Measuring Growth

This article was first written when Eagles Academy sat down to plan for ERC's Student Council's Leadership Retreat in June 2018. [Part 3 of 4]

Part 1 - Growth Matters  / Part 2 - Growth is Change / Part 4 - Leading Growth

Measure To Get Growth Done

You will never know what progress you are making until you are able to somehow track your growth. This is not only important, it is extremely difficult to do. It begins with regular evaluation and reflection. That being said, it is more effective to track progress periodically rather than to try to measure it daily - attempting to measure your own growth daily is like trying to measure your child's height daily.

Rather, commit to growing consistently by doing five things:

1.    Make growth your utmost priority – a day without growth is unacceptable. Be in learning mode every minute you are awake.

2.    Lookout for growth opportunities – opportunities are everywhere and always available if you are actively looking out for them.

3.    Ask questions that contribute to your growth – growth will never come looking for you instead one must proactively find it by asking questions.

4.    Log what you learn every day – the world's top time waster is looking for things that are misplaced. In the same way your ideas, lessons, thoughts must be recorded in a systematic so you can find them easily.

5.    Share what you have learnt with others – always think about how you will share what you have learnt. Sharing reinforces learning and it adds value to the people. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

Knowledge does not make any person better, the application of knowledge does. Anything that does not get put to action is merely a theory. Sure everyone talks about change and embrace it. You would be surprised that most people experience change on a daily basis but they remain passive.

Measure To Grow Intentionally

In order to experience growth, one needs to be intentionally active! Nothing happens with information unless it is applied.

If you have a broad idea “I want to grow my ability in public speaking,” you would not know whether you are improving. On the other hand if you decide “In six months, I want to be able to speak clearly and decisively anytime I am called upon. I want to be able to deliver a smooth, impactful speech on stage,” then you have a measurable target to work towards.

That was exactly what Hai Son did. He joined a Toastmasters Club, a journey that began with reading a lot of educational materials and watching a lot of speeches through which, he gained new knowledge on speech crafting, delivery techniques and speaking styles. However, he still feared the stage and knew he could not improve without actually speaking. It took a moment of foolish courage for him to sign up for his first speech.

The day came, and in his head he thought he would magically be rid of stage fright, strut into the limelight oozing with confidence and kill it on stage; news flash, that was a fantasy. He was so nervous and the stage killed him! His first speech felt awkward. His face was stoic, the message was cliche. He stammered and forgot his lines, yet to his surprise, a warm applause erupted from the crowd at the end of it. Instead of verbal criticism, his speech evaluator praised his effort on stage. Strangers in the crowd went up to him afterwards and shared their thoughts and words of encouragement about the speech. That was not the outcome he had expected.

Each day, you will consistently seize every opportunity to practice and improve where possible until it develops into a habit. Each day Hai Son would recall and embrace the positivity and feeling of a sense of accomplishment. That first speech, as disastrous as it was to him broke the ice. The positive energy spurred him on to deliver another 30 speeches and counting.

2019 marks Hai Son's 4th year in the Toastmasters movement. He has spoken to crowds of 10s and auditoriums full of over 1,000 people. He has hosted events as an emcee and even tried stand-up comedy. To him, honing his communication skills has been one of the best investments in his personal and professional life. While his journey is not complete, he has learnt that when developing any skill, head knowledge alone is merely information. Head knowledge needs to coupled with action for growth.

If you do not plan it and schedule it, it is never going to happen. Break down your goal and remove old habits that do not contribute to growth. Good leaders are learners. They are intentional – they never arrive, never ever feel they know-it-all. They are never afraid to have to unlearn and relearn.

The illiterate of the future are not those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. ~ Herbert Gerjuoy

At the same time, working on challenges of an optimal level of difficulty has been found to not only be motivating, but also to be a major source of happiness. Psychologist Gilbert Brim puts it this way, “One of the important sources of human happiness is working on tasks at a suitable level of difficulty, neither too hard nor too easy.”

Measure To Stay Motivated To Growth

Motivation is a mind boggling puzzle that is crucial to understand. To stay motivated to continually seek growth, one needs to achieve a perfect blend of hard work and happiness. This blend is sometimes referred to as "the flow". It is what athletes or artistes experience when they are “in the zone.” Flow is the mental state one experiences when one are so focused on the task at hand that the rest of the world fades away.

In order to reach this state of peak performance, however, you not only need to work on challenges at the right degree of difficulty, but also to consistently get feedback on your progress. Getting immediate feedback can incredibly motivating.

Any standup comedian would be able to tell immediately if a joke worked based on the laughter of the crowd. Imagine how addictive it would be to create a roar of laughter. The rush of positive feedback he experienced from one good joke would probably be enough to overpower his fears and inspire him to work for weeks.

Measuring growth is critical for achieving a blend of motivation and happiness. Regardless of how it is measured, the human brain needs some way to visualise progress if we are to maintain motivation.

We need to be able to see our wins.

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Special thanks to Le Hai Son for sharing his own experience as part of this article.

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