What Does It Really Take to Grow?
Growth is a process. It is one that happens slowly and doesn’t end. Regardless of your age or aspect of your life, you want to develop. Growth is something that you cannot stop doing. The desire to grow is innate for every person, but not every knows how to do it.
So what does it really take to effectively grow?
Goal
Having a destination is the easiest way to travel. By knowing what you want to get, it becomes easier for you to begin your journey towards achieving it. You don’t waste your time wandering and you’re less likely to commit mistakes.
Similarly, when you want to grow as a person or as a professional, the first thing you need to have is a specific and achievable goal. When you have a clear picture of what you want to get, you’re basically on your first step towards reaching the goal.
Coach
Coach, mentor, guru, teacher, sensei – whatever you call them, you need someone to guide you. A professional development coach can help you understand your tendencies, and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. This will enable you to use them as your stepping stones towards growth.
On the other hand, you can also work with a professional development coach. Working with a professional development coach will allow you to get a clearer understanding of your strengths and weaknesses in your work and use them to solve work-related issues.
Pattern
Aside from working with coaches and having a goal, it’s important for you to have a pattern that will serve as your guide in your journey towards growth. A pattern can be a guide on your thought process, actions and language.
It can be a process with specific steps that can help you evaluate whether you’re making progress. It can also help you determine which areas of your life you need to work on more. A pattern or structure is your map towards your destination.
Environment
Growth is easier to achieve when you’re working in an environment that is conducive for development. When you’re working with people who support your journey towards growth, the work becomes easier and less tiring. It doesn’t matter how small or big your goal is, it is always easier when you work on it with a peer and an environment that supports it.
The only way for you to become the best version of yourself is through constant work and desire to grow. The road towards becoming the best version of your self will not be like a walk on the yellow brick road. It will be more like a climb on a tall mountain. Most of us have the capacity to reach the top, but reaching it is far easier when you have the right tools, a competent guide and a good environment.
In a society where employees are disengaged and often feel like slaves by the corporations they work for, the demand to ensure professional and personal growth among employees is also growing. By working with a personal development coach or professional development coach, employees and employers get to grow on their own. And because they are developing, they become more effective in their roles as employees and as people. This allows them to benefit from each other and create significant change.
But as cliché as it sounds, success is achievable when we move forward. Put one foot in front of the other. Rest if you need to. But at the end of the day, the only way to succeed in life is to refuse to settle for less and give up.