lab– she had no experience in the startup world. But despite what her colleagues told her, she educated herself and pushed to start her business. “Even now, I’ll go to companies to share my ideas and they’ll tell me that I can’t do certain things because I’m too young. But I don’t let it stop me. I know what I’m capable of– once you let these thoughts go, you’ll really start to learn who you are and develop your abilities.”

Águila being interviewed about her journey.

CREDIT: CAROLINA ÁGUILA

1. Set small goals to achieve big results

In order to start believing in your potential, you have to start by setting small goals

. Águila explains that by changing little habits, you can start setting yourself up for success. “You can do this with anything. For example, if you are used to playing a particular sport, you can start by trying out a new one and setting small goals to get better at it. In doing this, you’ll start to discover new skills and abilities that you might have not known you had before. You can train yourself to have the courage to do more.”

She explains that she experienced this when she was at college. She knew that her ultimate goal was to become a scientist, but that she needed to take certain smaller steps to get there. She set small goals of passing exams, which led her to pass individual courses, which eventually led her to attain her degree. After that, her next goal was to figure out how to start a business in the field of biotechnology. So in that, she set the small goal of finding a problem she was passionate about. Then she set the small goal of applying to different programs that would allow her to learn about business. All of this eventually led her to reach her ultimate goal of spending three months at Singularity University. Small goals eventually lead to the big win.

By adopting these habits, you can start reaching your full potential. And in the end, it all comes down to believing that nothing can stop you from achieving what you want to do: the only thing

holding you back is yourself

. “Everything you want to do, everything you want to achieve, you can do it. You are limitless. The only limitation is in our mind. You can listen to different opinions and perspectives, but at the end of the day, you have to trust yourself and believe in your own unique capabilities. Once you start doing this– everything can start to change.”

Alana Matos