http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_822718&feature=iv&src_vid=2JnYcuRW_qo&v=fsQaRBh1e9k
Greatness is in all of us! We are capable of achieving our true potential and success. To own our success and push ourselves towards it, we need self-awareness and commitment. I recently started reading books by John Maxwell. He is a great encourager of personal growth, and I would like to share some things I have been learning from him over the next several weeks as I present a blog series on developing our capacity to grow.
I believe every single person has the potential for success.
Everyone has seeds of success within them. We need to cultivate, water, and feed these fledging beginnings of success. James Allen, a pioneer in the self-help movement, wrote a book in 1902 called As a Man Thinketh, which has sold over 20 million copies. His book promotes the idea that personal success is about growth—and that our growth needs to be intentional. Allen writes, “People are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.”
One of the great misconceptions about personal development is that we often assume we will grow automatically. As children, our growth was inevitable, so we became accustomed to that effortless process. We can mistakenly take an assumption into our adulthood that growth comes without effort on our parts. Here is an amazing statistic that supports this claim: 42% of adults will never read another book after they graduate from college! Personal growth does not just happen. Just because you are done with your formal education does not mean that you can or should stop learning!
We need to take ownership of our development, because no one else will do it for us.
There is a great quote by Bruce Springsteen: “A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the man you want to become, and start being the man you want to be.” If you want more in life for you and your family, you must improve yourself and own the process!
In his writing, John Maxwell discusses the Law of Diminishing Intent, which says this: “The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never actually do it.” When we don’t act quickly enough, we find ourselves looking back over the years and realizing that we are in exactly the same place in which we started. Often we think these thoughts: I am not ready now; I have way too much on my plate right now; once I finish this part of my life… The problem with this kind of thinking is that we will never get much done unless we go ahead and do it before we are ready. If we are not actively pursuing personal growth, then we need to start now.
Assuming I have convinced you that personal development must be intentional, you need to also understand that growth can and will challenge you—you will make mistakes and will have to deal with fear. If we are committed to grow, we need to get over any fear we may have of making mistakes. If you wish to further explore dealing with fear, please refer to another blog post I wrote a few months ago discussing this topic.
Lastly, personal growth does not come quickly or easily. I often quote Jim Rohn, and he has a great perspective on this. Rohn says, “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.” If you want to reach your true potential, you can’t just wander through life, experiencing it as it happens. You need to be intentional and seize every opportunity to grow, grow, grow. Growth doesn’t just happen; we need to get after it and cultivate those seeds of success! Stay tuned as I explore other areas of personal growth in the weeks ahead. I look forward to the excitement of growing together!
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