“In this world, you’re either growing or you’re dying, so get in motion and grow.” -Lou Holtz
You never arrive. Not in business. Not in life. In fact, a sure fire way to kick your own company to the curb is to believe you’ve “arrived.” Growth is essential to your existence. Start growing or die.
Growth in business and in life go hand in hand. Professional success requires you to be the very best version of yourself. That version is always growing.
What does it look like to be constantly growing? Here are some key tips to ensure that you don’t find yourself shriveling up and dying:
Keys for Growth
Live a Healthy Life
Develop healthy daily habits. This includes taking care of yourself physically (eat, sleep, exercise) and mentally (read, unplug, unwind, sleep). Cut out what doesn’t matter and prioritize what does (did I mention sleep?). While you can’t avoid all forms of stress, long term stress is damaging to your health, so find that daily habit that allows you to destress and refresh.
Be the Student
Whether you’re brand new at the entrepreneur thing or you’ve been around the biz for decades, there’s always opportunity to be the student. True experts are simply students with some extra knowledge. Read, read, read. Take a course. Hire a coach. Be constantly in pursuit of knowledge and the best practices for using that knowledge.
Find a Mentor
There’s always going to be someone who has walked this road before you. They are several steps closer to exactly where you want to be. Get to know them! Learn from their mistakes, gather their hard-earned wisdom, and benefit from their advice. You may even have a little knowledge of your own to share along the way.
Set the Goals
What exactly do you want? How do you get there? Goals give you focus. Otherwise, you’re floundering toward death. Let’s say you set goals but have achieved them already. It’s time to set bigger goals before complacency kicks in. As we’ve already discussed, arriving isn’t a thing. Growth without goals isn’t a thing either.
Clarify Your Why
If you’re so bogged down by the day to day demands that you’ve lost sight of your purpose, you’re shriveling and about to die. A company can’t stand on a shriveling leader. And a leader can’t grow if he or she doesn’t have any reasons, any greater why. You started this business for a reason. Make sure that why is always at the forefront so everything you do is filtered through it. (Bonus friendly advice: if money is your why, get a new one.)
Don’t let that entrepreneurial fire in your gut die out. Fuel it with continual growth. It’s in the chase of the next goal, the next growth opportunity, that the fire burns hottest. “…so get in motion and grow!”
What’s Next?
Need some help getting into motion? We’ve got the web design, graphic design, and content marketing you need because we’re committed to growth! Contact us before you start shriveling.