Rooting For Growth with Fiona DaCosta

Part 1 of 3

As you will come to realize, growth is not just a concept. It is lifestyle! A lifestyle that requires constant assessment and maintenance. Your growth is a journey – not a destination. And for that journey you NEED guiding principles to stay on route. The thing is, you first need to get your mindset right.

Subsequently, once your growth mindset is unlocked and you affirm with conviction, that you are ready to grow, you become a powerful force to be reckoned with. It is that conviction that will enable you to abide by the Laws set out by John C. Maxwell.

Disclosure: Hi Rooters! This post contains affiliate links. Meaning, if you use the links to buy something referred, I may earn a commission. This comes at no additional cost to you.

THE 15 Invaluable LAWS OF GROWTH

LAW 1: The Law of Intentionality

John Maxwell points out: Growth Doesn’t Just Happen…

As a result, you NEED to be intentional about it. Day in, day out. Acquire that burning desire to unbar the next level of your growth journey. Plenty persons elude their growing capacity because they settle for what John calls accidental growth.

Take a look at this table. Which accidental growth mentalities do you have? Are you ready to become intentional about your growth?

Accidental vs. Intentional Growth

Be honest, there must be something in the accidental column that you are holding on to. For me, I was waiting around for growth to happen. My very first blog was unorganized. I wrote on a variety of topics. I did not invest adequate time nor resources to learn about effective and rewarding blogging.

Sure, I knew I wanted to reach people. To inspire them. To help them unlock their belief in their capacity to grow. However, that wasn’t happening. I was waiting around for those people to find me – and in turn, find their truest selves. Nonetheless, it wasn’t until I decided to take responsibility to grow, that I unbarred a new level of my journey. A journey that inspired me to start this blog. Not only was I inspired to start – I insisted right away! That is a story I will share more about, another time.

Ideally, you should start the transition to intentional growth to maximize on your growth journey. If you have challenges, that is okay. Identify them. so they can be addressed.

John Maxwell shares that, there are gaps that present challenges for us to grow intentionally:

Got Gaps?

• The gap of assumption – assuming you will grow automatically
• The knowledge gap – not knowing how to grow
• The timing gap – it’s not the right time to grow
• The mistake gap – afraid of growing
• The perfection gap – wanting to find the best way before starting to grow
• The inspiration gap – don’t feel like growing
• The comparison gap – others are better
• The Expectation gap – thinking it would be easier

Introspect. Which of these gaps need filling on your growth journey? Be honest. Affirm to grow.

LAW 2: The Law of Awareness

Maxwell highlights: You must know yourself to grow yourself…

How well do you know yourself? In your brain, in your heart, in your spirit? Knowing who you are, helps you develop a sense of self. A sense of self causes you to become aware. Awareness influences growth.

Consequently, John urges us to spend time answering these questions:

1. What would you like to do?
2. What talents, skills and opportunities do you possess that support your desire to do it?
3. What are your motives for wanting to do it?
4. What steps must you take today, to start doing what you want to do?

You see, I know I wanted to reach people globally. To inspire them. To get them rooting for growth. Fittingly, I realized that my communication skills, emotional intelligence and passion for growth could help me achieve that. It became important to carry out this desire as it kept burning within me. I want to see people growing and surpassing the growth limits they have. So, I had to get my passion, skills, time and resources ready to do just that! That is how Rooting for Growth was born!

Similarly, you too my dear Rooter, have it within you. Get intimate with the questions above. Get to know yourself. So you can grow yourself.

LAW 3: The Law of the Mirror

“You must see value in yourself and add value to yourself…”

“If you place a small value on yourself, rest assured the world will not raise the price.”

-John C. Maxwell

You are valuable. you are worth it. You are enough. Do you believe this? You should!

John Maxwell reminds us that self esteem is a significant key to a person’s growth. Build it and guard it. Avoid comparing yourself to others. I cautioned you of this in the post with the 5 Mindset Must-Haves for growth. The next time you look in a mirror, do a self talk. Positive self talks can help to boost you self esteem. Which in turn boosts your self-image (the way you see yourself) to the rest of the world.

LAW 4: The Law of Reflection

“Learning to pause allows growth to catch up with you.” -John Maxwell

Have you ever been going, going, going non stop!? With no time to pause, to be still, to reflect – you may be busy and not productive. You may be going – and not growing. This is a serious point of consideration.

The difference between getting sleep and taking is that the latter puts you in control. While the former controls you.

So too, finding time to reflect and actually scheduling time to reflect. In scheduling time to reflect, you take charge of assessing your growth. In hoping to find time to reflect, you may never even get to pause.

Reflecting goes closely with awareness, because you are reflecting on who you are. And to do that, you need a sense of self. To infuse growth in any area of your life, ask yourself questions that resonate with those areas.

Below are a few of John Maxwell’s self awareness questions to help with reflection:

• What is my biggest asset?
• What is my biggest liability?
• What is my highest high?
• What is my lowest low?
• What is my most prized possession?
• What is fulfilling to me?

LAW 5: The Law of Consistency

“Motivation gets you going – discipline keeps you going.”

Additionally, to keep rooting for growth, you must be consistent. Remember, growth doesn’t stand still, even in it’s most quiet phase. It is so easy getting motivated and fired up. You know – rearing to go make things happen! Then just when you need it most, the motivation disappears.

Before you know it, you begin to procrastinate. You start projects and abandon them. You perform duties just to get by. What John is saying is that, these things happen when you base them on how you feel at the moment. Instead, he proposes discipline. The driving force that keeps you going – even when motivation flies off in thin air.

Being consistent is not always easy. Nothing about growth is! To help you understand how to navigate between being consistent with your goals and growth see the outline below:

Goal Consciousness vs. Growth Consciousness

From this table, you get the gist that you need to define and separate your goal consciousness from your growth consciousness. Both of the consciousnesses may resonate with you. Depending on the matter at hand. However, it is the growth consciousness that will keep you growing. It allows for consistency. It is lifelong.

Be sure to read part 2 and part 3 of my review of John Maxwell’s 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. There I discuss the other 10 Laws. And I tell you which is my favourite Law, and why.