Growth & Jobs | Achieving self-growth in 2022

As we settle into 2022, many people are still in the mode of grasping and developing new habits to replace those bad, old behaviours that inhibited their growth in the past.

However, before one aims for growth, one should seek to properly define it, advises lead of the JN Foundation’s BeWi$e financial empowerment programme, Rose Miller.

“If, for example, the goal is for, say, financial growth, each person must define what financial growth would look like for themselves,” she underscored. “Whether it is being able to paydown or pay off loans, purchase a house, start a business, or finally starting that investment portfolio you have been promising to start for so long. In the end, one must be able to measure whether there was any improvement in the specified areas.”

And even as one sets one’s financial goals and defines how one would measure growth, there are two other critical steps to be taken to achieve this growth, Miller says.

Develop a winning strategy to achieve success

”Despite your set goal, you should find strategies that will help you attain them,” she counselled. “One’s list of strategies for personal financial growth could include budgeting, for example, either starting this exercise or being more disciplined; improving one’s financial education; as well as taking steps to monetise skills or hobbies.”

Although many are quick to develop the strategy, taking action to implement their plans is where many people falter, Miller notes.

“Dr Steve Maraboli says it beautifully in this quotation: ’Take action! An inch of movement will bring you closer to your goals than a mile of intention,” she says.

“You have to be deliberate about taking action. If you don’t, then it won’t get done.”

PRESERVE YOUR WEALTH

”You also need to take steps to preserve your wealth, and the most effective way to do this is to buy insurance. This will provide protection against eventualities such as illnesses and disaster,” Miller opined.”

“By not preserving your wealth in this way, any accumulation could be quickly eroded in the face of illness or a major disaster such as an accident or fire.”

BE ACCOUNTABLE

Maintaining one’s course of action will require strategies to keep one accountable to their own plans.

Dr Monifa Marshall, author and medical doctor, identifies journalling as one effective way of maintaining accountability.

“Journalling allows one to structure his or her journey,” she explained. “The individual is given an avenue to document and review small wins that over time add up to big victories,” the author of Timeless Treasures: a 365-day Guided Journal said.

“Sometimes the lightest things carry the heaviest weight,” Marshall encouraged, reiterating the importance of small, “baby” steps.

Marshall, who is based at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, also recommends having an ‘accountability partner’ who can act as an additional means of ensuring growth.

“Your support system is crucial to your development. You need someone who is like-minded to keep you on track and to provide reassurance and criticism when needed,” she advised.

She adds that another strategy to stay focused on goals is to always remind yourself of the “why”.

“There will be days when you feel like you can’t do this any longer, or that you aren’t making the progress that you should be making. However, the reason you are doing this should always keep you grounded and propel you to accomplish the goal at hand,” she said.

“It’s okay to fail. No one has ever achieved everything in one go. Also, it is okay to be afraid. It’s just not okay to be so fearful that you don’t ever step out and get anything done. Yes, you will fail, but that’s okay. Fear and the burden of failure can stop you from attaining your true potential,” she concluded.

Her journal, Timeless Treasures, provides readers with daily thoughts and lessons to encourage them to acknowledge and document their own ideas and musings on their journey to self-actualisation.