Can I Keep Growing?

People stay where they grow.

Seth Godin

As I was driving home from an inspection the other day, I heard this quote in a podcast featuring marketing guru Seth Godin. During the conversation, the host asked Seth his opinion on the current situation in employment, where it seems almost impossible for businesses to retain employees. While managing employees is a common concern in the business world, as he always seems to do, Seth talked about it in more basic and personal terms, explaining that it’s more than just MBA’s and payroll.

“People stay where they grow.” If we are challenged in our job, we’re likely to stick around for the long haul. It’s such a simple concept; it’s a wonder we didn’t think of it before.

Keep someone interested, and you’ve got their attention. It’s hard to think about anything else when someone or something’s got our focused attention. Let someone’s attention lag, and pretty soon they’re moving on to something more interesting.

But Seth’s advice, as it so often is, isn’t limited to the world of enterprise. Following his recommendation that we should continue growing works not only in our business lives, but in our social and personal lives as well. Yes, we tend to stick around a job that never gets old, but we also maintain friendships that grow and mature, we remain in marriages that are constantly evolving, and we’re happier with ourselves when we’re growing and evolving as a person.

So, if this is all so great, like Seth says, why aren’t we all constantly growing, moving to challenge ourselves every moment of every day? It seems like everyone would want to be a happier and better person.

Why aren’t we there already?

What could be standing in the way of our happiness?

What reason could we have for not already operating this way?

Because it’s hard; that’s why. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. If it were easy, people like Seth Godin wouldn’t be talking about it. If it were easy, I wouldn’t be writing (and you wouldn’t be reading) this. We’d already be ‘getting it done.’

But it is hard.

It takes work. It’s much easier to lay back on the couch and binge another series. It’s difficult to take the focus off ourselves long enough to reach out to someone else. It takes a bit more effort to keep a marriage working properly. Planning outings, taking trips, spending time relaxing and talking, working on the relationship; all that stuff is hard.

And that’s why most of us don’t do it.

We’d all love the results; we just don’t want to put in the work.

That’s the trick, really. Deciding to put in the work. Some people figure it out. Some people manage to do it. There are some people who stay at their jobs, not because they need to, but because they want to. There are some people who manage to stay married, even though it’s a difficult thing to do. There are some who have wonderful and fulfilling friendships, even though they’ve had to work through some rough patches along the way.

Some people figure it out.

Why can’t we?

Yes, most of us are happier in a job that is constantly challenging us, forcing us to grow and adapt. Putting the same widget in the same slot, over and over again, every day of the week has to be akin to slow torture.

So, how do we make this happen?

We’ve figured out that growth is good, but why are we waiting around for someone else to force our hand? Do we only experience growth when it’s thrust upon us? Yes, we go to those classes that we’re forced to attend, but do we go looking for other ways to improve our skills? Do we take even more classes, even though we’ve already done the required yearly number?

Yes, we send all the requisite gifts to our significant other when we’re supposed to (birthday, holidays, etc.), but do we ever go out of our way to do something unexpected for them? Do we ever take time out of our busy schedule to reach out to our friends and family, just to touch base and say hello? Sure, it’s wonderful when we get together for special occasions, but do we ever put in the extra effort required to stop what we’re doing and make a phone call?

Just like the growth that happens in other parts of our lives demands effort, the growth of our business does as well. There are plenty of people out there binging one more series. Not too many of them are taking all those extra steps necessary for growth.

People stay where they grow, but people are also destined to stay where they are, unless they put in the extra effort to grow.

It’s impossible to lag behind if you’re constantly moving forward.

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Thanks, Joe