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.  

Where There is No Vision...

Vision

There is a several thousand-year-old saying.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."  You'll find it in Proverbs.

I want to challenge you today.  Do you have a clear vision for you life, your business, your relationships, your team?  Is it clearly stated so that the relevant parties are aware of that vision?  Have you written it down?  Is it in a visible place where you must see it often?

Visionary Leadership

Visionary leaders can see things the way they are in reality–– And they see things the way they are potentiality.  Both are a prerequisite to bring ideas into being.

Seeing things first as they are allows the visionary leader to assess the situation effectively and to begin to engineer change.  The ability to see the way things could be potentially enables the visionary leader to cast the vision and relate it to others.

Once the vision is clearly cast, written down, and communicated to all relevant parties, the next step is to bring the picture of the way things could be into the world of being.   

Warning! 

You will meet resistance as you pursue a vision that those around you cannot see.    To be a leader, by definition, means to go first where others have not gone. As you cast the vision of change that you want to bring about, you will find resistance.  Especially if your vision of change means others must step outside their comfort zones.

Often times, this resistance comes from your own leadership (such as superiors) and from your peers (your friends and co-workers).   

Visions often die between the "what" and the "how". 

The number one question that presents a danger to your vision is "how are you going to do that?"

This is where your grit and your mettle will be measured as a leader.  Often times, visionaries have the idea––  they have a picture of what they want to achieve–– and no idea how to achieve it.  And so they let the great idea die.  

Great ideas are a dime-a-dozen.  It’s the execution and bringing of ideas into reality that we recognize as extraordinary.

To avoid getting holes shot into your vision, make sure that you have your vision firmly planted in your mind.  Make sure that your vision is so clearly detailed in your mind that you could see, smell, taste, and touch your vision.  Make it such that if a genie granted you a wish and your vision suddenly became reality, you could walk through the new landscape as if it had always been so.  Make your vision familiar.  Make your vision the new normal.

Avoid sharing your vision with those that would discourage the vision for lack of all the steps necessary to make your vision a reality.  Some of your peers and leadership will require you to have a clearly cut plan.  Wait until some of the details are clear before sharing with these people.

The clearer the vision is in your mind, the more ideas will begin to mature from your vision as to “how” to make it a reality.  Once a few of the steps are clear, you may want to bring it to your mastermind inner circle.  These are the people that are fellow idea generators.  The individuals that can help take your idea to reality.  These are the people you trust will just take it as a given that your vision will be a reality.  These are the individuals that instantly jump into thinking of ways to manifest your new reality.

Next, take the next available steps!    

Often, only a few steps in your plan are visible to attain the vision in your mind.  Embrace the unknown!  A great leader takes the information at hand and makes decisions.  A poor leader waits for all the minute details to become clear and often misses the window of opportunity.  

As you move forward to attain the vision, resources will continue to make themselves available.  People will become attracted to your vision.  Because you behave as your vision is the already-certain future, and because your inner circle takes action toward that already-certain future, then others will begin to take it for granted that your vision is the certain-future. 

Some will remain against you until the very end.  Some will join you.   Be ready to meet resistance, but be ready to recruit help from those that are inspired by your vision.

Vision without execution is just hallucination -  Henry Ford