Now, I am deeply conscious of personal growth. The global pandemic revealed the cracks in our professional theatrics and now it is clear that behind the chief executive officer, chief finance officer, or entrepreneur, is a person who needs to grow. And due to the current global pressures, the person’s healthy growth is required to support the professional.
I am talking about the kind of growth that requires deep inner work. The process demands that the person looks within to clearly understand the inner patterns, thoughts, and feelings that drive them. Here, patience is needed, consistency is key, and guidance is helpful. The person must unlearn the patterns that do not serve their purpose and work out the details of the personality that they want to become. All these are done with the understanding that growth is messy but worth it.
The rewards of personal growth are amazing. After doing the work, I have seen professional performance skyrocket with great appraisals as proof, dreams restored with a clear strategy, financial goals met, families and relations restored, and businesses grow – the list is endless. However, why are people generally reluctant to do the deep work required for growth to occur?
I do not have all the answers, but I can tell you one thing: few people survive the messy growth process. Many start, but few people finish. In the process, some people realise that they are not ready, for whatever reasons, to commit at that level. Consequently, they exit the growth process.
The willingness to stay in the growth process is an important factor. Are you ready to walk the messy path to growth? Are you willing to try, fail, try again, make mistakes, look stupid, fall on your face, get up and keep going? Are you ready for the discomfort associated with growth? Are you willing to leave your comfort zone and embrace the unfamiliar? If your answer is yes to all these, then you are ready for growth.
It is not enough to want to grow, you must be mentally ready for the messy process. Like an athlete preparing for Olympic gold, you must be clear about your desired outcome and mentally commit to making it happen – do not expect easy. Normally, people fail to grow because they take the process likely. They think that the excitement that got them into the process is all that they need – but it is not true. If you can mentally push through the process, then growth is inevitable. BY THE STAR