Growth Lines

Growth comes in bursts and seldom comes naturally. Sure, we "grow old" without much effort (other than just staying alive), but I'm referring to growth as a benefit. Getting better; more knowledgeable or experienced. It's the kind of growth we like to talk about and maybe even brag about, but it doesn't come easy. There's always a cost and things are never linear.

We talk regularly about growth at Improving and use the mindsets from Mastery by George Leonard frequently as illustrations. There's a lot to dig into here, but I'm going to point at the flat part of each of the mindsets: the plateau. Notice that it shows up in all of them along with the growth curve and pull-back.

We spend the effort to climb that curve. To get better and grow. Once we do, we pull back slightly from the peak (because maintaining the peak is impossible in the indefinite) to our plateau. This is where most people live...except the plateau isn't flat; it slopes DOWN. This is because of entropy; life is moving towards disorder, not towards order which is why it requires effort. Decay is what comes naturally and is the opposite of growth.

I've found myself thrust into a period of growth because it's what the business needs from me right now. I had been doing small parts to keep my plateau up, but the time had come to climb another curve and achieve the next level. Painful? Yes. Challenging? You bet. Fun? Not always. Rewarding? Every single day. What are you choosing to grow towards?