Growth or Decay?

Growth or Decay?

“The only constant in life is death and taxes.” Have you heard that before? It’s pretty close, but in reality, the only real constant in life is change. Everything is in a state of growth or decay, and is dynamic. There’s a lot of variety in trajectories and speeds, but there is always change. 

If your finances aren’t growing, inflation and depreciation are depleting them. If you’re not putting effort into improving bone density and muscle strength, some level of atrophy is happening instead. If you’re not working on your personal growth and mindset, old habits and easier pathways are becoming more pronounced.

Even the universe is expanding. It’s expanding at approximately 46.16 miles per second per 3 million light-years. We can’t even really comprehend that level of change, but know that it’s a whole lot. 

Are you the same as you were last year? What about ten years ago? You’re certainly not the same person you were as a child. Even the cells in your body never stay the same. They are constantly regenerating, growing, shrinking, dividing, or dying. Your skin, blood and bones are constantly going through transformation too, though at a slower rate. Some cells last five days while others last 16 years. Your skin is recycled every two weeks, your blood completely renews approximately every 120 days, and even your bones are replaced around every ten years. 

Like the universe, you are in constant flux. At this very moment, the old you is being discarded and the new is being generated. There is nothing static or permanent about you.

Do you like where you’re at? Are you reaching your full potential in your career? In your health? In your relationships? Are there things that you would like to change, but it feels like they never will?

In a world where ambition and drive are the cornerstones of success, the concept of growth or decay is essential. For driven entrepreneurs and professionals, growth is more than a goal; it's a must. The road to success is paved with commitment to excellence—to be the best we can be. But success, like physical fitness, is not a finish line we can reach and then just relax. There is still always growth or decline. Failing to grow in your development, businesses, or careers will lead to stagnation and eventually decline. Yet, growth is not a one-size-fits-all journey; it varies based on where we’re currently at. 

Consider this: on a scale of 1 to 10, where do you place yourself in terms of happiness and fulfillment in your personal life and career? 

A 1 might be: “Everything in my life is completely awful and I can’t imagine it possibly being worse,” and a 10 might be: “I am so happy and fulfilled, and have so much money, I couldn’t possibly handle more of this!” 

If you place yourself at 6 or below, that’s 40% of your potential happiness and success that’s unrealized. That’s a lot of room for improvement! Is it okay to leave 40% of your happiness, well-being, and success on the table? Aren’t you worth more than that? It’s important to really dive into these questions, because as we’ve established, change is going to happen. Figuring out where we’re at and where we want to be helps us establish momentum and trajectory to hit those higher life-satisfaction levels.

If you’re already at a 7 or above, it might be time to seek out new strategies and tactics to get to the next level. When we reach higher levels, moving up gets a little more complicated. It’s not that difficult to make the changes that will help us get from a 5 to a 6, but in this case, there’s more distance between 90% and 95% than between 50% and 60%. 

When we’re hitting those high levels of success (congratulations!) the higher we go up the scale, the greater the distance between each increment, and the tools, mindset, and strategies to get to the next level or benchmark are different. 

Often, what happens with ambitious high achievers is they get to a certain level and then feel stuck and frustrated. We might try to work harder at doing the things that got us here, but without very measurable results. This can cause burnout and creeping doubt, and it can begin to erode our confidence. Doubling down on what got us this far may seem reasonable, but when it’s not working anymore, it’s a clear sign that new tactics and strategies are needed to overcome these higher hurdles.

This might seem overwhelming at times. Needing constant effort to even maintain higher levels of achievement can be daunting, and it might seem hard to keep up those levels of performance. Does that mean we can’t ever rest, or risk losing what we already have? Of course not. Rest is important too, and we don’t have to have constant focus, effort, and progress to reach our goals. But it’s important to check in with ourselves often, see where different areas of our life are scoring on our self comparison chart, and figure out what we need to do to make sure we’re moving upward and onward. Knowing that there are going to be shifts and changes, we can orchestrate all the parts of our life, using strategies to realize more of our potential and claim more of the happiness, satisfaction, and success that we absolutely deserve.

Ready to level up? Let’s get in touch and I can help you set up a plan to reach some brand new personal records!