Last week I wrote on playing your cards right, hope you enjoyed the read. This week we focus on GROWTH. Growth is a life goal, if you aren’t growing, you aren’t alive. Asides, the organisation promoting growth through its existing policies, an individual is very much responsible for their growth within and outside of the organisation.
What does it mean to pursue GROWTH as a person?
G oals
R ead
O bserve trends
W ork ethics
T eachable (be humble)
H ardwork
Goals: Goals support growth. Anytime you set a goal and achieve it, you have pushed beyond your current status to succeed at a new thing. By so doing, you have grown your wealth of knowledge, increased your network and net worth. Setting goals are key to living a purposeful life. Goals are like lamp posts; leading you on the journey of life to a defined purpose. Setting goals for yourself allows you measure progress and forge ahead to achieve more. Though this can be challenging, discipline and commitment to one’s growth will help you focus on succeeding at your goals.
Read: Reading, an important habit to be imbibed, exposes one to various experiences without the need to travel. Books give history, change opinions, give context and information. With information now readily available at the tips of our fingers courtesy of the World Wide Web, there’s really no excuse. An informed person is a treasure to the team and to their network. Start today; read a book per month, get a reading partner, join a book club, spend time studying interesting world topics, educate yourself on politics, fashion, entertainment, arts etc. It colours your life and allows you teach others and yourself new things.
Observe Trends: Observing current and future trends across industries enables you make informed decisions, contribute to projects within the organisation, understand the industries better and most of all, grow your knowledge base of information. This will make you a go-to person for information, improve your conversations and build your relevance. Most people enjoy observing trends in socio-political matters, others in the economies of nations, all good but needs considerable time and focus. If you inculcate the second point in this write up – reading- observing trends would be second nature to you.
Work Ethics: Organisations have written and, unwritten codes of conduct for the work place. As part of an Organisation, you must keep to these policies. Having a personal code of conduct built on personal values is key to personal growth. You grow your capabilities for managerial positions or supervisory type roles when you are seen to be a “company champion’; one who represents the brand essence of the organisation or as people would say ‘the face of the company”. To be this, you need to understand the very heartbeat of your organisation, the brand essence of the organisation and core values of the organisation.
Teachable (Be and Stay Humble): You must be teachable, this means a willingness to learn, this requires humility. You really can’t know it all but, you can start a journey towards knowing more. Being teachable within the work environment means that you are a ready hand on new projects.
Hardwork: Commitment to your goals, reading, observing trends, work ethics and staying humble require a lot of hard work from you. It requires you daily working towards achieving these aspects of GROWTH. It is not a walk in the park, taking responsibility for your growth as an individual will leave you with the power to achieve and be more. Working hard means taking time to research on topics, taking time to read, taking time to also rest and refresh. Hard work pays!
Remember that growth is more your responsibility than that of the organisation, this is because there are many things you can learn that won’t come from the formal kind of learning an organisation offers.
A growing person is an achieving person.
ABOUT OGE FUNLOLA MODIE
Oge is a published author, writer and speaker. She is the Editor and writer of GetFearlessly AuthenticTM Newsletter, a personal leadership newsletter that chronicles her life as a professional. She is involved in causes for women, young people and the vulnerable. She loves to read comics, watch comedy flicks, listen to music and play golf. Shares her love threefold- Love for God, Love for People, Love for Country.
