There are many routes to success. The challenge is to bring the best judgment to bear in choosing the path that fits your goals, skills, and personality. Irrespective of the route you take, never underestimate the value of being in a daily growth environment. In every workplace or professional or business setting, your daily goal is to thrive, to grow.
Best-selling author John Maxwell offers his description of a growth environment. It is one in which “others are ahead of me, I am continually challenged, my focus is forward, the atmosphere is affirming, I am often out of my comfort zone, I wake up excited, failure is not my enemy, others are growing, people desire change, and growth is modeled and expected.” I could not offer a more apt description of daily life in my former career as a Foreign Service officer. The best part of my day was going to work.
Each work environment offers possibilities for growth. Your challenge is to seek out and exploit the possibilities. The possibilities may range from the availability of professional training to financial support to earn a college degree; to mentoring by those more accomplished and who are willing to help you chart a route to success; to developing relationships that enhance self-confidence and provide insights into the habits of those ahead of you, to forming a focussed mindset and habits that can be contributing factors to your future success.
Your future success is created from choices you make every day. Jim Rohn reminds us “part of success is preparation on purpose.” If you make a conscious effort to maximize opportunities availability to you in your daily work or professional environment, you increase the odds you will realize your dreams. I did – you can as well.
Let’s be specific. If your employer offers training for professional certification, leadership training, or how to develop effective communication skills, for example, sign up! Volunteer to head up a project that showcases leadership skills, mature judgment, and team building. If leading a group discussion or speaking before a large group sends you into withdrawal, volunteer to do what terrifies you most. If you stumble, it won’t be the first or the last time. It’s part of growth and, others will be there to cushion your fall.
I suffered from a major speech impediment – stuttering. The idea of speaking before any group terrified me. I learned to hide in plain sight. Once I understood a spotlight did not exist just for me, that I had other colleagues who shared my fear and who overcame their fear, I became motivated to overcome mine.
Here is what I discovered: once you plunge into the deep water of your fears, your only two choices are to sink or swim – and the decision is immediately thrust upon you.
Try this as well – it worked for me. To ensure daily continuity of effort, develop a personal growth plan. Review that plan daily because success frequently demands that we extend ourselves beyond personal comfort zones and that we set aside old and comfortable assumptions. Success demands that we insist upon a broader and deeper knowledge base and embrace risk and the possibility of error in the pursuit of excellence.
A final thought: A growth environment with all of its possibilities remains just that – a static environment if you are not motivated, if you are not disciplined if you do not have a positive self-image, and if you are not prepared to take responsibility for shaping your own destiny.
Therefore, seek opportunities to grow daily, and to project a bold and vital image. If your success is really important to you, learn to visualize the success you are capable of and then live as though you’ve achieved it even when you have not. It is all about mindset and motivation.
