The biggest myth of personal growth

One of the biggest misconceptions about personal growth?

That it is all about being more, better or faster than you are right now.

A toxic notion fuelled by a billion dollar industry that paints the picture that we are never truly good enough. That we continuously need to be more, have more, do more to ‘live our best life’.

In my experience – more often than not – personal growth is quite the opposite.

Doing less so that you can thrive physically, mentally and spiritually. Doing less to please others so that you can stay true to your own values. Doing less so that you can be present with loved ones in the here and now.

Personal growth is about cutting through the noise to focus on what really matters: being a good human being for people, nature and yourself.

I am not saying we shouldn’t strive to grow, learn and develop. We – as human beings – are a beautiful never-ending work in progress. We are capable of a lifetime of learning, but let’s do so for the right reasons.

Personal growth for me is about embracing a paradox:

Appreciate who you are right now ánd nurture the person YOU want to become.

Is a rainbow inclusive?

Is a rainbow inclusive? It does have all the colors, yet they are all separated from each other. They don’t interact.

And what about the wavelengths that we cannot see with our eyes? A rainbow does not include the higher energy rays such as Ultraviolet, X-ray and Gamma. The same applies to the lower energy rays such as infrared, microwave and radio waves.

What can a rainbow teach us?

1. Everyone in one place doesn’t mean together.
2. There may be ways to expand our scope of inclusion.
3. There’s more than meets the eye (literally). Can we do more to focus not only on the markedly visible, but also on the things we cannot directly see?

Walk the Walk

I love to walk. When I share that I average 15K steps per day, people often ask:

“How can you be productive when you spend so much time walking?”

To which I always answer:

“I am productive because I spend so much time walking.”

Powered by sustainable energy doesn’t equal sustainability

Just because a product is powered by sustainable energy does not make it sustainable. Consumable energy is a scarce commodity, regardless of how it is produced. We have to be very mindful of how we consume it.

Take the World Cup in Qatar making many sustainability claims. Let’s not forget it took an incredible amount of energy and resources to build this (almost) single-use infrastructure.

A company in The Netherlands claims to sell ‘planet saving water’, because they use solar power to desalinate seawater. Clean drinking water is already available from every tap in every Dutch home. Besides, the existing water infrastructure is much more sustainable than water sold in packaging.

Boom Supersonic plans to build the first post-Concorde supersonic passenger plane. Their plane is to serve a happy few that want to gain a few hours. It is supposed to be sustainable because it’s powered by Sustainable Aviation Fuel. It’s not. Subsonic flight consumes only a fraction of energy per passenger compared to supersonic flight. Also, we are far from having enough sustainable aviation fuel.

All three products are powered by sustainable energy. Yet, all three only add to humanity’s footprint that wreaks havoc on Earth’s ecosystems.

It’s a shame to waste precious clean energy. Let’s stop calling these products sustainable. At best, their sustainability measures make them a little less bad.

Don’t just focus on a niche

Pick a niche. Have laser focus. Niche down. The prevailing business wisdom for startups is to focus on the smallest possible group of people to serve. I think it’s terrible advice. Or at least terribly incomplete.

Certainly, it works from a commercial point of view and to get off to a good start. However, when bringing solutions into the world our responsibilities reach further than making money and the small group of beneficiaries we are directly serving.

How does our solution impact other living beings that are not the direct beneficiaries of our solution?

The prevailing business approach is to design solutions in perfect isolation. Our world with its radically interdependent ecosystems doesn’t work that way. Our solutions create impact that goes far beyond our target audience. If we all focus only on our specific target audience, our cumulative efforts risk doing more harm than good.

How do we know that solving one problem for a very small group of beneficiaries doesn’t lead to bigger problems for other living beings?

For anyone serious about making our world a better place, we need to let go of old business paradigms, and adopt a holistic, yet practical, life-centric approach to business that considers the wellbeing of all living beings.

PS: naturally, non-human beings can also be the direct beneficiaries of a solution.

Two ways to treat employees

Essentially, there are two ways to treat employees: with trust or with distrust.

Whichever one you believe is the right approach, you will be confirmed in your beliefs. Working from a place of trust or distrust both lead to their own self-fulfilling cycles.

Working from a place of distrust leads to a self-fulling command and control cycle where employees only do what is asked, burn out or bore out.

Working from a place of trust leads to a self-fulfilling empowerment cycle where employees thrive and consistently do great work. Those organisations perform better in attracting, retaining and unleashing the full potential of employees.

Treating employees from a place of trust or distrust? That’s the question. Don’t worry, you’ll be right either way.

You have reached the end of the road!

The biggest myth of personal growth

One of the biggest misconceptions about personal growth?

That it is all about being more, better or faster than you are right now.

A toxic notion fuelled by a billion dollar industry that paints the picture that we are never truly good enough. That we continuously need to be more, have more, do more to ‘live our best life’.

In my experience – more often than not – personal growth is quite the opposite.

Doing less so that you can thrive physically, mentally and spiritually. Doing less to please others so that you can stay true to your own values. Doing less so that you can be present with loved ones in the here and now.

Personal growth is about cutting through the noise to focus on what really matters: being a good human being for people, nature and yourself.

I am not saying we shouldn’t strive to grow, learn and develop. We – as human beings – are a beautiful never-ending work in progress. We are capable of a lifetime of learning, but let’s do so for the right reasons.

Personal growth for me is about embracing a paradox:

Appreciate who you are right now ánd nurture the person YOU want to become.

Asset 5

Is a rainbow inclusive?

Is a rainbow inclusive? It does have all the colors, yet they are all separated from each other. They don’t interact.

And what about the wavelengths that we cannot see with our eyes? A rainbow does not include the higher energy rays such as Ultraviolet, X-ray and Gamma. The same applies to the lower energy rays such as infrared, microwave and radio waves.

What can a rainbow teach us?

1. Everyone in one place doesn’t mean together.
2. There may be ways to expand our scope of inclusion.
3. There’s more than meets the eye (literally). Can we do more to focus not only on the markedly visible, but also on the things we cannot directly see?

Asset 5

Walk the Walk

I love to walk. When I share that I average 15K steps per day, people often ask:

“How can you be productive when you spend so much time walking?”

To which I always answer:

“I am productive because I spend so much time walking.”

Asset 5

Powered by sustainable energy doesn’t equal sustainability

Just because a product is powered by sustainable energy does not make it sustainable. Consumable energy is a scarce commodity, regardless of how it is produced. We have to be very mindful of how we consume it.

Take the World Cup in Qatar making many sustainability claims. Let’s not forget it took an incredible amount of energy and resources to build this (almost) single-use infrastructure.

A company in The Netherlands claims to sell ‘planet saving water’, because they use solar power to desalinate seawater. Clean drinking water is already available from every tap in every Dutch home. Besides, the existing water infrastructure is much more sustainable than water sold in packaging.

Boom Supersonic plans to build the first post-Concorde supersonic passenger plane. Their plane is to serve a happy few that want to gain a few hours. It is supposed to be sustainable because it’s powered by Sustainable Aviation Fuel. It’s not. Subsonic flight consumes only a fraction of energy per passenger compared to supersonic flight. Also, we are far from having enough sustainable aviation fuel.

All three products are powered by sustainable energy. Yet, all three only add to humanity’s footprint that wreaks havoc on Earth’s ecosystems.

It’s a shame to waste precious clean energy. Let’s stop calling these products sustainable. At best, their sustainability measures make them a little less bad.

Asset 5

Don’t just focus on a niche

Pick a niche. Have laser focus. Niche down. The prevailing business wisdom for startups is to focus on the smallest possible group of people to serve. I think it’s terrible advice. Or at least terribly incomplete.

Certainly, it works from a commercial point of view and to get off to a good start. However, when bringing solutions into the world our responsibilities reach further than making money and the small group of beneficiaries we are directly serving.

How does our solution impact other living beings that are not the direct beneficiaries of our solution?

The prevailing business approach is to design solutions in perfect isolation. Our world with its radically interdependent ecosystems doesn’t work that way. Our solutions create impact that goes far beyond our target audience. If we all focus only on our specific target audience, our cumulative efforts risk doing more harm than good.

How do we know that solving one problem for a very small group of beneficiaries doesn’t lead to bigger problems for other living beings?

For anyone serious about making our world a better place, we need to let go of old business paradigms, and adopt a holistic, yet practical, life-centric approach to business that considers the wellbeing of all living beings.

PS: naturally, non-human beings can also be the direct beneficiaries of a solution.

Asset 5

Two ways to treat employees

Essentially, there are two ways to treat employees: with trust or with distrust.

Whichever one you believe is the right approach, you will be confirmed in your beliefs. Working from a place of trust or distrust both lead to their own self-fulfilling cycles.

Working from a place of distrust leads to a self-fulling command and control cycle where employees only do what is asked, burn out or bore out.

Working from a place of trust leads to a self-fulfilling empowerment cycle where employees thrive and consistently do great work. Those organisations perform better in attracting, retaining and unleashing the full potential of employees.

Treating employees from a place of trust or distrust? That’s the question. Don’t worry, you’ll be right either way.

Asset 5
You have reached the end of the line!

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