The desire to be successful, both life- and career-wise, is natural for everyone. The possibility of growth whets our appetite, motivates and energizes us. At the same time, personal and spiritual growth is a never-ending process that has no limits, because after achieving certain goals, you can set new ones.
The question is, how do you make your personal growth continuous? What’s the best way to keep going, and avoid becoming complacent as you strive for success?
Go deep
To become a better person, you must make a relentless effort to discover your true self, and that means delving deeper into your own recesses and fears. Don’t be afraid of any pain, difficulty, and even disappointment that arises from this process. It’s important to be ready to face the fact that you are not perfect, and to accept that you’ll discover things within and about yourself that you won’t like. At the same time, it’s important to remember why you are doing this work in the first place: by going deep, you’ll learn how to become stronger and more confident. You can use what you learn about your darker traits to build your self-acceptance, while also deriving strength for your lighter side.
Keep going
The recipe for success in both your personal and professional growth is to keep going no matter what. Set yourself a goal and always keep it in mind. Do not stop. Remember that there are no limits to how much you can expand your consciousness. A year of therapy is good, but two years are better. A session with a coach is good, but working with one on a permanent basis is better. Personally, I’ve been working with a coach for the last four years.
Raise the stakes
It’s true that growth can be horizontal, but I believe that genuine growth is vertical. You do not grow when you work with average projects and average professionals year in and year out. You extend your skills in one area, but you can’t move to the next level. To grow, you need more and more powerful mentors and greater challenges.
Take risks
The only way to completely avoid risk is to remain idle. But to grow, you must act. And you must act a lot! It’s not enough to see opportunities: you must seize them. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck in a rut.
The stream of opportunities that come your way depends entirely on your potential, so your initial goal is to grow that potential: try the unknown, accept new roles and take on new challenges that push you out of your comfort zone. One more project in a sphere you already know will not lead to growth.
Prioritize yourself
This is an easy one. To grow you must set yourself goals and pursue them without making any excuses. You and your growth are the priority. And that means that you always have the resources (time, energy, etc.) to pursue this priority. If you don’t have the resources for growth, you don’t have the resources for your happiness and better life.