Growth is not linear, and we can't force it to be

For quite some time, I’ve been running with the mindset “the quickest way out of your current situation is pure, hard work.” And there is an “art” to hard work, it isn’t just pure hustle. There are many other factors that create effective hard work. But I’ve written about that already.

Growing up, at least many of us are never told this, we're never told that growth isn’t linear. We can work as hard as possible, control our controllables and still not reach our end goal as quickly as we like.

We aren’t taught the simple fact that growth is not linear.

As human beings, we can do everything in our power to create a linear growth chart for ourselves. We can hustle, we can communicate effectively, we can plan, we can save loads of money, and we can do everything under the sun that we see is the “right way”. But in the end, everything we do will always have external forces pushing down on our growth chart.

These external forces in the natural growth process are normal.

They are meant to grow us and make us realize that for everything we want to achieve, we have to respect the “plan” that is in place for our life. It is out of the realm of our control. The timeline has already been made for how our growth is supposed to go (if we realize it and respect it).

Think about it…

I love Michael Jordan because of the ways he dealt with adversity. “The Last Dance” is such a fantastic documentary and it has so many messages to discern.

Michael Jordan was the hardest worker in the room. He pushed his team to play up to his level or go somewhere else and play. He controlled his controllables so well. No stones were left unturned. At the end of every day, he was able to go to bed and know he gave everything his best shot. And if he didn’t and someone beat him, good luck next time.

But what everyone does not take into account and relate to themselves is that before Michael Jordan was who we perceive him as today, it was all about the “Bad Boy Pistons”. These guys beat Michael up physically and mentally for a string of years. If you watch “The Last Dance” documentary, you’ll see just how grueling it was.

Sure, he could’ve folded and gone somewhere else to play. But he respected the natural growth process. He realized that growth was not linear. Not once did you see him frustrated to the point where he tried to go win somewhere else to try to achieve his goals faster than what “natural growth” had intended for him.

He knew that achieving his ultimate end goal of being the best player to ever live would not be something he himself could only control. There were always external forces pushing against him. But he knew that instead of becoming frustrated, he needed to keep controlling his controllables and keep showing up.

Here’s one example.

The night the Bulls were bounced from the playoffs in 1995 by the Orlando Magic, Michael’s trainer Tim Grover told him “let me know when you want me to see you next… Michael's reply… “I’ll see you tomorrow”. Boom.

Respect the natural growth process, but keep truckin’.

When we fail to reach our goals more quickly than we’re supposed to, we can get frustrated. That frustration is not good for anyone. It’s mentally exhausting for ourselves and anyone around us. The natural growth process could care less about our feelings.

When it feels like pushing back, it’s going to push back. And instead of trying to push back on it and becoming frustrated, take a moment and realize what is happening. What can I learn from this?

The natural growth process pushes back on us because it realizes it’s time for us to learn something new or because we need to be humbled. Pressure is a privilege if we choose to see it that way.

The harder the natural growth process pushes us, the more we should invest in learning the lesson that comes with that pushback.

It’s like buying stocks at the bottom of a bear market. The more we invest in it at the bottom, the more money we will make when it reaches the top.

The moral of the story is, have the end goal in mind but realize that there is a natural growth process for everyone… We can't cheat it. So keep truckin’.