Choosing Sustainable Personal Growth

The world is changing at an unprecedented rate, with everything from AI to geopolitics affecting our personal and business landscape at a rapid pace. There is no doubt that this new era requires us, as humans, to self-reflect and to acknowledge the systems we are a part of and the parts we play in them. This awareness requires us to look at uncomfortable things within ourselves if we want to make a difference in the world. That work can be arduous at times requiring us to go to some of the darkest places within ourselves. While we need to be able to adjust and to adapt to live in this evolving world, we also have to balance that with personal growth and change that will last. If we don’t focus on sustainable change, it’s quite possible to backtrack and to end up in a place that is worse than when we began. Also, ensuring we are changing at a pace that feels good will encourage us to desire to continue self-development instead of wanting to give up as soon as we can. Motivation endures when our pace is sustainable. While it would be great to see rapid change in areas that are important to us, if we want to create lasting change we have to take our time creating new pathways for our bodies, minds and emotions.

Personally, we need to change in a way that doesn’t overwhelm our nervous system going at a pace that challenges us but doesn't confront us and cause us to shut down. For each individual, there is a sweet spot for any type of growth that is between comfort and anxiety that we need to find for ourselves. This requires self-awareness because it is not something someone else can tell you, you have to find that place for yourself because it differs person by person. 

To make lasting change, stay in the Growth Zone

The goal is not to let yourself stay in the comfort zone for long periods of time but also not to push yourself to the point of anxiety either. That is where the type of improvements that inspire personal growth happen. If you push yourself past what is comfortable, you will feel it in your body. Your mind might tell you that you want to go that fast but if your body is giving you signals contrary to that (e.g. lack of sleep, anxious breathing, digestive stress) you might want to reconsider. If we push ourselves too far into our anxiety zone, we might revert back to where we were before we started because we have overwhelmed our body systems too much.

I have seen people push themselves to unrealistic and unsustainable growth, only to backtrack because they didn’t think long term. A good example of this is when someone is promoted too quickly and without the proper training. Sometimes this works out but often this can lead to a person resigning, being fired or generally not performing well in their new role. Burnout is real and if you attempt to make a modification you can’t sustain long term, you likely won’t be able to maintain the change. 

Individual growth makes room for collective growth and in order to create the society we want to live in, we have to not only be gentle with our own growth, but also with the pace of others. If we find that compassionate space of growth within ourselves, it's a lot easier not to push others past their growth zone and sustainable pace as well. This is something that anyone in a healthy relationship knows. The more you can accept where someone else is and focus on your own growth, the happier you will be in any type of relationship.  You would be surprised at how much you can change the world simply by changing yourself.

Sometimes, life throws us challenges that take us to a place of anxiety because of the magnitude of the adversity in front of us. In those cases, you can acknowledge you are in a situation that is putting you past comfortable growth and into anxiety. Naming it helps until things shift and you get back into your growth or comfort zone.

When you can control it, stay in that sweet spot of your own growth zone.

This concept of sustainable growth is something I share with teams when I start offsites so people can make sure that the activities we engage in are improving the team but not causing anyone to feel so stressed their bodies can’t engage in the activity. 

One of the mistakes I see companies make is forcing too much change too quickly on employees which can cause people to disengage due to the stress the changes have put on their minds and their bodies. I have seen people react negatively to being pushed past their limits and that is something we want to avoid. Measured growth is sustainable growth.

A growth mindset is key to a successful life but staying in that growth zone, knowing when to slow down and take a breath, is just as valuable to support healthy growth.