Grow On Purpose
grow
/ɡrō/
(of a living thing) undergo natural development by increasing in size and changing physically; progress to maturity.
Do you feel stagnant? Are you hoping for substantial change or growth in your relationships, career or life? If so, growth takes intentionality and planning. What stops us from growing? For successful physical development, we need to incorporate a healthy diet, daily exercise and avoidance of toxins. All of these are essential for growth.
Being intentional and planning for growth not only applies to our physical bodies but our spiritual, professional, and emotional aspects as well. We should mature in every area of our lives. I often take a self-assessment to see how intentional I am and have been on being the best person I can be. Doing a self-inventory helps me to identify areas where I am excelling and conversely need to grow and mature. We can all agree that growth is good, right?
Be encouraged by the following tips on how you can “Grow on Purpose”!
Don’t Allow Your Past to Stop You From Growing:
Pause for a moment and spend time reflecting on your thoughts. What do you spend time thinking about? Past mistakes and failures are always competing for our focus. Our minds want to remind us of what we did not accomplish, or what we accomplished but did not do well. I think it's interesting that past mistakes and failures always come knocking at the door right before we are getting ready to take a risk or launch into something new. Sometimes they will even try to bust the door down to convince us that we will not succeed. These thoughts try to keep us stagnant so that we are not able to grow and fulfill our purpose. I encourage you to make a conscience decision to change your mental landscape. Choose to think about new successes instead of past mistakes and failures.
You are probably saying “La-Kita, you make it sound so easy”. I believe it is that simple, but changing the way we think is a life long journey. It’s important to know that in order to change your path and future, you will have to change your perspective. I challenge you to see your past through a new set of lenses. Choose to see what you or others may have called failures as lessons learned. If you continue to live in the past you are almost guaranteed to repeat it. If you see it as an experience, however, that has taught you valuable lessons, you will move forward with a more powerful perspective. Take for example the process of cooking a pot roast in a crock pot. Hmmm. Hmmm. I love a good pot roast with potatoes and veggies! During the prep phase, several ingredients are essential, and it's important that you don’t leave anything out. Each ingredient on its own doesn’t taste good, but the process of allowing the ingredients to simmer together with heat will leave you wanting more. The aroma that was released and traveled outside to the neighbor’s house next door or down the block took multiple ingredients, time and heat. Choose not to be bitter, but allow the lessons learned in your life to simmer together to provide a purpose that will be undeniable. Don’t let the shame of your past prevent you from moving forward. Stop looking in the rearview mirror and embrace the success that is in the future for you!
Take Inventory of Your Ecosystem:
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms that are linked together through nutrient cycles and allows energy to flow. Choose to surround yourself with an environment of people that will challenge you to grow. I believe you can grow where you are planted; however, the right nutrients and lighting can impact your growth. As leaders, and yes you are a leader, we need to ensure that we are creating an ecosystem and culture for ourselves and others that will encourage risks and help us grow so that we can cultivate God’s purpose for our lives.
Fuel and Feed Your Passions - Avoid Toxins:
We all love TV and social media plat-forms, but this should not be the primary source where we find encouragement to help us grow in our career and in relationship with others. Get new hobbies, meet new like-minded people, and invest in books and seminars that will help you grow. Discipline yourself to learn something new about your hobbies, career and relationships. Invest in your purpose and pay it forward. This will encourage others to grow and invest in theirs as well.
Be Intentional - Nothing Grows On Its Own:
Plants don’t just grow. It takes proper nutrition, water and light for plants to flourish. Specifically, plants need water to absorb nutrients from the soil. Water helps the plant move nutrients up from the soil through its stems and leaves. Water helps the plant make its own food. Plants need light. They can't survive without it. Light is a very important part of photosynthesis, the process plants use to convert carbon dioxide and water into food. Without light, photosynthesis can't work properly, and without photosynthesis, plants don't get all the food they need to grow healthy and strong. So just like plants, as individuals, we need proper nutrition.
Be intentional about what you are feeding yourself. What is your spiritual, professional, and emotional photosynthesis process? Your growth potential will be based on what you feed your mind and your spirit. Be intentional about how you facilitate your growth. Don’t engage in negativity and darkness, because just like plants need light, we need the light of God to help us grow so that we can grow and be all He has called us to be.
Grow On Purpose!
La-Kita Gilmore
What’s your biggest takeaway from today’s post? Share in the comments.