Growth is what everyone who wishes to be a better version of themselves seeks. Putting oneself through difficult situations where their limits are pushed allows them to respond to these situations in new and innovative ways. Difficulty truly breeds greatness. It allows us to unlock something in ourselves that would otherwise remain dormant. Challenge keeps us engaged and hungry for more problems to solve. After all, that’s what success is really about, solving problems, each more difficult than the last.
The refusal of failure as an outcome
There have been many times in my life, particularly over the past year, where I have put myself in positions where failure was not an option. I’ve done real estate transactions using credit and borrowing money from others, and in turn for taking this risk, I had no choice but to find a way to succeed due to the obligations I had to keep to others that have supported me and to ensure I didn’t sink myself deep into debt. Through a particular transaction or two, there have been more than a handful of occurrences where I was in a situation as described above and I had to overcome extremely difficult circumstances because I didn’t give myself another option. For my current situation, I had too much skin in the game to call it quits and not make it work. I had to find ways to conquer issues head on that I otherwise would have shied away from had I been given the option upfront. Going through these experiences has shown me that failure is only an outcome if we accept it as an outcome. Difficult situations are designed for us to grow if we so choose to tackle the situation head on rather than shy away from it. The most growth to this point that I have ever experienced both as a human being and a businessman has been through the extremely difficult situations I’ve put myself in to perform when the cards have been stacked against me to do so. Sure, I’ve made many mistakes along the way. But, instead of viewing these mistakes as failures and accepting them as the outcome, I was able to utilize them as lessons to rearm myself for the next round of the fight and keep trudging ahead.
Maintaining your hunger
As you start to find more and more success, opportunities for you to grow become more and more scarce. There is inherently less opportunity for you to take risk because you are now in a position where things that would have once been viewed as risky no longer are. When you reach this point of comfort, it is time for you to level up and look at the next echelon of achievement to keep your growth on a constant upward angle. The line of growth you should follow should be similar in relation to a staircase going upwards. A climb followed by a brief flatline followed by another climb and so on and so forth. The climb is representative of the step to get to the next level. The flatline is representative of the time spent between two levels. Spending too much time in the flatline hinders your growth and ability to scale upwards. After a while, the flatline becomes your comfort zone. It gets cozy and so easy it becomes unfulfilling. To continue on the upward climb of the staircase, you should be using the flatline to reflect on your previous climb and plan your next one. Questions to ask yourself during this time should be, “What have I done in the past that I want to build on to create a more ideal future?” “What skill or skills do I want to learn to help me achieve a higher income?” ” What kind of value do I want to create in the world for the benefit of others?” And so on and so forth. Growth doesn’t solely mean business or finances, it could mean anything you want it to mean to make you into a better version of yourself. You are a constant work in progress, always learning, accomplishing, and striving for more growth, all while appreciating what you’ve been able to achieve and grateful for the life you have. This is the formula for a great life. It all comes down to one simple question. When you are gone and people are gathering at your funeral to remember your life, how do you want to be remembered? Do you want people to tell tales of how much value you added to their lives and how selfless you were? Do you want people to speak of the hardships you were able to overcome in spite of the circumstances you faced? Do you want people to commemorate the beautiful life you were able to create and share with your family and friends? The only way to make sure these questions are answered in the way you would hope for them to be is to stay hungry and consistently look for opportunities for growth given the specific things you wish to be remembered for. Whether that be personally, financially, physically, spiritually, a combination of all of these, or anything else, it is up to you to control your own destiny! You are in control, make the most out of the opportunity life gives you!