Secrets for Personal Growth

Personal growth is the secret to organizational growth. Self leadership is a valuable and necessary art. If you can't lead yourself, you won't be able to lead anybody else.

If you want things to improve in your business, your family, your church or community, the first thing to start improving is yourself!

How can we begin the personal growth journey?

1. Learn something every day.

Every experience of life is a learning lab. How sad it is for people to have difficult experiences and fail to learn from them. You can learn from anybody and anything. Keep your thinking cap on at all times. Wisdom is the process of gleaning insight from our daily experiences.

2. Be a reader.

Reading is one of the best methods I know for personal growth. If you want to deepen your understanding, read widely and deeply. Don't just read "fluff" - -but find books that challenge you to become a better person.

3. Share new insights with others.

As you share what you've been learning, you grasp it better. The best way to learn something is to teach it.

4. Plan for personal growth.

If you don't do it intentionally, it won't happen. List the improvements you want to make, the books you want to read, the experiences you want to have, and the people you want to meet. Start planning! What are the first steps to accomplish these wishes?

5. Rise above the crowd.

If you commit yourself to personal growth, you will have to step out of the crowd. Most folks are content with going through the motions of life -- work, eat, watch t.v., and go to bed. You can't let yourself get sucked into that negative cycle. Others may not understand, but you can't let small people hold you back.

6. Surrender to self-discipline.

Growth is never easy. Someone once said, "You can tell you are on the path to success -- it's uphill all the way!" If you wait until you feel like it, you will never start moving forward. The time is now -- whether you feel like it or not! You have to get up and get going to make a difference.

7. Keep the vision alive.

Don't stop growing, regardless of how old you are or what you've accomplished. I once asked a famous author what books he's been reading. He replied, "I don't read books anymore -- I just write them!" He may have been a famous author, but the poor gentleman was on his way downhill.  Eventually, he didn't have anything good to write. You have to keep growing always!

The architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, at age 83 was asked to select his greatest masterpiece. His reply, "My next one!" That's called keeping the vision alive!

George Fisher said, "I don't know if you will like this or not, but he who stops being better, stops being good."