Not that I have had anyone hounding me for posts, but it has been a while and the truth is, I have been busy growing. Work has been busy, there have been personal strains and my focus was on everything and nothing.
I listened to a podcast, “On Purpose” by Jay Shetty today and it talked about growth. He mentioned these five stages and it stopped me right in my tracks.
We all always want to be winning, but you cannot win without going through the struggle. There is no one moment that suddenly makes you win, growing and getting closer to your goal is through micro-moments. No matter where you are right now, you are in one of the five stages of growing and its up to you to recognise this stage and embrace it
1.Learn 2.Experiment 3.Perform 4.Struggle 5.Thrive
Without learning and experimenting how do you know if something is for you. The famous saying by Edison “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Some people are so impatient that they would rather skip the first two stages and go straight into it (eg. starting up a business you know nothing about) in hope that they will thrive, but then fail without stopping to learn.
I have been learning and experimenting so much when it comes to understanding my health and body. I learnt the power of my gut and how the foods I eat are causing me more headache than worth the taste for a few minutes. And since I took my intolerance test at the beginning of this year I have been experimenting, what can I eat, what does my body tell me. I am still struggling to fully give up certain things that are harming my body (eg. Bread, rice). I have cut it down but not completely out but I have been learning through the process of elimination the kinds of food that make me bloat, make me have flakey skin or scalp or even give me bad skin in general. The truth is, some learning and experimenting phases last a few years and you learn, experiment, perform and sometimes learn again.
My hair is another growth journey. When I was younger, I HATED my curls and frizz ( living in a humid climate did not help). I relaxed my hair constantly straightened it. It was only when I was around 18 that I decided to grow out the relaxer and let my natural hair grow but I still never got to grips with my curly hair. From products to styling. It has only been recently that I have taken the time to learn about my curls, the curly girl method and understand what products are good and bad for my hair. Watching videos to the point that my whole instagram feed is now invaded by curls.
With that, I am also in the experimenting and performing stage (separate post to follow)
What about your career? Do you sometimes feel that you aren’t performing or thriving? Well guess what – it wouldn’t be normal for you to work and THRIVE! When I first started my career in SEO I was right at the bottom, doing analyst work. Now 6 years later, I am managing my own team in house and two agencies and I have expanded into SEO and PPC as two integrated marketing channels (Google Search). Not only did I have to learn something new, I threw myself outside of my comfort zone and told myself I should try it and then decide it if was for me – now I am performing and doing well!
But the truth is, the stages of growth are a cycle of growth because you never stop growing. At a point in life you could be thriving at something but then you decide you want to try something new, swim in new waters.
So the next time you are hard on yourself, or before you tell yourself you aren’t good enough – stop and think about which stage of growth you are in, in whatever aspect in life. And remember, everyone is at the stage at some point and you need to be in it, in order to grow.
