Motivate. Inspire. Grow.
TRUE G.R.O.W.T.H.
Build Your Foundation:
Just like a house, it doesn’t matter how big or fancy our lives appear to be on the outside if the foundation SUCKS.
Sometimes we get so excited to chase the aesthetics of life to please society, we forget that they serve no purpose if the foundation crumbles beneath us.
Surrounding ourselves with good people is a massive part of building our foundation in life. We need support to grow. Realistically, not every step we take will be in the right direction. TRUE G.R.O.W.T.H comes with being able to reset ourselves in the moments where we feel lost and that is where a strong foundation is critical.
The TRUE G.R.O.W.T.H. model embraces four (4) main pillars of a strong foundation:
1) The ability to set boundaries (both personally and externally): – Boundaries serve as a guard to protect ourselves from anything that could jeopardize our growth. This refers to people, places and things. We must be willing to say “enough is enough” when it comes to anything that stands in our way, whether that is something internally holding us back, or that of the outside world. There comes a time when it may be appropriate to set a boundary, cut ties and move forward
2) Identifying core values: – Equally as important as boundaries, the second pillar refers to our core values as an individual. What is it that makes us unique? Whether we are the CEO of a company and are developing core values for our business, or as an individual, we must establish values for who we are that we’re not willing to compromise. What is it that makes us tick? What is it that makes us the person that we are? How do we live our lives? How do we view the world? Nobody can establish these values in our lives for us.
3) Identifying our strengths and weaknesses: – I don’t buy the benefit of focusing solely on strengthening your existing strengths. The true benefit lies in turning your weaknesses into strengths AND making your strengths even stronger! In order to do that, we must humble ourselves enough to accept what our strengths and weaknesses are to identify a place to start our growth.
4) Trusting ourselves and accepting our uniqueness: – Once we have identified which boundaries we need, we know what our core values are, and we identify our strengths and weaknesses, we have to trust what our heart tells us. We must embrace that everyone has weaknesses, and in that, is flawed. We will never be perfect, but we are perfectly unique. Trust your journey and that it’s ok to want something different from everyone else.
Once you have built your foundation, you can add all of the aesthetics you please. That is one of the best parts about life; we get to make it everything we have ever dreamed of. It’s not meant to impress anyone but ourselves. Unlike a house, however, building ourselves our dream life doesn’t have to cost money. It just takes effort, dedication, passion and resilience.
Timothy A. Natale
