Depending on when you read this, my kid is going to or has just turned double digits. It’s a ginormous deal and unsurprisingly, it has me thinking about growth. Growing is a funny thing, isn’t it? We speak about growth in reference to so many different things. Size, capacity, emotional literacy, revenue, personal development. Some of these are definitive; some of them completely subjective. And that makes it tricky to know what’s true growth. 

Early on in my parenting journey, we could see a growth spurt coming. The sheer amount of food consumed, the utter crankiness, and I’m not sure if this is only my kid or kids in general…randomly falling over from a standing position. All this = incoming growth spurt.

But as time went on, growth spurts became less obvious and now headed into double digits, we don’t have the same markers because growth looks different. Now when we speak of growth, we look not only at shoe size and clothing but social dynamics and comprehension.

It’s the same with your business. There are a lot of business coaches out there who will try to convince you into ridiculous goals like “doubling your revenue” or “7–figures in 7 months”. What they don’t talk about is the type of growth that’s right for you right now…or how painful fast growth spurts can be. 

Of course, big goals are important. Stretch goals make us work toward something bigger than us, edge us out of our comfort zones, make us the people we dreamed of becoming. 

If you’ve ever been inside the Motorcycle Club, you know that I’m a huge fan of good planning and if you’ve ever seen my office, you’ll also know that I’m an even bigger fan of a beautiful planner. BUT IT HAS TO WORK FOR YOU. If it doesn’t, it’s just a waste of your time and resources. 

Growth looks different for everyone. Sometimes it’s obvious; other times, it’s far more subtle. 

So this season as your feeds fill with planning workshops and new journals/planning systems, take a beat before you click Buy. 

• What are they promising?
• Does it promise more than it could reasonably offer?
• How are they backing up this promise? 
• Do you have the systems/structures/capacity for that to happen so quickly?
• What cost does your current lifestyle pay to achieve these results? And are you okay with that?

You can’t force a growth spurt…AND more importantly, growth doesn’t always look like a change in numbers.