Do you want to grow and bring up your potential? Then this article will help you understand how to do it! Too often, we live our lives by increasing the activities we do, that is by doing more, assuming that growth is automatically a random by-product.

This belief deviates us from the true path that, instead, is living our life by focusing on growth and improvement of who we are, of what we are, of what we think, say and do.

This means that you do not grow or improve accidentally.

We all delude ourselves that we automatically grow during life, but to increase our emotional, cultural and spiritual potential we must not rely on chance, but we must make a strategy that aims at the growth goals we set for ourselves.

If you have dreams, goals or aspirations, you will have to activate a personal growth path to reach them. But if you are like most people, you definitely have one or more traps that create a gap that can prevent you from growing and reaching your potential OKRS.

Let’s find out then these traps and then I’ll reveal some strategies to make your personal growth intentional!

The traps that create a gap between you and your personal growth.

Below you will discover eight traps that create a gap between you and your personal growth and that can keep you away from what you want to be.

1 – The Gap of the Assumption: “I assume that I will grow automatically”.

When we are children, our bodies grow automatically. As the years, go by we become taller, stronger, more capable of doing new things and facing new challenges.

Many people when they reach adulthood unconsciously think that mental, spiritual and emotional growth follows a pattern of growth similar to our body: as time passes, we grow and improve.

In reality, while our body grows by itself, personal growth does not happen by itself. No one improves by chance, but it is an intentional process of continuous learning.

Once you have finished with your formal education, such as school education, you must take full responsibility for the growth process, because no one will do it for you.

2 – The Gap of Knowledge: “I do not know how to grow”.

Many people learn only through the hard lessons of life. Difficult experiences teach things hard and change us, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Anyway, this way you have a casual and never planned learning.

It is much better to intentionally plan your growth with OKR Software. Don’t leave anything to chance, you decide where you need or want to grow, choose what you want to learn and follow with discipline and perseverance.

3 – The Gap of Timing: “This is not the right time to start”.

What great success we would have in the world if everyone had done what they intended to do. Most people do not act as quickly as they think.

The reality is that you will never get much unless you go ahead and start doing it before you are ready.

Don’t wait to be ready to start your personal growth, as soon as you intend to do so, start right away.

4 – The Gap of Error: “I’m afraid of making mistakes.”

Growth can be a messy activity. Often it means accepting that you do not have all the answers and it also requires making many mistakes. This can make you look stupid and most people don’t like it. Unfortunately, if you want to improve you have to pay this price too.

5 – The Gap of Perfection: “I have to find the best way before starting.”

Ideally, each of us would like to be able to see the entire path before starting a project or activity. But if you insist too much you risk never starting.

Often the path you see progressively, as you progress along your growth.

6 – The Gap of Inspiration: “I don’t feel like doing it.”

The intrinsic motivation does not hit you like a thunderbolt and nobody can provide to you. The whole idea of initial motivation is a trap. Forget it and do what you need to do. After starting to do something, then it is the motivation itself that allows you to continue doing it.

Please trust me when I say that the reasons for continuing to grow are far beyond the reasons to start growing. You will discover the reasons to stay growing only if you commit yourself long enough to start reaping the benefits.

7 – The Comparison Gap: “The others are better than me.”

This is the most false trap there is, because you can learn to grow only if others are in front of you and, therefore, reach them.

8 – The Expectation Gap: “I thought it would be easier.”

I don’t know of any successful person who thinks growth is fast and getting on top is easy. It doesn’t happen in a simple way. People create their own luck and this is the formula:

Luck = Preparation (Growth) + Attitude + Opportunity + Action

You can’t change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction,

If you want to achieve your goals and reach your potential, you must make personal growth something intentional and you will see that it will change your life.

Four strategies to make your personal growth intentional.

The sooner you make your personal growth intentional, the better it will be for you, because personal growth can only be achieved and evolved if you really focus your intention on it.

Here are some strategies that will help you make this move.

Ask yourself where you want to go in your life and in your career

You have to choose how to plan your life and your career. Don’t assume that good things will always happen, but rather, ask yourself what you want to achieve, what do you plan to do and how far would you like to see yourself?

These are important issues to consider because they drive your growth plan to reach your OKR.

Do it now

The biggest danger you face right now is the idea of making your intentional growth a future priority. Don’t fall into this trap!

The phrase “Later” is a killer of dreams, one of the countless obstacles that derails us from the possibility of success.

Face the fear factor

There are many fears that prevent people from succeeding …

  • Fear of failure;
  • Fear of the unknown:
  • Financial fear;
  • Fear of what others think or say;
  • The fear that success can drive others away.

Feed your faith and make your fears die of hunger.

Switch from random growth to intentional growth

People tend to slip into the streets of life. If they find an easy one, they take it and they don’t come out, even they realize they have taken the wrong direction. If they learn something, it is always after the experience gained after a road accident.

The choices you make must be your responsibility.

If you want to reach your potential and become the person you were created to be, you have to do much more than just experience life as it happens and hope to learn only from what you encounter along the way.

Growth doesn’t happen by itself, but you have to pursue it intentionally!