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- The Growth Paradox
The Growth Paradox
The 2 Essentials to Grow Healthily and Honourably
Wisdom Made Easy
October 28, 2023
Hello friends, it’s Michael here!
Thank you for joining me for this week’s issue of the WISER Newsletter.
Let’s dive in!
Is This a Paradox?
At the end of each year, I like to journal through what areas I’ve grown in over the last 365 days, and what areas I could grow in over the next 365 days.
As I have been identifying areas that I would like to improve in, I’ve been wrestling with one question:
Am I being too ambitious?
2024 will hopefully be a big year for me in my personal life, my marriage, my career, this business and my faith, but am I setting unrealistic goals?
If I am, I wouldn’t be alone. After all, successful entrepreneur once made the observation that:
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
- Bill Gate
So maybe I should be more grounded with my hopes for next year; more humble?
But you do have to be a bit ambitious if you want to grow, right? No one reaches their potential without striving for it.
This is what I am calling the…
🎈 Growth Paradox
How can you stay grounded whilst also trying to reach new heights?
I respect that these 2 principles aren’t mutually exclusive, but this visual represents why many people see them as paradoxical.
Many of the most ambitious people of our time lack any humility. People at the top of their chosen sport, art or field of study can easily become proud.
Whereas some of the nicest, genuinely humble people don’t rise to the top as they selflessly let others go ahead of them.
But you are different! If you’re reading this newsletter, I suspect that you’re one of the special few that are both grounded and ambitious.
Let’s call these…
🟣 The Growth Essentials
If you want to grow in a healthy, honourable way, I believe that you need to be humble and hungry.
Humility and hunger are a winning combination.
You have the humility to recognise your shortcomings and the hunger to address them.
You have the humility to apologise when you need to and the hunger to correct any mistakes you may have caused.
You have the humility to take responsibility when you don’t perform at your best and you have hunger to make up for lost ground.
You have humility and hunger.
Next week, I’ll be sharing more about a particular change that I’ll be implementing to practice humility and hunger.
For now, I encourage you to reflect on this for yourself! Consider these journal prompts:
✍️ Journal Prompts
• Would you describe yourself as humble and hungry?
• What other qualities are essential for healthy growth?
• How could you practice humility and hunger more before the end of the year?
Consider journaling through the above questions yourself.
👍 Recommendations
Here’s a couple of things that I think will complement this week’s newsletter and will help you to get wiser:
1️⃣ The first recommendation is to check out Tim Ferriss’ 17 Questions That Changed My Life.
Tim is the renowned author of the 4-Hour Work Week, and in this FREE downloadable PDF, he shares 17 questions to get you thinking about how you could different live your life.
You’ll note that some of these come from a place of humility and hunger.
Check it out for yourself here:
2️⃣ My second recommendation for this week’s issue is to check out fellow visual creator Hannah Wilson on LinkedIn.
Hannah has recently been exploring sharing more in-depth reflections about her journey as an entrepreneur and much of her reflections demonstrate a vulnerability not often seen on social media.
This post below is the epitome of humility and hunger.
Read it for yourself, and drop here a follow. If you like my visuals, you’ll LOVE hers:
✍️ What I’m Working On
I’m working on a bit too much!
Now that it’s just me running Wisdom Made Easy, I am finding myself a bit too stretched over too many ideas, but don’t worry - I’ll have some exciting things to share in the next couple of months!
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😊 Thank You!
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Catch you in the next issue!
Thanks,
Michael
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