4 Ways To Prioritize Personal Growth At Work
The concept of personal growth is not you-either-have it-or-you-don’t. Just like the many phases of our life, it ebbs and flows. Throughout our careers, we will go through times of great growth by either design - we are taking leaps in our learning, stepping outside of our comfort zone, or going for a big goal - OR by circumstance - something happens to us that we did not anticipate and we had to adapt, learn, and grow from the situation. Life is peppered with both scenarios and it’s how we deal with these changes that determines how we grow individually and professionally.
To me, the definition of personal growth is similar to the definition of wellness. I see wellness as a conscious, self-directed process to achieve your full potential, physically, mentally and spiritually. Personal growth can also be thought of as developing yourself in order to achieve your full potential. I often think of personal growth as a mental process, meaning it’s a change in expectation or maturity, but it doesn’t have to be.
No doubt, when you hear the term, personal growth, it evokes some sort of feeling as you already have an idea of what it means to you. As we go through our careers, it’s important to be open to the events along our way:
Learn from your interactions
How do people respond to you? Do they glaze over, get defensive, shut down, or do they become engaged, joyful and inspired? Learn to pay attention to people’s body language and speech when you talk. This will give you great insight to how you come across and where you can improve your communication style.
Learn from your failures
Failures push us to our limits, show us what we are capable of and where we can do better. Learning to see these as steps towards our success rather than roadblocks that keep us down is a key element to our growth. Case in point - didn’t Thomas Edison try more than 3,000 light bulb designs before he figured out what worked?
Learn from your bosses
Bosses have a great way of either inspiring us or completely deflating us. They inspire by empowering us to make decisions, supporting us and giving us the tools we need to grow. I have been blessed to have some amazing leaders in my life and I have learned so much from them on how to make decisions, carry myself, and lead with integrity. I’ve only had one that I didn’t thrive under, but I learned from that experience too as it showed me what employees need to feel valued and heard.
Learn from your dreams
Those dreams in your heart are there for a reason and they are specific for you. Those “what if’s” are clues to your passions and gifts. Follow those clues by investing in yourself, taking a class and jumping into new experiences. Not only will you grow by getting out of your comfort zone but you may also find your career purpose along the way.
Success is failure turned inside out. The silver lining on a cloud of doubt. The silver lining on the cloud of doubt. And you never know how far you are, it may be near when it seems afar. So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit. It’s when things go wrong that you must not quit.