Accelerate your Growth

Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to challenge yourself, but it was harder than you anticipated? Some time ago I was given tickets to jump off the Sky Tower in Auckland NZ. At first it sounded like a great idea, but the closer it got to the date, the less appealing the idea became. I’m all about a challenge but was now thinking this was too big. While driving up in the car I was hoping that something would happen to delay the inevitable. In my head I was saying, “maybe we will get stuck in traffic and miss the time window and those clouds look like it's going to rain, I won't be able to jump in the rain.” Despite all of me talking myself out of it, we made it, and I really had no other choice than to go on the journey and hope that something would prevent it. The others that came with me were really encouraging and supportive, I joked, and asked if anyone else was keen to do it in my place. I started to feel sick in my stomach. The nerves were building as the instructor was helping me put the harness on. The whole time I was thinking, “is this all that’s going to hold me from plummeting to my death.” We began our ascent to the platform, from the viewing lounge I observed someone else doing the jump, they were suspended just outside the viewing windows. Were they stuck or was that part of the experience? Whatever it was, it didn’t fill me with confidence. We kept walking and went through some doors that led us outside to the walkway. So here we were 300 odd metres off the ground and walking towards the jump platform. At this point my knees are feeling weak and my stomach is churning, “it’s my turn to jump,” I was telling myself “it's not that bad, I’m secure and harnessed.” I was asking lots of questions because at that height, I didn’t want to be stepping off anything before I was hooked up. (Slightly over thinking). Then the moment came, The instructor said, “Ok you’re hooked up ready to go, do you want to go forwards or backwards?” Me, “definitely backwards.” The less times I could see how far away from the ground I was the better. Instructor: “Just step here and lean back and let the harness take your weight.” Me in my mind: You want me to do what? Before I knew it, I was hanging, suspended away from the platform looking back at the instructor about two meters away. Ok this is not so bad now, I’m out here, I was lowered to the viewing window where everyone could see me. At this point I was starting to enjoy it and was resigned  to the fact that I’m here now. Just as I was waving and starting to enjoy myself, I was dropped at a freefall speed towards the ground. At that speed the ground got close real fast, 300 metres did seem that high anymore. The mechanism braked at what felt like only a few meters off the ground. Did it scare the life out of me? “Yes.” To the point that when my feet hit the ground again, I could hardly stand up and I felt sick. On reflection of the experience, I’m not sure I would rush to do it again but feel confident that if I did, I would find it easier.

“My mind is saying yes but my body is saying no”

When you are exposed to situations that are different and more accelerated than your normal rhythms you don’t really know how you will respond to them. This is what accelerated growth can be like. Unless you push yourself into situations that you are not familiar with you will never experience the correlating growth dynamic. This is explained in the following 5 points:

You will never know unless you go.

• Personal growth and development often require you to step out of your comfort zones and embrace new challenges.

Your growth is relative to what you are exposed to.

• Exposing yourself to more challenging situations can often lead to you being extended more.

Surround yourself with support.

• Surround yourself with friends, mentors, or colleagues who can encourage, and offer constructive feedback that supports your growth journey.

 Evaluate and reflect on your experience.

• Assess what you were challenged by. What you could have done differently, and what lessons you've learned about yourself.

It will get easier the more you do it.

• Similar to how adapting to unfamiliar situations becomes easier with practice, continuous exposure to new experiences can lead to increased confidence in making future growth dynamics more manageable.

Integrate these principles to your life growth journey, the opportunities to accelerate your growth are endless and will set you up for greater levels of self-improvement and success.

My 5 Learnings:

• I need to be pursuing opportunities that will stretch and push me beyond my normal rhythms

• I need to bring good support around me to help me in my growth

• I need to be prepared both physically and emotionally for accelerated growth opportunities

• The more times I push into accelerated growth situations the easier it will become for me

• I need to reflect on what I learn in given situations or accelerated growth

Be intentional about always pushing yourself so your limits are tested. Do something that really scares you every so often. The more you do this, you will be able to better handle unintentional growth opportunities that you can sometimes be blindsided by and are not prepared for.

My 3 Questions for you:

• What is a thing you have done that has accelerated your growth?

• How are you preparing yourself for accelerated growth opportunities?

• What is something that really scares you and how will you face it?

"The path to success is to take massive, determined actions. Accelerated growth follows."

- Tony Robbins

 If you have questions, I would be happy to chat with you and help you discover more.

 Remember daily to, “Find value in your influence”

Written By: Paul Fawcett.