Rooting For Growth with Fiona DaCosta

“No matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong road, you can always turn back.”

-Anonymous

In essence, once you become aware that you are going down the wrong path, or, you are already there – there is something you can do about it.

Provided that you are willing to turn your life around for the better, you can use that path to propel you onto one where you are experiencing growth, unlocking your potential and living life on a path not leading to your destruction.

You Wait Around For “The Big Break”

Patience is a virtue, and it is encouraged. Needless to say, it goes hand in hand with growth.

However, it becomes alarmingly detrimental when you extend patience to mean – sitting around, doing nothing towards your growth, and relying on luck and a big break.

Certainly, the charm of luck visits now and again. Seemingly accidental and unpredictable. Contrastingly though, your growth becomes more sustainable when you actively and intentionally seek out the next level of your growing potential.

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

– Seneca

In essence, you prepare for “the big break” however small and steady your preparations might be. Once you omit to put actions in place to grow and achieve your desired outcomes – you are headed down the wrong path.

Here are some things you can do to avoid waiting around.

You Ignore Your Boundaries

Let’s get one one thing straight. The boundaries we speak of here are not limitations you place on yourself.

Ideally, there are standards you hold yourself to, in terms of your character, values and self worth. Boundaries therefore, are for others – in relation to what you distinguish as acceptable or unacceptable when it comes on to your standards.

If you ignore these boundaries, people may very well do the same.

A resulting feature of that, is a depreciation of your standards (character, values, self worth) from others, tolerated by you.

In light of this, people cross your boundaries with no repercussion and continue to do so… because you ignore it.

Boost your confidence in who you are, what you stand for and reclaim your standards. Don’t be afraid to set your boundaries and stand by them.

You Are Goal Wise and Growth Foolish

This concept is one you’ll hear a whole lot about on this blog. An entire post is dedicated here to help you understand this predicament.

To be goal wise and growth foolish, signifies that you may have great goals and no growth!

This is not to defy the fact that growth takes time. In fact, you ought to be patient with yourself. As long as you are syncing your goals and growth, steady growing is good growing.

Notwithstanding this, if you have goals and do not intentionally work towards your growth, then those goals are just goals and you would score high – in being growth foolish.

In essence, imagine that you want a car. A shiny new car, and you want to be the driver and owner. That’s the goal. However, you cannot drive and you do not seek to learn how to. You don’t even have a license to operate it. Time goes by, and you are happy with the goal – but do nothing towards attaining and keeping it.

Certainly, you have a beautiful goal. But no growth.

Here are 12 powerful ways to become growth wise that I highly recommend you take a look at.

You Block Your Potential

Did you know, you can stand in the way of your own potential? It’s true! People do it ALL the time. To keep doing this, is a sure sign you are going down the wrong path.

Growth is an ongoing journey and so is discovering your full potential. Each time you unlock one level of your potential, you give yourself permission to keep unlocking newer levels.

Now, if you believe that you have exhausted your potential and have no more room for growth, you basically stop growing intentionally.

To add, comfort zones and complacency can contribute to persons blocking their potential. Imagine getting comfortable doing a job you do not love – just because it pays the bills or changes your “unemployment status”.

Now, imagine sticking with that job and never going after something else that lights you up with passion and stretches you to go beyond the ordinary.

While this may seem like a normal occurrence, that doesn’t make it ideal for unlocking new levels of your potential. Get out of your OWN way! Stop blocking your potential.

Avoid dumbing down and smalling up yourself. It serves the people who benefit from this – but not you.

You Disregard Your Blessings

Whoo!

This is a big one. How many times have you found yourself in situations where all you can think about are the things that are not going so well?

Probably more times than you’ve taken to acknowledge all the things that are going well.

Admittedly, it can become very easy to focus energy on the things stopping you. You know – the bad weather, that deal that fell through the cracks, the lackings in your life and every other worry that just blocks your gratitude.

This is by no means encouraging you to be overly optimistic and under rate reality.

Nonetheless, over indulging in worry won’t fix things. Focus on the things that are going well for a change. Your blessings. Acknowledge them.

Who knows, maybe its during that time, that you’ll realize your many blessings and make way for more.

The bottom line is that, gratitude and a mindset that can acknowledge the good – tends to brighten your mood. And gratitude attracts more things to be thankful for.

To add, you will save yourself the grumpy, old feelings of inadequacy, and turn your mind and life around – for a change.

You Make the Same Mistakes Over and Over…

There is something about mistakes that make them worthwhile – you learn from them!

It’s that retrospective insight that prompts you to realize the error, and what has resulted from it.

Arguably, moments like these are important and even helps with growth. A new outlook even.

Nonetheless, making the same mistakes over and over and over again, is certainly a call for concern. It’s a signal that you may very well need a change in your approach, your mindset and possibly both!

What is your approach to mistakes? Do you reflect on the lesson learnt? Do you review your strategy, actions, inactions?

Making conscious decisions to avoid repeating the same mistakes again may not be enough. Truth is, you never know when they’ll happen. They just do.

Still, analyzing mistakes you find yourself making often, and creating a system to make you aware of triggers to those mistakes may help. With that, you can now implement steps that you will apply, to keep those mistakes at bay.

If you know you are always locking the key in the house before you go out, then going out puts you at risk of locking in the key. So then. each time you are to go out, try to remember this. Maybe singing a key jingle or practicing to check for the key once you gab you last item may help.

I hope you get the gist.

Similarly, with personal and other mistakes you may come across in life, try that little tip to avoid making those mistakes over and over again.

You Know it All… Or So You Think

But do you really?

Guidance, Direction, Advice, Coaching etc. are just some of the things you can’t always give yourself or know all about.

Yet, they are tremendously useful for your growth and well being. As a result, it becomes devastating when you operate as though you know it all.

It doesn’t hurt to listen and allow someone else to share their insights. Of a fact, you may already know what they are saying or hinting at. But that may be as a result of your “know-it-all” attitude.

Think about it, persons may hold back what they intended to advise you on, and just let you have your way with “what you already know”. This isn’t such a good position to be in, because a lot will pass you by while you are in that bubble of yours.

Likewise, its okay to indicate when you don’t know something or simply, not sure. You’d be surprised how people respect you for that – as opposed to if, you were to go talking past your point, and senses.

The moment you find that you tend to exhibit an un-coachable, know-it-all persona, catch yourself. You may save yourself from going down the wrong path. Plus, you might actually learn something.

No “Mind of your Own”

Simply put, you are easily swayed, influenced and taken off course by popular opinions or the voices around you.

What happened to your values and the things you stand up for, or against?

When you do not have a mind of your own, you can fall victim to the whims and fancy of persons who will control you… even to your own detriment.

This isn’t to suggest an unwillingness to compromise or to be influenced – providing that it is in keeping with your values.

It should be noted though, that being grounded in who you are, what you stand for, what you associate with – ultimately shapes you and your mind – to withstand contrasting influences.

If however, you are not grounded in who you are, to have a mind of your own, you are surely headed down the wrong path.

Conclusion

Remember now, we are humans and far from perfect. Therefore, don’t go into a shock if you have noticed any of these sings in your life.

However, if you have, be sure to be intentional about addressing them. They may seem insignificant now, but added up, day after day – they can really impact your life negatively.

You don’t want that.

So then, pay attention to these alarming signs that you are headed down the wrong path, and save yourself.