The Tribune

By MICHELLE MILLER

GROWTH doesn’t just happen – it must be intentional. There’s nothing like a new year to get people thinking about whether they are growing or stuck.

Every living thing grows, survives and even thrives. Look at the animal life - although the giraffe may know the lions will hunt it, it will not surrender its life voluntarily. The lions must construct a diversion plan in order to bring that giraffe down. 

This instinctive will to live is an inborn code within all living things. Life, therefore, is for living and growing deliberately.

 You and I, too, have this inborn capacity to grow. However, we possess one magnificent flaw – we have the power to choose whether we grow or not. Change is inevitable, but growth is intentional. Things will change whether you want them to or not. Growth however is a different kettle of fish. Growth doesn’t just happen - nobody or nothing can make you grow. You grow when you choose to grow.     

John Maxwell puts it nicely: “to reach your potential you must grow. And to grow, you must be highly intentional. This intentional growth all starts with taking small baby steps on a daily basis.” 

Are you growing with intention? What small baby steps are you taking on a daily basis? This is where people start spinning the hamster wheel of excuses. One of the more popular ones is not having the time to grow. Really? Let us take a closer look.  

The truth is – people make time to do what they really want to do. As such, it is not that you do not have the time. It is more where you are investing your time and whether your results are worth your investment. Are you growing with intention?

Consider this; many women spend two to three hours per week in a hair/nail salon, while men may spend that same amount of time watching/playing some sporting event. If these activities do not offer any growth return on the invested time ... why continue to do it? The answer is simple: most do it because it is what everybody else does or it is what they have always done.

 The squandering of time is a hard habit to break. Intentional growth requires a different approach. You must begin to value yourself and your time - see it as a gift through which you unleash your potential and live your dreams. My greatest resource is my power to choose how I used my time. Time is not within our control - it goes by whether we choose to use it or not.  

 When clients come to me for coaching or counselling, something drives them to contact me. Some yearning desire they want to experience. In almost every instance they are longing for growth.       

 They are sick and tired of being stuck and they want to experience an improved state of being. My strongest advice is for them to come to terms with their power of choice. I challenge them to accept that they are responsible for where they invest their attention - wherever their attention goes, their energy flows. 

You get out only what you put in. You cannot grow if you are not a good steward of your time.  Let us be clear: owning more things is not necessarily a sign of growth but merely a sign of acquisition. Without personal growth, you know nothing new and can do nothing better. 

Knowing something new in this context means having useful information; not information for information’s sake. Many folk know a lot about nothing. Growth is the result of having useful information that motivates you to grow your life.

This new year offers you a brand new season. I challenge you to meet it fearlessly.

Be fearless in your commitment to growing towards the person you were born to be; be fearless in your courage to let go of what has already gone; and be fearless in understanding your power to choose where you invest your time. 

Growth requires change – and you must change to be intentional. As you accept my challenge to live 2015 fearlessly begin now take baby steps by creating your own Growth Action Plan (GAP) to help you fill the gap in materialising your own personal economic growth.

Now is the time to grow fearlessly in the direction of your dreams.

• Michelle M Miller is a certified life-coach, leadership expert and author. Questions or comments can be emailed to coaching242@yahoo.com, by telephone to 429-6770, visiting www.michellemmiller.com or snail mail to PO Box CB-13060