Leadership Lessons: 3 Keys to Cultivate a Passion for Growth

I always wanted to be successful in school, work and everything in which I was engaged. I can also say that I understand that to be successful I would need to commit to hard work and be willing to sacrifice.

But this thought process left me frustrated and unclear as to why I wasn't experiencing consistent success over a sustained period of time. What I did not connect was that if I wanted long-term success in anything, I would need to keep growing, learning and improving.

Much of my growth in my early 20's came from deciding to take on challenging opportunities, and this was good! From these decisions I experienced a certain level of growth that was inspiring, but after that initial growth, I would not challenge myself to keep growing and improving. Instead, I would become satisfied with my current level of success and thought that the growth I experienced and my current level of ability would be enough to continue succeeding in life.

As John Maxwell says, "People are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves."

I mistakenly thought that confidence was just believing I was good enough right now to do anything I put my mind to and worked hard for.

Confidence is not believing you are fine at your current level of ability, but it is believing you can grow in ability to face and succeed at whatever challenges and opportunities are in front of you.

A passion for growth will put you on a long term path of success.

Here are three keys to help cultivate a passion for growth:

1. Keep reading

Blogs, books, magazines, whatever. Use audio versions if you struggle for time, but don't buy into the excuse that you are too busy.

2. Ask questions

Ask questions of people that are ahead of you in terms of performance. Ask them questions like, "What did you do to get where you are?" or "What are you reading?" Ask either of those questions to one person each week.

3. Consistently reevaluate

Consistently look to improve your discipline and habits. Ask yourself, "What is one thing I could do daily that would change my life?" Don't know the answer to that question? Then ask someone, "What do you wish you would have known when you were my age?"

Do you have a passion for growth yet?

What do you do to maintain that passion?