Growth stops when you lose tension between where you are and where you could be. For most people, as time goes by they lose the tension that prompts growth — especially if they experience any success. But having less tension makes people less productive. And it undermines the growth toward their potential.
1. Few people want to stretch
Most people only use a fraction of their ability and rarely strive to reach their full potential. If there is no tension in your life to grow, there is little desire to stretch. Nobody admires average. The best organizations don’t pay for average. Mediocrity is not worth shooting for.
2. Settling for the status quo ultimately leads to dissatisfaction
You need to realize that you will only reach your potential if you have the courage to push yourself outside your comfort zone and break out of a mind-set of mediocrity. You must be willing to leave behind what feels familiar, safe, and secure. You must give up excuses and push forward. You must be willing to face the tension that comes from stretching forward toward your potential.
3. Stretching always starts from the inside out
It’s wise to remember that our situation in life is mainly due to the choices we make and the actions we do take. The older we are, the more responsible we are for our situation. If you are merely average or if you are no closer to your dream this year than you were last year, you can choose to accept it, defend it, cover it up, and explain it away. Or you can choose to change it, grow from it, and forge a new path.
4. Stretching always requires change
The greatest stretching seasons of life come when we do what we have never done, push ourselves harder, and reach in a way that is uncomfortable to us. That takes courage. But the good news is that it causes us to grow in ways we thought were impossible.
5. Stretching sets you apart from others
Improving yourself is the best way to help your team. Successful people set themselves apart because they initiate the improvement others need. When you get better, those around you benefit. Excellence has the potential to spread in the same way that mediocrity does. The positives or negatives of a group always begin with one. When you get better, so will others.
6. Stretching can become a lifestyle
Too many people are dead but just haven’t made it official yet. If you won’t be better tomorrow than you were today, then what do you need for tomorrow for?
7. Stretching gives you a shot at significance
Significance is birthed within each of us. If we are willing to stretch, that seed can grow until it begins to bear fruit in our lives. What’s fantastic is that change within us challenges us to make changes around us, and our growth creates a belief in us that others can grow. When that happens in an environment and everybody is stretching and growing, then indifference is replaced with make-a-difference. And that’s how we begin to change our world.
* Source: The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C. Maxwell