The Anatomy of Personal Growth

In a recent conversation, a friend and I discussed the popular idea of "doing the work." You've probably heard people say, “I’m doing the work”, to imply that they’re actively engaged in their personal growth process. But, what does it mean? What does the process look like? How do we confirm that people are doing the work?

I believe that personal growth is a messy process; however, it can be tracked and measured. The fruits of growth are visible. It’s not an abstract concept that can’t be seen. How do we see it? By understanding the anatomy of personal growth. I’ll explain its elements.

Receive New Information: Everybody has mindsets and thought patterns that govern their lives. Often, these mindsets are difficult to change. Since the mind is set on specific beliefs, for many people, it’s difficult to receive new information. Consequently, growth is hindered. This is one reason that people resist innovation; they cannot embrace new ideas.

Therefore, the first sign of personal growth is your ability to receive new information. You’re doing the work when you can consider other ideas and embrace new thoughts that align with your purpose. New ideas challenge your status quo and set you on an unknown growth path to reveal your hidden potential. If you can’t receive new information, growth is highly unlikely. We live in an era of rapid, massive changes and the times demand that we consider and process ideas that lie outside our comfort zone. Your level of openness to receiving and learning new things is essential to your growth.

Change Your Mind: This is the next step. If your thinking is challenged and the new idea works better, are you willing to discard your old ways of thinking and embrace the new? Can you change your mind?in face of a better way? Your ability to change your mind as required is an important component of doing the work. If you can’t change your mind, you can't grow. Letting go of old ineffective ideas for new effective ones is a sign of growth.

Act Differently: Growth is easy to see. People see that you’ve grown or done the work when you act differently due to a changed mind. You don't need to convince people that you’ve done or doing the work. They will see it by your actions. Old thinking produces old actions, and new thinking will cause new actions – this completes the growth cycle. If you’re not acting differently, you’ve not grown.

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?Photo by: Eugene Golovesov