The Intentionality to Growth
It’s your time grow.
Potential is one of the most wonderful words in any language. It hints at what we are capable of. It teases great and meaningful accomplishments. Do you have potential? Absolutely!
Because you are reading this, I believe you have the desire to reach your potential. So, the question begs, how do you do it?
As we make growth a priority:
You can become the person you have the potential to be. You just need to believe in yourself to get started. And every time you take a step, think a positive thought, make a good choice, practice a small discipline, you're moving one step closer. Just keep moving forward, and keep believing
There is accidental growth to observe upon ourself as we switch our perspective to intentional growth.
“To become a better human being, you need to grow in character. To advance in your career, you need to grow in your skills. To be a better spouse or parent, you need to grow in relationships. To reach your financial goals, you need to grow in your knowledge about how money works. To enrich your soul, you need to grow spiritually”.
-John C. Maxwell
gaps tO growth
Many of us assume that we will personally grow as soon as we are getting old. More specifically, Maxwell illustrated 8 growth gap traps that hold us from setting personal growth goals and hence reaching our full potential. These gaps are:
The assumption gap: “I assume that I will automatically grow”
The knowledge gap: “I don’t know how to grow”
The timing gap: “it’s not the right time to begin”
The mistake gap—“I’m afraid of making mistakes”
The perfection gap—“I have to find the best way before I start”
The inspiration gap—“I don’t feel like doing it”
The comparison gap—“others are better than I am”
The expectation gap—“I thought it would be easier than this”
Every one of us has some or all of these gaps, but how do we overcome them?
overcoming the gap
Ask the big questions now: in order to grow, we need to set clear directions for our life. We may start by asking: “Where do you want to go in life?”,“What direction do you want to go?”,“What’s the farthest you can imagine going?”
Do it now: We shouldn’t wait until we feel that we are 100% ready or fully inspired to start setting and working on personal growth goals. We need to start now; we need to just do it now because “motivation is like love and happiness. It’s a by-product. When you’re actively engaged in doing something, it sneaks up and zaps you when you least expect it”.
Face the fear factor: during our growing journey, we will definitely have some fears and doubts such as: “Fear of Failure”,“Fear of Trading Security for the Unknown”,“Fear of Being Overextended Financially”,“Fear of What Others Will Say or Think”,“Fear that Success Will Alienate Peers”. No matter what, we have to be honest and face these fears in order to achieve the required growth.