Growth — Getting To Where You Need To Be

Have you ever planned something out, and you can obviously see the difference between where you are and where you want
to be? It’s like you can see that space, hole, or gap that’s between where
you are and where you want to be –
where you need to be. That space is
known as a “Growth gap”. In order to
grow you need to find or create a bridge to fill that gap.

A few days ago I stumbled upon a famous
John C. Maxwell book called “The 15 invaluable laws of Growth”. This wasn’t my
first time seeing the book but this was the first time I actually attempted to
read it. I’ll let you know my reason soon. In this book, at the very first
chapter (The Law of Intentionality:
Growth doesn’t just happen) I was hooked with a statement

 

If you have dreams, goals, or aspirations,
you need to grow to achieve them. But if you’re like I was—and if you’re like
most people then you have one or more mistaken beliefs that creates a gap that
keeps you from growing and reaching your potential         — John Maxwell

He outlined eight different misconceptions on growth that may be holding you back or keeping you from being as intentional as
you should be with your growth process.

Here are eight misconceptions on growth and how they are hindering your progress.

1.
The Assumption Gap –“I assume that I will automatically grow”

For as long as you’ve known or at least you
were old enough to realize, growth doesn’t just happen. Yes, when we were kids
our bodies grew automatically. We kept getting taller, stronger and we started
to develop more and more. Sadly as we continue to grow in age some of us carry
this belief that other aspects of our growth such as spiritual, emotional, and
mental growth follow the same trend.

In order for us to grow in these other aspects, we have to be intentional about it.
We can’t just sit around and expect to grow spiritually from a child to a
teacher or to grow mentally from being taught to teaching others. The same goes
for attaining emotional maturity.

If you want to see results you have to take
matters into your own hands. Start putting in the work, begin that class, read
that book, just don’t wait for your growth to happen. I’m sure we’re all familiar
with the mantra “No pain, no gain”. Have a mantra like that and get to work. Stop
having the mentality that the growth you desire would be handed to you on a
silver platter.

 

2.
The Knowledge Gap –“I don’t know how to grow”

We’ve all been here before, where there’s
this little voice at the back of our heads that keeps asking us the million-dollar
question “Do you even know where to start on how to grow ?”

For many of us, the answer
is no. It’s like we all don’t have a plan for growing and improving, but is
that meant to stop or hinder our growth process? No, it\"s not. You just have to
sit down and draft out a solid proof plan on where or how to begin.

By doing this you decide where you need,
want, or have to grow, you choose what you want to learn and you’ll go at your
own pace. It’s a win-win situation.

3.
The Timing Gap –“It’s not the right time to begin”

Let me ask you something 

“When is the right
time to start growing intentionally?”

I might not know your goals and aspirations
or what aspect of your life you’ll want to grow in but I can bet you that,
today you woke up and thought about them and then you whispered to yourself 

“It’s
not the right time”

If you ask me I’ll say there’s never a
right time, unless you go for it now. You’ve accepted that you want to start growing;
you’ve planned out how and where to begin. All that’s left is to actually
start.

"The reality is that you will never get much
done unless you go ahead and do it before you are ready" –John Maxwell

4.
The Mistake Gap –“I’m afraid of making mistakes”

In order to grow, you have to overcome your
fear of making mistakes. Why? Making mistakes is part of the growth process. They show that you are trying.Nobody said growing was easy or that the road would be smooth. 

"To become intentional about growing, expect to make mistakes every day and welcome them as a sign that you are moving in the right direction" –John Maxwell

5.
The Perfection Gap –“I have to find the best way before I start”

The perfection gap can be very frustrating,
especially for Mr. and Mrs. Perfect. Here they keep on trying to find the best way to start their growth journey.

When you decide to grow intentionally, trying to find the best or perfect way
to start would get you nowhere. We forget that we have to get started
in order for us to find the best way.

6. The
Inspiration Gap –“I don’t feel like doing it”

No one:

Absolutely no one:

Voice in your head: You need to be
motivated before you start

The idea of motivation is a trap. If you want
to get something done, then

“JUST
DO IT”

Why waste precious time trying to get or be
motivated. It’s a good thing to be motivated to get things done but then waiting to get motivated would just lead you to more procrastination.

Whatever it is you want to start, just do
it and along the line motivation would creep up on you and make it easier to
keep going.

"Motivation is like love and happiness. It’s
a by-product. When you’re actively engaged in doing something, it sneaks up and
zaps you when you least expect it." –John Maxwell

7.
The Comparison Gap –“Others are better than I am”

It’s not unusual comparing yourself to
others, but then don’t let unhealthy comparison hinder your growth plan.

In order to grow we have to accept that
others will be better than us. Don’t take this the wrong way but what I mean is
that we need to understand that we have to learn from others in order to become
better and improve. Sometimes in order to improve we may need to compare
ourselves, but I’ll always advice that you do this in a healthy manner.

You can find out more on healthy and
unhealthy comparison here Click me

8.
The Expectation Gap –“I thought it would be easier than this”

Lastly, but not the least is the
expectation gap. The “I didn’t think it would be this hard” or the “It looked
easier than this” situation

Be it our spiritual, mental, emotional or
even academic and financial growth, I can assure you that nothing good comes
easy. We can take as many shortcuts along the way but in the end the hard part
catches up with us.

Ask any successful person you know if it
was easy getting to the top. They all have similar answers. The struggle is
real getting to where we want to be. Don’t be discouraged when you realize growth
isn’t easy or it’s harder than you expected just keep on going. Don’t quit!

 

At
the end of it all

I finally decided to read this book because I realized that I needed to grow further and why not start with the laws of growth? Ever since I started the book, it has been so insightful on different aspects of growth.

This year should be the year you are
intentional about your growth. The same way machines and gadgets are upgraded
is the same way you as a human being should upgrade. You evolve and keep getting
better and better every step of the way. Don’t feel like you’ve arrived,
because you’ve never truly made it to the end.

Do you want your
growth journey to begin properly? Are you ready to start growing intentionally?
If you liked my excerpt from the book then I assure you that it would be an amazing
book to read. I’ll leave you with a link below to download the book for free.

https://b-ok.africa/book/4967423/393318

Please feel free to leave your comments below on
how this post has changed your mindset on growth