Self Growth
Power Principles For Living a Purposeful Life
The challenge of self growth is one that you need to take up in your life if you are going to live a life that will bring you happiness and satisfaction.
The concept of self growth is in itself an easy one to understand and is closely linked to that of self actualisation. The two go hand in hand in that the idea of personal growth is ultimately to become self actualised or to become your true self. It is about becoming the best that you can possibly be as a person.
Passive growth
Growth in character and personality is, for the most part and to many people, a passive affair. Every day, life brings situations and circumstances to us that are opportunities for us to grow. Many times we respond to these situations without linking it to our self growth as such. But in choosing a good response to a situation over a bad one we do grow as people. In choosing bad responses, we either remain static or, worse still, we regress. So every day you are growing, static or regressing.
This kind of experiential self growth is what the majority of people go through. One problem with it is that, depending on your circumstances and place in life, there may not be many opportunities to grow that will present themselves to you. You would therefore be at the mercy of your environment for your growth. If your environment is not a challenging one, then you are pretty much stuck at the same level of growth. Furthermore, no matter how challenging your environment may be, there are some aspects of your self growth that you simply cannot attain without deliberately pushing yourself harder.
Deliberate and calculated growth
If you wish to attain a level of character and personality growth that goes beyond the average person’s level of growth, you have to make a deliberate effort to grow. Let me illustrate this point by using the example of body building. Your muscles grow in response to physical activity. If you do a lot of physical activity in the course of your work, for instance, your muscles will grow and you will become very fit. But no matter how physically demanding your job might be you will never attain the level of muscle bulk, definition and shaping that competitive body builders attain.
That is because to attain that level of physical finesse you have to go the extra mile. You have to push your body even harder and really strain it over a period of time. You have to watch your diet and eat right. You have to practise weight lifting techniques and read about nutritional supplements. You have to train your mind to persevere and focus on what you want to achieve as a body builder.
Well, it’s the same with self growth. If you want to grow as person beyond the average level of growth, you have to make deliberate efforts to do so. You cannot and must not leave it to chance. If you want to grow as a person to the levels of men such as Ghandi, Martin Luther, Myles Munroe, Zig Ziglar and so on then you have to make a plan for it.
You will need to read and study. You will need to challenge yourself to do things that you have never done before. You will need to venture beyond your comport zone and try new things. You need to “throw yourself in the deep end” so to speak. The shallow end is for the ordinary folk and not for you.
Some ways to grow
One activity that immediately comes to mind that will help you in your growth is reading wholesome and developmental books such as biographies, motivational books and historical books. The Bible is without a doubt the number one way to gain wisdom and grow as a person. I would recommend this one book over any other. If you had to buy one book to read for your whole life, make it the Bible.
Having purpose in life
Self growth is also closely linked to having purpose in life. A body builder has purpose. They want to develop and grow their muscle, so they focus on activities that will help them do that. You will not see a body builder doing 100m sprints because that is not their purpose. Similarly, your self growth must have purpose. There must be something directing your efforts, something for you to focus on. Then the process will be easier and it will not be hard to stay the course.
One of the things that you can do immediately to start your journey of self knowledge is to download the free ebook “Power Principles For Living a Purposeful Life.” Simply sign up for the newsletter below and receive the download link in your inbox immediately. This book has many of the articles on this site on the subject of purpose and self growth in a format that is easy to read and refer to.
All the best in your journey of personal discovery and remember, it is all already inside you – you just need to bring it out.
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Other Books By Dr. Moses:
Power Principles For Purposeful Living
"Powerful And Life-Changing Lessons On How To Maximise Your Potential And Live Your Dreams"
Power Principles for Fearless & Abundant Living
"How To Let Go of Fear and Embrace Prosperity"
In the POWER PRINCIPLES series of books, Dr. Moses Simuyemba, "Africa's Success Coach", shares his knowledge, experience and insight to help you in overcoming your personal challenges and limitations and inspire you towards the life you desire and deserve: a life of greater purpose, free of fear and full of abundance.