5 Factors That Inhibit Growth

3) A Lack of Ownership

The third factor that inhibits growth is the blame game. We try to pawn off our development onto other people. It is their fault we aren’t growing as we should.

This is our clever way of avoiding consequences and staying out of danger. We put the onus on everybody else. But growth is something we have to steward. We need to take ownership for ourselves.

4) A Lack of Vision

We don’t really want to grow. Not really. It’s safer, easier, and more comfortable to avoid growth. Apathy and complacency are just much more convenient.

The only thing that truly moves us to growth is a vision of something better. A hope. If we feel even an inkling of wanting to grow, it is because some vision is bubbling inside of us. Our values are not being met and are calling from the caverns of our soul.

To find the source of that call provides an avenue for us to change. It gives us the necessary motivation. The clarity of a named vision is the only thing that will spur our attack through the layers of defenses. The commitment of specific aspiration is the only thing that fully motivates.

5) A Lack of Awareness

The final factor that prohibits growth is a lack of self-awareness. We do not know the truth about who we are. We mistake familiarity with truth. Even though we are the only ones who feel our feelings and think our thoughts, we are still a long way from understanding what we really are.

Self-awareness is an elusive gem. It is one of the hardest things in the world for us to discover, because our perception of ourself is tainted by all the protective measures we’ve set in place. If we want to grow, we cannot assume we know where we are starting from. We have to begin at the beginning – taking a hard look at who we are and why we are who we are. We cannot change what we do not know.