Growth is a Process

"Relax, growth is a process…"

… is what I keep telling myself in my journey of personal development…  in this adventure of leading myself.

I keep meeting people struggling to overcome this obstacle.  They don’t even have the words to understand what’s going on inside them.  But they’re frustrated with their jobs, careers, business, relationships…  

Have you ever felt like the same problems just keep coming up over and over?

I’m sorry to break it to you, but It’s true––  growth is a process.  And that means nothing more and nothing less than understanding a very simple concept:

Before you can get to steps 7 and 8…  you’ve got to figure out and take step 1.

I’ve been there before.  Trying to figure out why step 8 hasn’t shown up yet.  And I’ve placed the order in my dreams-book!  And I... I’m praying! Believing for step 8 to show up and just land on my doorstep!!!  Why hasn’t it arrived, signed-sealed-delivered?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the realization that we’re nowhere near where we want to be.  Take a breath. 

No one is exactly where we want to be.  We always want to be just a little bit further along…  Until, that is, we learn the subtle art of appreciating that growth is a daily process.

High performance leaders work their whole lives on becoming an overnight success.

“I’m a lazy person. I never get my work done when I know I’m supposed to do it. I’m just not a productive person..."

Realize that focusing on your past to determine “who you are” is an ineffective way of identifying with yourself.

You’re perpetuating a story about yourself that does nothing but cause you harm.

There's a season of sowing and reaping.  Just like a farmer needs to sow a field, tend the field, and continue to tend the field until the harvest time comes–– your growth works the same way.

The actions you have taken in the past are JUST the actions you took.  Redefine yourself and recreate yourself ONE STEP AT A TIME. 

Sow good seed in your daily routine and given enough time, you'll reap the reward of great habits.  It'll be hard and you won't be perfect.  

You'll be better tomorrow than you were yesterday if you put in the energy to change today...

Here’s a list of to-do’s that might help.

1. Get all your auto-criticism out of your system by writing all the negative things you think about yourself on a piece of paper until you’re literally tired.  
2. Burn the list.
3. Write down in first person a new list of “I am” statements.  Such as  “I am a productive person.”  “I am a courageous person.”  (Even if you don’t feel it).
4. Write down a list of things you’re grateful for.
5. Determine a list of daily habits that could change your life.  
6. Study high-performance, disciplined leaders and reproduce their systems one at a time in your life.  Little by little.  Over the course of a year, maybe.
7. Start with ONE daily habit, then add another, then another.
8. Reflect.  Learn.  Apply what you learned.
9. Celebrate the little victories along the way to the big victories.
10. Keep reading and keep learning.  Keep growing.