Growing Pains
Have you ever had a vision of growth, personal or professional? What are some of the struggles that you have encountered when initiating your growth process? Fortunately, or unfortunately (depends on if you are an optimistic, pessimistic, or even a realistic) things do not always go to plan when growing yourself or your business. You might start out with this great plan on how you will get from point A to point B but as the journey begins you slowly begin to realize that there are other factors that were unaccounted for its not just A and B but A.1, A.2, A.3 and so on. This is what I call “Growing Pains”, the unforeseen obstacles, changes, or processes. These growing pains can be discouraging but they should never be dream ending. All growth requires change internal or external, and it’s not always easy.
In my years of planning out multiple types of growth the one thing I always account for is the unforeseen. I am aware that there will be plenty of growing pains and I prepare myself for the possibility of things not going exactly to plan. Being prepared for struggles or even failure is one of the best ways to be successful. Be aware that all things require change, and all problems have solutions but sometimes we must fail to see the big picture. You must be asking yourself why failure is something you want to prepare yourself for? Let us say you have purchased a new video game; you are a great gamer and you have managed to beat every game you have purchased in a relatively short time. You might have a good idea as to what this new game is about. You will most likely even prepare yourself by learning what each button does. Your goal is to finish the game and beat all the levels with a high score. Going into it you feel confident, not only do you know what each stage consists of (because you did your homework) but you even learned all the hidden tricks your character has. Once you have started playing you slowly start to realize there were some moves or obstacles that were unaccounted for. You end up passing the first few levels even with these new obstacles but the further you get the harder the game gets. Now at level 5 you lose for the first time since you have started. You play that level a few times, not once passing level 5. Hours and multiple attempts later you are exhausted and discouraged. You have finally found the game you cannot beat (or so you think). At this moment, how are you feeling? Be honest with yourself. Do you throw the controller to the floor and stop playing? Do you get mad enough to throw the game away? Let us make this scenario even more discouraging. You play the game the second day and after 5 hours no luck in beating stage 5. How do you feel now? What will you do? Would you continue to play the game? Do you continue doing the exact same thing you have been doing this whole time? Do you do more homework or try new things? Do you think that preparing yourself for possibly not being able to pass all the levels that easily or for failing multiple times you would have been this discouraged? The fact of the matter is you would not. You would be aware that it might take more work and that you might even fail but you are also prepared to not give up no matter the obstacles.
Have you heard the saying “bring an umbrella just in case”? This is basically the same thing; we prepare for the worst “just in case”. It does not mean you are telling yourself you are going to fail; you are actually telling yourself that no matter how hard and no matter how many times you initially fail you are going to push through and succeed. This will allow you to maintain your momentum.
When planning growth in your business there will be plenty of obstacles, such as:
· Being understaffed
· Original employee roles do not fit the changes.
· Employee’s working against the change.
· Loss of employees
· Office Space
· Legal matters
- Documents
- Licensing
- Taxes
- Etc.
· Dropping the ball, you are not as available anymore to track everything like you used to.
· Unforeseen expenses
So long story short there will always be unforeseen obstacles in life. But if you want to get from point A to B bad enough you will prepare yourself for the unexpected and you will not cease your efforts. Life is too short to give up on your dreams, no matter how big or small they are. Plan, expect, foresee, be patient, flexible and understanding. You got this in the bag and if you need help do not be scared to ask, growing pains are temporary, but your success and personal or professional growth will bring you positive permanent alterations to yourself and your business.
