Building Your Growth Plan: Step 1
David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer

It’s back to school time! This is the time of year when most kids are dreading the start of the new year and many parents can’t wait for the kids to go back. Summer camps have ended, family vacations have been completed, and all the back to school shopping is well underway. When we were young, others took the lead to make sure we were ready for school. They made sure we had the tools we would need, that we were signed up for the right classes, and with the best teachers. Even if we didn’t, others realized that growth wouldn’t just happen and that you need to be intentional about it.

Now we are the adults and we don’t have anyone else to plan our growth journey. This growth statement is still true: growth doesn’t just happen, so we need to be highly intentional about it. I realize that the topic of growth and growth plans can be very confusing so in honor of this back to school season I would like to dedicate four weekly posts/emails and subsequent podcasts to help you get started on your personal growth plan. These four weeks will be broken out into four sessions:

• Where do I want to go?
• Where am I now?
• Where do I find the information?
• How do I build the plan?

Where do I want to go? In my opinion, this is the hardest step. You won’t be able to answer this question quickly because you’ll need to look very deep and discover your purpose and values. No one can give you the answers because it’s different for each person. Here are seven questions that might help you:

• What makes you sing?
• What makes you cry?
• What makes you dream?
• What makes you feel alive?
• What do you have to contribute that is unique?
• What is your giftedness?
• What activities are meaningful to you?

By answering these seven questions, you will discover what is most important to you. I know that some of you are asking, “What does this have to do with my career?” The quick answer is this, “How disappointed will you be to work very hard building and climbing a ladder only to find that it’s leaning up against the wrong wall?” This is only the first step, so stay with me for a few more weeks and I promise it will be worth your time and effort.

Please join Marisa and me on Episode 114 of The Next Page podcast as we look at additional tools such as a values assessment that will help you determine your purpose and calling.

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