“Potential” is one of those words that gets overused and misused. A talented child is said to have loads of potential. A struggling adult seems to be wasting his potential, while we say that a comfortable retiree has realized hers.

I started in this business 50 years ago, working for a manager who thought I had no potential. I had no car, no home phone and no experience. He was certain I would fail, and he told me so. I went on to become Rookie of the Year. Many years later I was in a slump, and another manager told me I was finished. He suggested I go and sell burial policies until retirement age. This was before I earned the first of many No. 1 trophies.

If I have learned anything in my 50 years selling insurance, it is this: Potential — our capacity to live into and out of our personal power, our potency — is not a thing we should ever allow others to define for us. Potential is not about the life that’s ahead of us, the resources that are around us or the accomplishments that are behind us. Potential is about what’s inside us. Always.

So how do you stay on top and highly motivated doing the same thing for five decades? It’s the question I get asked more than any other. The answer is simple — not always easy, but simple.

Potential is power. And power works as long as you do. It doesn’t run out as long as you don’t give up.

That means sticking to three core principles:

1. Embrace the things that never change.
2. Evolve when things do change.
3. Always excel at what sets you apart.

No. 1: Embrace the things that don’t change

Fifty years ago, a gallon of gas was 34 cents. Walmart was a mom and pop store. Radio was the only means of portable music. There was no “Saturday Night Live,” “Star Wars” or “Cats” on Broadway. No Google. No Apple. No Amazon.com. There was no dotcom because there was no internet.

Today, the world is very different, but people are not. People don’t change much. Mothers still love their children today as much as they did when there was no Nintendo to give them for Christmas. Parents still have to save to send their kids to college. Dollars still have to stretch into retirement. What we offer, and have always offered, is a bridge over troubled financial waters.

Families want to feel secure. That will never change. If we want to last in this business, we can’t forget that. Prospects are people first, last and always.

When we see them mainly as a way to make ourselves richer, we forfeit their faith in us and become blind to opportunities to serve them better. Show me a man or woman who isn’t building trust, and I will show you somebody who is leaving a lot of money on the table. In other words, when we care less, we get careless.

No. 2: Evolve when things do change

When I started in this business, conversations about insurance happened between me and the person or family interested in buying a product. I was the expert, the guide, the enlightener. I was the path to understanding.

Today, everything there is to know about a product, including how to buy it, is just a mouse click away. We share our prospects with Google, Yelp and Yahoo. The moment they make their curiosity known online, our leads are being led by targeted ads and curated articles before we ever have a chance to say hello.

What technology offers people is information, and lots of it. That’s comforting for a little while. Then it becomes overwhelming, especially if they don’t know how to sort it all out, or if, as in 2008, they’re worried that even what they have is not enough.

Information is not the secret weapon it used to be. Today it’s up to us to educate our clients. Education is easier now than it was when I started 50 years ago because information is so available.

In 2008, people had instant access to every bit of news about the recession and the mortgage crisis, and there was no small amount of panic, but I did not lose my clients the way some others did. Instead of telling them to ignore or wait out what was happening, I used what the internet provided to teach them how to create wealth while others were watching theirs slip through their fingers.

Today, information can be a source of comfort or fear, depending on our ability and willingness to talk to our clients and teach them everything we know.

No. 3: Excel at what sets you apart

Do you know what makes you different from everybody else in this room? That is the source of your potential. That is the place where you are most powerful.

I believe in what we do, and I believe people need what we have to give. That truth wakes me up every morning. It moves me forward when society tells this old man to stop or slow down. It makes me a teacher for anyone who wants to learn and an encourager for those who are losing hope.

But my life — my story, the challenges I have faced and the experiences that have shaped me —is the gift no one else can offer. We don’t become great at what we do by becoming someone else, presenting like the top producers or setting their accomplishments as our goals. You have a story to tell. You have potential that no one else has, power that no one else can release.

Was your life hard? Don’t be sorry about it. You’re strong. You’re a survivor. Your clients need that strength. They need to know they can face some hard times. You can tell them that joy comes — and overcomes — every challenge.

My life was not easy. But I am an overcomer. I have been in slumps, and I’ve been ready to quit. I have had to learn new systems. I have failed more times than I’d like to admit and heard “no” more times than I can count. But I have learned that failure is not fatal, and “no” is almost never personal. It’s usually an opportunity wrapped in an objection, waiting for somebody who sees, understands and appreciates the person who is hesitating.

I bring my whole self to the table because people need to know that there is a way to get here from wherever they are. If you can meet people in the dark, they will trust you to lead them to the dawn.

Sol Hicks is a 33-year MDRT member with three Court of the Table and 21 Top of the Table honors. He is the founder and CEO of Hicks Global Enterprises Inc., a career coach and consultant, and the author of three books. He has been named GAMA International.