It’s possible to change without growing, but it’s impossible to grow without changing. Growth thrives in conducive surroundings. If you are in a positive growth environment, be grateful. If you’re not, do what you must to change your environment and yourself.
6 Choices to Put Yourself in a Better Place for Growth
1. Assess your current environment
Change just for the sake of change is not going to help you. If you are going to make changes, you must make sure they’re the right ones. Start by assessing where you are now and why you want to change.
2. Change yourself and your environment
If our environment is cold, we’re cold. If it’s hot, we’re hot. If you want to grow, then spend time with great people; visit great places; attend great events; read great books; listen to great audio files.
3. Change who you spend your time with
We become the combined average of the five people we hang around the most. You can tell the quality of your health, attitude, and income by looking at the people around you. You will start to eat what they eat, talk like they talk, read what they read, think like they think, watch what they watch, and dress like they dress.
4. Challenge yourself in your new environment
One of the first ways to challenge yourself is by making your goals public. Few things push a person like a deadline and an audience. Look at one major growth opportunity every week, follow through on it, and learn from it.
5. Focus on the moment
The changes we want to make in our lives come only in the present. What we do now controls who we become and where we are in the future. We live and work in the present.
6. Move forward despite criticism
Growth always comes from taking action, and taking action almost always brings criticism. Move forward anyway.
* Source: The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C. Maxwell