Your Growing Edge

Your Growing Edge

You’ve probably heard the term “leading edge” used to refer to technology, products or ideas and concepts that are in front of the curve, that are really advanced. You may have even heard the term “bleeding edge” in this context. I want to talk to you about your personal “leading edge,” your growing edge!

Your growing edge is that area of your life where there’s still a lot of room for improvement but you’re pushing ahead and stretching the margins of that area every day. For some this is productivity in business, for others it’s personal balance, for still others it’s family time and quality of interaction.

You might be thinking… How do you find your growing edge and what do you do about it once you’ve identified it?

First, finding your growing edge. This is probably easier than you might expect. It’s a simple matter of looking at your life over the last few months or year and seeing what challenges you keep bumping up against. For me, it’s writing things down in my planner. I don’t always have my planner out and things and ideas come up. Over the few months I’ve struggled with this repeatedly, each time working to pull out my planner or already have it out and convenient, but then falling back into my old patterns. The important point is that I am growing in this area. You may have an area like this, too. You’re challenged by it, you make some changes, you retreat from these changes, and you make the changes again.

So what do you do with this “growing edge”? Exactly what you’ve been doing, only more so. If you’ve been building a new habit and then letting it go in times of stress, which is what most people do, then you need to develop new stress habits. It’s easy to do the right thing during calm, peaceful times in your life, as if any of us really have those. It’s harder when the real stress starts. So what you need to do is develop a list of things you can do during a stressful time to keep your new habit going. For me, a real problem when I’m really busy is remembering to pull my planner out so it’s accessible. My way of turning this “have it available” into a habit is to make it part of my daily routine. I make sure it’s out and within eye-sight in the evening and because of that, it’s out in the morning when I start my day.

The bottom line on this is that action leads to solutions. Make a list of actions you can take to keep your growing edge growing, even when you don’t feel like it, and keep taking those actions. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know how you’re doing.

Posted in Goal Setting, Growth Strategy, Learning, Mindset, Personal Growth, Planning, Time Management
One comment on “Your Growing Edge
  1. Crystal says:

    Hi Jack,
    This is perfectly aligned with where I would like Child Care Answers to grow and it can’t happen without us examining ourselves first.

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