What`s my potential?

Sorry for posting this so long after our discussion on this. Wrote it in word and forgot it existed

“A look at the real world, demonstrates that some men are smarter than others” - John Cobbs(from Chomsky`s article)
After reading Chomsky`s article on equality and especially equality of endowment, I started thinking about something I previously took for granted; the fact that you have the potential to do almost whatever you want(excluding physical inabilities of course) as long as the want is strong enough and certain environmental conditions are present . Chomsky`s article raised the question; Are we all given certain conditions at birth that we cannot run away from, that determines where we go in life?
Obviously we have environmental factors that largely determines what opporutinties we are given - me being in a UWC is a result of opportunities given to me like education and access to information about the movement. But though it is hard, there are so many cases where people have gone completly against their external conditions and turned their lives around. I guess what I`m wondering is weather these people already have something innate that makes them capable of turning their situation around that other people don`t have. Are we all given a certain and different amount of potential that we can use as we wish, someone wasting it and someone taking advantage of it? Here in MUWCI, I can`t help of feeling that there is, if not a clear divide but rather a vague notion, a separation between people who have a lot of potential and those who have less potential and therefore have to work harder to achieve what they want. Of course there are differences in intellegence, education etc, but even in identical twins, sharing the same genes and environment seem to turn out very differently potential-wise.
It scares me, and I refuse to believe (for my own benefit) the idea that no matter how hard we work, we can only reach to a certain point that our potential allows us to. I guess we can never know weather it is like that or not but even if all you can do is maximizing your given potential, the belief of a limit to your potential, I feel would demotivate one even to maximize the potential given.