Growing up, I realised that learning isn't only about school; opportunities to learn present themselves everywhere, in all manner of situations.
When you don't see or recognise such opportunities you feel stuck. Whether it's small things everyday, or big stuff that require substantial personal effort, continuous personal development is one thing that keeps you growing and moving forward in life.
And there is a difference between stumbling along and learning the hard way, and consciously seeking to learn from every experience.
The first leaves you feeling battered and worn, perhaps even angry at life for throwing balls at you when you least expect it. This happens to all of us every now and then. The key is to have it more the other way: exercising choices over the experiences and outcomes you want, because you can.
It is often said that 'he who fails to prepare, prepares to fail'.
Indeed, thinking ahead and planning to overcome perceived obstacles puts you in a mind-set of empowerment, control and responsibility.
How does this mind-set manifest itself?
Say you have an activity coming up. You could focus on the reasons why not: never done something like this before, not enough time, not enough money, so-and-so does not support it etc. Or you could focus on what you need to do to make it happen.
The second approach allows you to develop a plan of action, gets you working on getting the project done. The first literally paralyses you, moving you in a negative direction, setting you up for failure.
As you progress the project, you learn: a new skill, a new attitude; you discover a latent talent, you overcome a fear. This is growth.
But learning doesn't come only from implementing big projects. You can set out each day to learn something new: the meaning of a word, the origin of a practice, the other side of an argument. You can take a road you don't normally use to see where it leads. You can ask someone to show you how to do something, rather than asking them to do it for you.
Setting out to learn helps you move away from your comfort zone, which encompasses as the things you already know and do. By trying something different, or more, you expand the limits of your comfort zone, and so increase possibilities and limit constraints.
This is the essence of growth.
