I am going solo, and I am nervous but also more excited than ever.

I finally took the jump. I am not sure if there will be a safety net waiting for me if I fall, but I had to take this jump.

I have been planning to do this for years, but I haven’t found the courage to do it until now. Since I trained as a coach in 2018, I have wanted to set up my own business, be my own boss, and make a living by helping others. I didn’t have the courage before, but I do now.

The company I worked for, Sodexo, didn’t make things easy, and I mean it in a good way. It is a great company with amazing people, and every time I was about to make this jump, a new exciting opportunity would arise within Sodexo. I could never say no, so I would postpone my decision a bit longer. 

Even in my last stint as a Global Talent Director, I was doing something I loved with a fantastic team and manager, with a lot of autonomy and flexibility. What was there not to like?

And yet, I had to take this jump.

It was something coming from inside me. I really needed to do this, or I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life. As Lewis Carroll said, “In the end… we only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.” 

I had to take this chance.

You have to try things, especially if they come from within yourself and are a manifestation of your purpose. You may fail trying, but you need to try anyway. That’s the only way you’ll know what it was like. That’s the only way you’ll know whether it was worth trying. 

That’s the only way not to regret it when you are on your deathbed forty or fifty years later. 

My business

I will now be working as a full-time coach and trainer. 

I will provide individual executive coaching, team coaching, and training. I want to help leaders grow and become wiser, more effective and purposeful.

I love coaching, so I want to do more of it. I have coached tens of leaders in Sodexo, and I am grateful to the company and all the coachees I have worked with over the years for trusting me and allowing me to do so. 

I also enjoy designing and delivering training, so I will do this, but only on topics related to my core mission of helping leaders grow and become wiser, more effective and purposeful. I’ll train people on leadership, personal growth, emotional intelligence, creativity, and the like. 

A new newsletter, a new web

Another thing I love doing is writing, so I want to do more of it as well. 

Every week, I will write a long post on leadership, coaching, personal growth, purpose, or the future of work. I will also write shorter posts related to the same topic. I will include them all in a weekly newsletter I will send subscribers. 

This newsletter will be called Coaching for Wisdom Leadership. Wisdom is an all-encompassing concept that alludes to good judgement and decision-making but also to personal growth, emotional intelligence and helping others. My hope is that the readers of this newsletter will become wiser leaders. 

If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so here. 

I launched the Humane Future of Work website in the spring of 2020, four years ago already, to share my ideas on how to build a more humane and human future of work. Since then, my interests have shifted, and the contents of the blog have shifted with them. I have been writing more and more about leadership, coaching and personal growth, and less about the future of work. 

I believe that with my interests and topics, the time for the website to change has also arrived. 

As I move into the next phase in my career, I thought it was the right time to change the focus of my website. I will continue having a blog where I write about the topics that interest me, but it will now be part of a website where I also talk about the services I offer. I will also dedicate a section to my newsletter, as this will take more protagonism moving forward.

Thus, I am officially launching my new website, www.ikerurrutia.com. I hope you enjoy it and will accompany me on my journey of learning and sharing here.

New beginnings

New beginnings are uncertain and anxiety-provoking but also exciting. 

I am kicking off a new and exciting chapter in my professional life, and I hope to help many people become better leaders and better human beings through my coaching, training and writing.

I hope you will accompany me on this exciting journey. 

Vamooooooossss!

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Authenticity is one of my values, but what it means to be authentic and live an authentic life?

Authenticity is one of my personal values. 

I don’t want to pretend to be someone I am not. I want to live by my values and be who I am. I don’t want to be surrounded by inauthentic people, either.

But what does it mean to be authentic?

Philosophers and psychologists have been arguing about what authenticity for a long time. Let’s look at it in more detail.

What does it mean to be authentic?

Existentialist views

First, we will turn to existentialism for some of our answers. 

Related to this, please read Existential Coaching: what is it?

Existential thinkers like Kierkegaard and Sartre wrote extensively about authenticity and what it meant to be authentic. For them, authenticity meant living the life we were meant to live, living it according to our values and purpose, not the values of someone else. 

Existentialists believe we build our essence and who we are through our actions and decisions. We are free to live the life we want, but this should be lived according to our values and purpose, or it risks not being authentic. We should live our lives according to our values and norms, not those imposed on us by society or others.

Sartre introduced the concept of living in “bad faith” to signify people who were not living according to their values. Living in bad faith means not being authentic. 

For existentialists, this is one of the biggest sins a human being can do.

If we follow their argument logically, we should first know ourselves (or all our different selves, according to multiplicity theory), who we are, and our values and purpose well in order to be really authentic. You cannot be guided by your values if you don’t know what they are. 

Enter Maslow

Maslow also wrote about authenticity in his book The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. As was to be expected, he linked it to self-actualisation in the sense that more self-actualised people tend to be more authentic, as they understand themselves better and don’t need affirmation or commands from others.

For Maslow, authentic people are capable of listening to their inner voices about who they really are and what their natural desires and characteristics are, not the ones imposed by others. Authentic people know what they want and know equally clearly what they don’t want. 

Inauthentic people are just the opposite:

“Other people, in contrast, seem to be empty, out of touch with their own inner signals. They eat, defecate, and go to sleep by the clock’s cues, rather than by the cues of their own bodies. They use external criteria for everything from choosing their food (“it’s good for you”) and clothing (“it’s in style”) to questions about values and ethics (“my daddy told me to”).

Abraham Maslow, in The Farther Reaches of Human Nature

And you, are you guiding your ethical decisions on what your daddy told you? 

Authentic Leadership

In the 50s and 60s, leaders had to be tough, charismatic, and commanding, but in the 70s and 80s, this started to change, and softer skills and traits started to be valued. There suddenly was a preference for a more humane and humanistic leader who would understand the needs of their team members to motivate them. 

This gave then place to transformational leadership, servant leadership and wise leadership, which are all interesting concepts with valuable aspects (personally, I have a soft spot for wise leadership). The growing interest in authentic leadership should be understood in this context.

The thinking goes like this: people like people who are authentic, not fake, and we human beings can notice when someone is not being authentic, even if this noticing is often done unconsciously, so people who are authentic and show themselves as they really are, will engage and motivate better their team members.

It is a sound logic. As I already mentioned, authenticity is one of my personal values, so I cannot but agree with this approach. 

But it is not as easy as it sounds. What does it mean to be an authentic leader? And can a leader always be authentic? In all situations?

If we understand authenticity in the existential sense, as a leader acting in alignment with their values, then that is possible, even if sometimes those values could contradict each other depending on the situation (nobody said it was easy to be authentic!). On the other hand, if we understand authenticity as always being natural, honest, and frank and showing oneself transparently as they are in every situation, this could create some difficulties in some situations.

After all, a leader’s best choice in certain situations is to hide some part of the truth or tell a white lie to their team members, clients or partners. 

Would a leader doing this be truly authentic? In the existential sense, certainly; in the other one, I’m not so sure.

Authenticity in a world of deepfakes and beauty filters

If you look at the state of the world today, you would be forgiven for thinking we are living in probably the most inauthentic times in history. 

And perhaps you would be right.

After all, we are living in a world where people can turn other people into porn stars by just tapping into an app. Technology allows deepfakes that look increasingly verisimilar; it is almost impossible to detect some of them. 

We also live in a world where millions show how they live to their followers, but they aren’t showing all of it, only their most glamorous bites. People use filters to improve their pictures or carefully set up the elements of a picture to make it seem better than it really is. Everybody seems to be living a grand life, eating in Michelin-starred restaurants and visiting white-sanded tropical beaches, but then again, we all know their mundane everyday life isn’t always like this.

We seem to be living in a world of pretending to be someone we are not or where other people can make us look like someone we are not. 

It does look like we might be living in the more inauthentic times in history.

And still, I believe we have the potential to be more authentic than ever. There are more and more tools and help out there to help each of us navigate this challenging world, understand who we are, and live the life we are meant to live and want to live. 

Know thyself, and live an authentic life

This is what it means to live an authentic life. Many people seem to be lost in a materialistic and ultimately nihilistic way of life made up of illusions and pretending, but many others are awakening and realising this is not the life they want to live.

Meditate, start a coaching process, see a psychologist, ask for feedback from your friends or colleagues, do exercises to understand your purpose in life, identify your values… In a nutshell, know and understand yourself better, and once you do, stick to being who you really are.

That’s what it means to be authentic, nothing more, nothing less. Life is nothing but a journey to discover who you are and live the life you are meant to live authentically. Nothing more, nothing less.

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Multiplicity theory says that we all have different selves or personalities showing up in different situations. If used correctly, this is an asset.

I recently read about the multiplicity of personality theory in the book The Wise Leader. I found the concept interesting and its implications for personal development fascinating.

The multiplicity of personality theory postulates that we don’t have one single personality or self but many. There is not one single Iker within me, but many different ones, talking to each other and working together to achieve my goals and satisfy my needs. I will be more or less effective depending on how well they work together and whether the adequate self arises for each situation. 

This doesn’t mean we all have some sort of personality disorder. What is known as multiple personality disorder happens when the mind gets highly fragmented and polarised and becomes non-functional. Most of us have modular brains with different parts and selves but are reasonably functional.

What is the multiplicity of personality theory?

Paul Lawrence and Suzy Skinner in The Wise Leader argue that one of the main facets of a wise leader is knowing him or herself, and the first step for that is to realise that they don’t have one single self, but many.

So for them, a wise leader should know their selves, all of them. They no longer talk about self-knowledge and self-awareness, but selves-knowledge and selves-awareness.

As they write, “there is little evidence to support the notion of a single authentic self”, and there is plenty of evidence that suggests that, indeed, we have many selves co-existing within us.

There are many different multiplicity theories in psychology, all with the same foundation but with a slightly different twist. For example, John Rowan argues that we all have different “subpersonalities” specific to each of us, and they can evolve throughout our lives. 

Richard Schwartz writes about a core self that is accompanied by different parts of the self. These parts can work well together or against each other but are generally well-intended.

Rita Carter believes that different personalities are constantly forming, evolving and fading away. Usually, we would have one or two major personalities, several minors and many micros, which can combine to form minors. 

Unlike all the previous psychologists, David Lester doesn’t believe in a single overarching executive self. One of the different selves can be in control at any moment, but when that happens, all the other selves are momentarily suspended. 

These are some of the main takes on multiplicity, but there are many more out there.

How does multiplicity theory affect you? 

Multiplicity personality theory being correct means that you, like the rest of us, have many different parts, selves, personalities or sub-selves (the language used in the psychology literature to name it is varied). 

A successful dialogue between those parts and their getting along will be critical for you to achieve your goals and be happy. If you are like most people, you have never thought about having different selves, and you aren’t aware of them. You are just you, right? (what makes you, you, is another question we tried to answer elsewhere).

Call them like you want, but we all have different parts. Sometimes, I am fearful and timid; others, I am a self-confident extrovert who jokes and tells stories. Both are me, but they are different parts of me. Depending on the situation, a different “me” takes over, but they are all “me”. 

Other people will be very different at home or work. Depending on who they interact with or the specific contexts, they will have different personas.

This may sound daunting or weird, but it’s actually great if you think about it. It’s an asset. It means you can leverage your different selves or parts to fit the situations and challenges you face. 

 How to make the most of multiplicity personality theory

Step 1 – Identification and naming

The first step is to reflect on your different personalities or selves, identify them, and, why not, give them a name. This will make their identification easier. It can be a name like Mary or Mike, or an adjective like Strong, Joker, or Quiet. Try to identify the different ways you interact with other people and feel and label them.

Step 2 – Awareness

The next step is to be more aware of the situations in which your different selves arise. When is the Joker coming out? And Quiet? What are the telltales or signs of each of your selves?

Be more aware of what’s happening inside you and which of your selves is taking precedence in each situation or context.

Step 3 – Assess suitability

This step is critical. You need to assess the suitability and appropriateness of your selves in each situation. Are you using Joker when you shouldn’t? Would a specific situation benefit from you using self X, but you are using Y instead?

You have different parts or subpersonalities, so use them wisely. One of them is the most suitable for each situation, but you may not use them correctly. 

Step 4 – Actions

The last step is to take the necessary actions. If you realise that you are not using the appropriate self in certain situations, start being more aware and try to surface the adequate personality for each situation. It might be challenging initially, but with some training, it gets easier.

One self for every situation

If there is one important conclusion to be taken home from this post, it is that we all have different selves, and we should try to use the most suitable self for each situation.

The multiplicity of personalities or selves is an asset and an advantage, not a disorder. Being able to pull different personalities or personal characteristics to face different situations is a valuable resource, but we need to know how to use it correctly.

A coach can help you understand better your multiple selves and make the most of them. They can help you identify your subpersonalities and bring the right one to the fore.

Alternatively, this is something you can work on alone, too, by following the four steps above and practising. It is all about being more aware of all our selves and when they become protagonists. Mindfulness and meditation can help you develop that awareness better and make it easier to label and identify your different selves when they arise. 

Which of your selves is reading this article right now? Make sure it shares what they learned with all the other selves that make you, you 😉

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I started a Master’s in Coaching, and that’s giving my life and this blog a new focus

At the beginning of September, I started a Master’s in Coaching at the University of Cambridge.

If you have been reading this blog, you should know by now that I am passionate about coaching and personal growth (of others, but also mine). I have been looking at options for furthering my education in coaching for a while now, and this program from the University of Cambridge checked all the boxes. 

On top of everything else, I get to go to Cambridge for a few days every semester. 

I am very excited about this new adventure, but the next couple of years will be demanding. They will be insightful and stimulating but also challenging. 

So I went to Cambridge to spend a hot, sweaty and intellectually stimulating week among 15 strangers who will be my travel companions for the next two years. A few of them will become good friends, too. 

Coaching Psychology

This first unit was all about coaching psychology, which is the branch of psychology that concerns itself with studying coaching.

Coaching is a multidisciplinary practice that takes from many different areas, such as philosophy, anthropology, sociology, management, and sports, but psychology is arguably the most important one. After all, coaching is about enacting change at the rational, emotional, and behavioural levels of an individual or a team, so there is a lot of psychology involved.

If any science can give a more evidence-based and scientific approach to coaching, that is psychology.

I studied humanities and business, not psychology, so there are still many things for me to learn about how to use psychology best to improve my coaching.  

In that sense, the entire week was eye-opening. I am still assimilating what I learned, but I have already started using new approaches in my coaching and feel confident that I am already a (slightly) better coach. 

From Freud to Positive Psychology…

When I trained as a coach a few years ago, it was mainly on ontological coaching, which focuses on the being of the coachee in the world, with particular attention to language, emotions and the body.

Since then, I’ve been reading about other approaches, but I hadn’t realised how many different ways we coaches have to accompany our clients in their journey towards self-knowledge and growth.

For example, cognitive behavioural coaching (CBC) centres around cognitive and behavioural processes to help problem-solving and enact change on the coachee.

If you are more inclined towards the Freudian school of thought, you could go with psychodynamic coaching, which focuses on the subconscious and the defences we unconsciously put against others. These defences are usually helpful, but they can also be limiting. A psychodynamic coach will help their clients undo the problems created by the incorrect use of those defences. 

Then you have the humanistic branch of psychology, which is well suited for coaching, as it focuses more on the human being as an empowered and able individual who has all the answers she needs within herself. This branch includes Gestalt coaching based on Gestalt therapy, the ontological coaching I was so familiar with, the person-centred approach, or Maslow and the focus on self-actualisation.

What I found most intriguing, however, is another humanistic school of thought, and that is existentialism applied to coaching. Existential coaches help their clients untangle the Big Questions of life: death, temporality, freedom and choice, purpose and the meaning of life. These are all topics I am interested in (who isn’t?), so I will be researching and learning more about this type of coaching. I will definitely be writing about existential coaching moving forward.

Last but not least, we have positive psychology, which is the branch of psychology that focuses on what is right with human beings: well-being, happiness and fulfilment. This has been very popular lately, also among coaches. I have heard coaching defined as the applied and practical arm of positive psychology. 

Coaching is much more than that, but the definition has its nugget of truth. We coaches also focus on what is right in the human psyche, and we try to make it even more right. 

New focus

All this post is to say that I will focus on coaching in the next couple of years. I will be reading, studying and practising more coaching than ever. 

This will impact the rest of my life, including this blog.

This blog was originally aimed at creating a more humane future of work. I have written a lot about future trends and scenarios of the future. 

I have also written a lot about leadership, the qualities of the future leader, coaching and personal growth in general because they are linked to creating a better future. We will only create a better society if each of us grows and becomes a better person and if we are led by leaders with the correct values and qualities.

I will continue writing about future trends and the future of work. This is still the focus of this website, but it is only natural that I will focus more on coaching and personal growth. Most of my reading and thinking will be in this area, so it will be difficult for me to focus on other areas. I will be learning a lot, and I hope to be able to transmit my learnings here.

I hope you will join me on my journey towards greater self-awareness, learning and growth. 

Enjoy the ride. 

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Intro

The growth mindset is one of the most powerful concepts related to human achievement and potential, but what is it exactly? And can you develop and attain it?

The answer to the first question will require some more time, so please bear with me, but the second one has a short and simple one: yes, you can.

Of course it is possible; that’s the whole point of the growth mindset, that we can always grow, develop and learn. We will also look at how to do it further below.

But first, let’s look at what it is.

What is the growth mindset?

The American psychologist Carol S. Dweck coined the term growth mindset in his famous work Mindset: The New Psychology of Success in 2006.

Since then, the term has been widely used in psychology, personal growth and leadership. I have also mentioned in several articles (for example, here, here and here).

Dweck studied pupils at a young age and argued that people could be placed in a continuum based on their views on where ability comes from. On one end of the spectrum were those with a fixed mindset, who believed ability and intelligence were innate and could not be developed. On the other end, you would find those with a growth mindset who thought ability could be learned and developed through practice and hard work.  

This is a simple concept, but it has profound implications. 

The fixed mindset

As shown in the diagram below, a fixed mindset makes people believe their intelligence is static. This makes them afraid to look stupid, so they will avoid challenges and suffer when they make mistakes or receive criticism. They will see errors as signs of their imperfect intelligence. They will equate an error to a failure. 

Errors will be an attack on their very self and identity. 

As a consequence, and this is the saddest of it all, people with a fixed mindset will plateau early and will not achieve their full potential. 

The growth mindset

Individuals with a growth mindset, on the other hand, believe that intelligence and ability can be developed, so they will continuously seek opportunities to develop them further. 

They will face challenges willingly, see errors as a necessary part of growth and learning, and accept feedback not as criticism or an attack to their self, but as a gift that helps them become a better version of themselves. 

They grow and achieve ever-greater levels of achievement, thus getting closer to self-actualisation, happiness and fulfilment. 

Exigence and Perfectionism vs Excellence

When coaching my clients, one of the most prevalent issues is exigence and its close cousin, perfectionism, which are often linked to a fixed mindset.  

When someone is living in exigence and perfectionism, they mix what they do with who they are. They are what they do, so if what they do is not perfect, their being, and therefore their identity, are flawed.

Thus, not doing something perfectly becomes proof of them being flawed and imperfect. This is a race that can never be won, as we are all innately imperfect, and there will always be things we lack or could have done better. 

People living in exigence tend to look at what they are missing and lacking, not so much at what they have achieved. This is a recipe for chronic dissatisfaction and frustration. 

These people become very self-demanding and excessively exigent with themselves and others. This may help them achieve certain notoriety in their professions, climb the corporate ladder and achieve what they think is success, but more often than not, it comes at a high price.

Like everything we do in coaching (and in life), what matters at the end of the day is if a certain belief, assumption, or behaviour helps or limits us. Exigence and perfectionism may be helpful in some cases, but in most situations, they will be limiting and should therefore be overcome and dealt with.

To do just that, I explore the concept of excellence with my coaching clients. Excellence is about recognising that none of us is perfect but that we can always improve and get better at something. It is about improving daily and seeing mistakes and challenges as learning opportunities. People seeking excellence focus more on what they have achieved than what they lacked or missed. 

Excellence is about becoming the best version of yourself, about achieving self-realisation. 

Exigence and perfectionism have clear links with a fixed mindset, whereas seeking excellence indicates someone with a growth mindset.

A personal story: struggling between the fixed and growth mindsets

I read Dweck’s book a few years ago. As I often do in these cases, I identified myself with the positive concept and discarded the negative one as something alien to me. I thought I was a great exponent of the growth mindset.

But the more I read and thought about it, the more I realised that I often showed behaviours more linked to a fixed mindset.

I was supposed to be an intelligent kid since I went to school, and I thought that was innate. I realised that I often shied away from big challenges so I didn’t fail and prove that I wasn’t so smart after all. 

What if I failed on a difficult task? People would see me for who I really was, someone winging it as he went along and not so intelligent after all. They would see that the emperor had no clothes and was parading fully naked. 

I have had chronic impostor syndrome my entire life and a dread of being seen as what I really was: a flawed individual who didn’t know what he was doing. 

Was I feeling this way all the time? No, of course not. I have faced some heavy challenges in my life, and I have grown and learned because of them.

Let’s not forget Dweck told us about a spectrum with two extremes. Some people will have a growth mindset most of the time, others will always have a fixed one, but most people will be somewhere in between and will have some growth and fixed mindset tendencies. 

I am somewhere in the middle, but being aware of it is helping me to stop myself when I am being fixed and to inch slowly towards the growth side of the spectrum.

How to Develop a Growth Mindset in 4 steps

Dweck tells us about four steps we need to take to develop a growth mindset. 

Step 1 – Embrace your fixed mindset

Like me, you probably also have a mix of both fixed and growth mindsets. Admit that you have a bit of a fixed mindset, and do not castigate yourself for it. 

Still, there is no need to let it show up as often as it does. 

In Dweck’s words, “even though we have to accept that some fixed mindset dwells within, we do not have to accept how often it shows up and how much havoc it can wreak when it does.”

Step 2 – Become aware of your fixed mindset triggers

What makes your fixed mindset flare and show up? 

Is it when you are about to start a big project and self-doubt about your abilities starts to creep in?

Or is it when you are struggling and stuck with a particular task or project?

Or maybe when you have failed decisively on something? Lost a job, failed an exam, your partner left you…

Or perhaps when you find someone much better than you in an area you pride yourself on?

Many triggers push our fixed mindset to the surface. Discover yours and be especially mindful of them.

Step 3 – Give your fixed mindset persona a name

This might look silly, but it works. 

It will allow you to identify and label your fixed mindset persona when it shows up. It will increase your awareness of when you are behaving with a fixed mindset and help you overcome it. 

Step 4 – Educate your fixed mindset persona

You are now aware of the triggers that push forward your fixed mindset persona and have given it a name. You are now familiar with it. The next step is to educate it every time it shows up.

If you have failed at something or have made a mistake, John, Linda, Alain, or however you decided to call your fixed mindset, will show up. You can tell your fixed mindset persona that you understand what they are trying to achieve, but they should let you give it a go. You may have made a mistake or failed, but you still think you have the ability to learn and get better at whatever you are attempting to do.

The power of YET

You don’t have the ability or skill to do it YET, but you will have it eventually. We all have the capacity to learn and get better.

Yet is the key word here. 

Someone in a fixed mindset will think they don’t have the ability to do something and will stop there. A person with a growth mindset, on the other hand, will realise this is temporary and that they don’t have that skill YET, but that with practice, hard work and time, they can get there. 

Whenever you feel stuck, and your fixed mindset takes over, think about the power of yet. You may be stuck on something because you don’t know how to do it yet, but it is not impossible for you to get to a sufficient level of mastery. 

Everything can be learned and developed with enough time and dedication. Everyone can develop a specific skill or ability given enough time. 

That’s the biggest learning we can take from the growth mindset. It’s an important one. 

You may not know how to do it yet, but you’ll get there.

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Emotions or our rational mind, which one is better? Our rational mind usually gets the good press, but emotions are as important.

In the battle between emotions and rationality, which one ultimately shapes our destiny?

This is a false dichotomy. 

We need both emotions and our rational minds to function well, but pitting them against each other is fashionable. In this fight between the two, rationality usually comes on top, at least in today’s modern way of looking at things.

We need to control our emotions, not be dominated by them. We even need to hide or disguise them. “Don’t be emotional!” we tell each other as if that were a bad thing. 

I don’t want to pit emotions against our rational minds. It doesn’t need to be one OR the other. It can and should be one AND the other.

They complement each other, and they are both critical.

The importance of emotions

Emotions are an essential part of human (and animal) life. 

We can’t live a normal life without emotions. That’s how important they are.

Evolutionarily speaking, emotions were part of our behavioural toolkit well before the rational mind even existed. Many animal species feel emotions such as fear or anger or get attached to other members of their species with something akin to love. 

Emotions helped our ancestors survive and thrive before they were humans. They still help us survive and thrive today.

As I explained in the post We Need to Talk about Emotions, all emotions serve a function, so at least in that sense, they are all positive.

Contrary to popular belief and indications from some management and self-help gurus, there are no positive or negative emotions. They are all helpful and useful. 

Some emotions are more pleasant than others, but that’s all.

Our rational mind

Human beings are rational beings, or so we like to think.

We are the most rational of all animals. Our capacity to think rationally and logically distinguishes us from all other beings. We are capable of looking at different options and deciding the best course of action.

But is this really the case?

Some thinkers, like the famous podcaster, philosopher, meditator and neuroscientist Sam Harris, believe that human beings don’t have free will and that free will is a mere illusion. Faced with the same choice under exactly the same circumstances, a hundred times out of a hundred, we will make the same decision. 

With the same inputs, we will always have the same outputs. So then, where is our free will? The world seems to be a fully deterministic place for Harris and other thinkers.

The neurologist Benjamin Libet carried out some now-famous experiments in the early 80s that were seen as supporting this view. In these experiments, Libet and his team discovered that the subjects initiated some moves a few hundred milliseconds before their conscious mind was aware of the movement. Our brain asks our body parts to move before we are made aware of the action.  

Simler and Hanson argued in their book The Elephant in the Brain that the rational mind seems to behave like a PR agent or press secretary of the brain. Our conscious mind doesn’t make decisions; it justifies and defends the decisions made by the unconscious mind to the outside world.

Following these views, the rational mind is good at creating narratives and reasoning why we behave the way we do, but not necessarily helping us make decisions. 

We believe we are the chief decision-makers thanks to our rational mind, but more often than not, our emotions, intuition and unconscious mind make the decisions for us, and our rational mind finds the reasons to justify our course of action.

We may not be as rational as we think we are.

Emotions and rationality are part of the same team

I don’t necessarily agree with Sam Harris about free will being an illusion.  

It doesn’t matter whether we are entirely conscious or not while making decisions; our brains, that is, we, are the ones making them. 

Who are we but our brains and minds? The brain might get the same output every time based on the same inputs, and it may make the decisions before we realise it, but it is still our brain making the decisions, nobody else’s. My friend John’s and my brain would make different decisions even facing the same problem because we are different.

Our brains make the decisions that they think are best for us, and they do that using both our emotions and rational decision-making. 

Emotions and rationality are part of the same team. 

They are both part of our neurological system. Their mission is to help us make the right decisions for our survival, procreation, fulfilment and happiness. Emotions do that through bodily sensations and feelings, our rational mind via logical and causal thinking.

We need them both, but emotions are often forgotten or subjugated to rationality. The problem is that emotions are the most ancient of the two, and in many situations, they prevail over our rational minds, even if the latter makes us believe our logical brain is always in control. 

That is rarely the case. That’s why it is essential to be in tune with your emotions, listen to them and understand what they tell you. 

Don’t silence your emotions; use them wisely and make the best of them.

Emotional intelligence, what’s all the fuss about?

Emotions are essential; that’s why Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ) has been one of the most talked-about topics in leadership, management and self-help literature since Daniel Goleman popularised it in the 90s.

Emotional intelligence deals with much more than emotions, though. It is the part of our intelligence that deals with our emotions but also with self-awareness, empathy and our social interactions with others. EI includes emotions, but it goes beyond them.

You should work on your emotional intelligence, empathy and all the other traits Goleman explored in his works, by all means. Still, for me, the first step should be to become emotionally literate. That means understanding your own emotions, naming and labelling them when they are present, knowing what they mean to you, and understanding why they are arising. 

Once you understand your emotions well and are well-versed in them, you can start understanding the interplay between your emotions and those of others. 

When you combine a good understanding and use of your emotional mind with a rational one, you will use your total mind capacity. You will get closer to your true potential. 

The point is not to debate which of the two is better; they are both essential.

You can utilise them both to help you achieve your goals, be happy and be the best version of yourself. 

For that, you need both the emotional and rational minds working well together.

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The compound effect, or how small changes in your life can have a huge impact

Making small, consistent changes in your daily routine can lead to extraordinary results in the long run.

That’s the beauty of the compound effect.

We all have heard about the marvellous long-term effects of compound interest. If you save $100 a month and earn an interest of 1% on your capital, you will have $1,206 in the first year, of which $6 will be earnings for interest. After 30 years, you will have saved $41,933, of which the outstanding amount of $5,932 will come only from interest. And that’s only with a 1% interest.

That’s the beauty of the compound effect in action. 

The earnings are added to the principal, and the interest is applied to an ever-increasing amount, so the effects in the long term can be enormous.

The beauty of the compound effect is that it doesn’t apply to the finance world only. It can also impact considerably our personal life, positively or negatively.

Small changes in our personal life compound over time to bring incredible results.

Compound effect: choices + time + consistency

To work in your personal life, the compound effect requires three elements (financial compound effects would require a fourth element, interest): 

· Choices: your choices have an effect in the short term that compounds in the long term. Those choices can have a positive or negative impact.

· Time: the longer the time, the bigger the effect. Tiny actions can have an extraordinary effect over the long term.

· Consistency: consistency is vital. It is an overrated superpower. Without consistency, there cannot be any compound effect.

If you choose to do 10 minutes of exercise or read five pages of a philosophy book every day, your action might seem small, but if you keep the consistency over a long period, the results will be astounding.

Ten minutes of exercise every day allow your body to get used to more challenging workouts with time. The positive effects on your body and exercise body compound over time.

Same with reading a few pages on a topic that interests you every day, or writing, or painting, or any other activity that requires skill. If you do it consistently long enough, the effects will be unimaginable. 

Compound effect on good and bad habits

When we talk about choices, time and consistency, we enter the terrain of habits, good and bad.

Habits can make or break a life. You can become a better person by building positive habits or destroy your life by being dominated by bad ones.

Habits are so powerful due to the compound effect. They compound over time, either positively or not so positively.

With building positive habits, you start small, but when you keep doing it consistently over time, the results begin to compound and work in your favour.

Take meditation, for example. You start by trying to focus on your breath for a few minutes, but your mind wanders everywhere. If you do that for a few minutes every day for a while, it becomes easier, and you are able to focus better and for more extended periods. 

Before you realise it, you are meditating for 30 minutes or more with no difficulty.

Read more: Good habits make you better 

Consistency is key

The key for the compounding effects to work is consistency.

For that, I like the don’t skip twice rule. 

You can miss one day once in a while. We all do. We are not machines, so please don’t treat yourself too harshly when that happens. 

But try not to skip twice in a row. 

That’s when consistency starts to break. Once you miss something twice, you realise you are not being consistent, and the likelihood of you returning to the path of consistency goes down. 

The more you skip, the more difficult it will be to come back to a positive and consistent pattern.

If you miss something one day, that’s fine, but try not to miss a second day in a row.

Unleashing the power of small actions

Small, consistent changes over a long period have a considerably bigger impact than abrupt and sudden changes.

Don’t underestimate the power of small actions.

You don’t get fit by running a marathon once and not running anymore. You do it by stacking the kilometres and the hours at the gym regularly.

You don’t lose weight by skipping breakfast once. You do it by reducing your calorie intake (and doing exercise), one day in, one day out.

You don’t save money by not spending your full salary in a single month. You do it by saving a little every month.

Little changes compound over time and multiply their effects.

The key is to maintain consistency over a long enough period.

Compound effect on writing

I started writing for this blog in 2020, during the covid lockdown, and it helped me stay sane in all that craziness.

Back then, I only wrote two or three articles a month and used most of my weekends for it. I lived alone and couldn’t leave the house, so that was fine.

When the pandemic was over and my social life started back in earnest, I couldn’t dedicate enough time to writing, and my cadence and regularity suffered. In some months, I only wrote one post, and there were months without a single post published. 

I loved writing, but I couldn’t keep the practice going. 

Then I realised that I just needed to write every day, even if it was a little bit, and the compounding effect would do the rest. I just needed to be consistent enough for a long enough time.

I started waking up earlier and writing a bit every day. I would continue writing more over the weekends, but I’d try to also write during the week, and so I did.

I now sometimes write 15 minutes in one day, other days 30, but the secret is I write something every day. This has made my writing to come easier for me, so it is not only that I dedicate more time to it, but I also write more in less time.

My writing productivity has increased, so I now write a long-form article like this once a week, plus shorter-form posts on LinkedIn every working day, and that’s because I just write a little bit every day.

Compounding success

This is just an example. There are many more out there.

Compounding can be a great ally and friend of yours if you use it wisely.

The secret is to realise that small little changes, if enacted for long enough, can have huge effects, both for the better and worse.

This realisation, if used correctly, can be of great help to anyone. Compound effects can be applied to finance, health, personal growth, or to any other aspect of life.

It can be used to build small habits that will improve your life or stop the ones that are destroying it.

Compound effects are powerful, so use them wisely!

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Develop your creativity following these 6 simple and practical tips.

Creativity is not a talent reserved for a select few; it is an inherent human ability waiting to be awakened.

As I argued in this post, creativity is a skill that can be learned and developed. We can improve it by practising it and carrying out some exercises.

An anecdote from Picasso’s life illustrates this well. 

Picasso was eating in a restaurant in New York when a woman approached him. “I’m a big fan of yours,” she told him, “would you mind scribbling something on a napkin? I will be happy to pay whatever you feel it is worth.” 

Picasso completed a quick sketch and said, “That will be $10,000.” 

“$10,000?” the woman was aghast, “but how can that be? It took you thirty seconds!” 

“No,” Picasso said. “It has taken me a lifetime to do that.” 

Picasso was a creative genius, but it got to be one thanks to a lifetime of practice and hard work. 

Below we will look at some simple tips to develop your creativity.

Creativity Tip #1: Make It Up and Have Fun

The first tip comes from Nick Rubin’s book The Creative Act: A Way of Being.

Rubin tells us that the first thing we can do to alleviate the pressure on ourselves is to lower the stakes. Stop thinking you will create the next Mona Lisa or Ulysses and realise you are starting something small. You are making something up, doing it as you go, with no inklings yet of its value. 

“Creativity is just free to play with no rules”, Rubin tells us, “we are not playing to win; we are playing to play. And ultimately, playing is fun. Perfectionism gets in the way of fun.”

When creating something, enjoy the process. Have fun with it.

As Oscar Wilde said, “Some things are too important to be taken seriously”. 

The creative act is one of them.

Creativity Tip #2: Use the Beginner’s Mind

This is another one from Rubin’s fantastic book.

He tells us the story of the first win of the AI AlphaGo against the Go grandmaster Lee Sedol in 2016. In the 37th move, AlphaGo made a move that nobody in the Go world would have ever done. They thought it was a mistake, but when the game was over, everybody agreed that this had been the decisive move.

The AI was more creative than its human counterpart because it didn’t have the baggage of millennia of received wisdom on what is a good move and what isn’t. It started from scratch by analysing all the possible options to achieve its outcome, so it wasn’t encumbered by any rules or norms.

When trying to be creative, look at things with a beginner’s mind, like no human has ever seen.

This reminds me of an episode from Sophie’s World, the fictional book that serves to introduce the reader to the fascinating world of philosophy. In it, the philosophy teacher explains to Sophie that a philosopher needs to look at the world like a toddler. 

For a toddler or small child, everything is new. Everything is as surprising and unique. You could be floating two metres from the ground or standing up and walking; both acts are equally stunning to the child because they are new to them. As we get older, we take people walking (or not floating) for granted, and things stop marvelling at us.

With age, we lose the capacity to look at things through a child’s eyes. 

Philosophers need to look at things through children’s eyes and be surprised by everything.

The creative mind needs to do the same, so look at everything as if it were the first time.

Creativity Tip #3: Embrace Curiosity

Curiosity is the foundation of creativity.

Like the philosopher-child in the previous tip, you must foster a sense of wonder about everything. Ask questions about the world around you. Explore new ideas and experiences. Approach familiar situations with fresh eyes and an open mind. 

By nurturing your curiosity, you will make new connections and provide your mind with the necessary fuel to ignite the inspiration required to have new ideas and create new things.

Creativity Tip #4: Cultivate a Creative Environment

Have you ever considered that the way you organise your physical space can influence the flow of creative energy?

Your surroundings matter. Create a physical and mental space that encourages creativity. Surround yourself with objects, artwork, books, music and people that inspire you.

This is counterintuitive, but a cluttered and chaotic workspace can actually enhance creative thinking and spark new ideas. Or it may not, it really depends on the person.

So, experiment with different environments, try new things, and see what works best to get your creative juices flowing.  

Creativity Tip #5: Welcome Failure

Fear of failure is one of creativity’s biggest enemies.

We all make mistakes and fail in many things we do before finding success; that’s part of life. Failure and errors are part and parcel of the creative process. Setbacks are a necessary part of our Personal Growth journey.

If you want your creativity to flourish, you cannot hinder yourself for fear of failing or making mistakes. Take risks and try new things. When you fail, welcome it as part of your learning experience.

Adopt a growth mindset, focusing on progress and improvement rather than perfection.

Creativity Tip #6: Practice Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking, also known as lateral thinking, is a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.

You cultivate your divergent thinking through brainstorming ideas, free writing, mind mapping, or other techniques that help you create new connections between previously unrelated ideas. When practising divergent thinking, you should avoid self-censoring yourself, and you should let your thoughts flow freely. 

Work on your idea-generation muscle by practising it regularly. 

In the beginning, you should focus on quantity. Throw ideas without thinking whether they are crazy or stupid. Then you can assess their value later on. 

Try to think out of the box regularly. The more often you do it; the easier it will get with time.

Embrace your creativity

In a world obsessed with productivity, allowing yourself time to daydream can be a powerful catalyst for creativity.

Stop obsessing with work and delivering on deadlines, and leave more time for letting your imagination escape freely. Read fiction novels, paint, watch science fiction films, and write down your dreams to increase dream recall. Do more things to numb the rational part of your brain and awaken the creative and imaginative one.

Embrace these practical tips, ignite your creative fire, and watch as the world becomes your canvas for boundless imagination and innovation. Enjoy it!

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Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human. We can all be creative.

Creativity is not a rare gift bestowed upon the select few, but an innate ability we all possess.

Human beings are the most creative animals in nature. We all have the capacity to create new things. Those things can be art, but they can also be solutions to technical problems or any other new creation that wasn’t there before. 

We are all creative animals, but some tap more into their inner creativity than others. 

In this post, we will look at creativity, its origins, and some of its main misconceptions. 

Some common misconceptions about creativity

Creativity is for all of us

We already mentioned the first and most widespread misconception about creativity, and that’s that creativity is only for artists and musicians. 

Einstein was a very creative person, for example, and he was a scientist. So are many other people from many walks of life, from sports to finance (tax advisors can be a very creative bunch, for example). You can find creativity in all professions and types of people. 

Creativity is a very human characteristic; we all have it. 

Creativity is not about being original

Another misconception is that creativity is all about being original.

Creativity and originality are two different things. Creativity is about creating things that weren’t there before. They can be original and unique, and they often are, but other times the new solution we find can be so self-evident and common that we think, “doh, how did nobody think about this before?”

Often the solution is staring at us, and it doesn’t look so original once we have it, but it is creative nonetheless.

Creativity can be learned and improved

The last misconception is a dangerous one: it’s the myth that creativity cannot be learned, improved or cultivated.

Like all human characteristics, creativity can be worked upon and improved. The more you practice and work, the better your chances of being creative and displaying that creativity.

As the painter Henri Matisse famously said: “Don’t wait for inspiration. It comes while working.”

Creativity is one of the most important skills you can work on when working on your personal growth.

Read more: 6 Practical Tips To Unleash Your Creativity

Where is creativity coming from? A bit of history… 

In Ancient Greece, they thought creativity was coming from some deities called the Muses. 

There were nine Muses, each dealing with a specific area (poetry, music, dance, history, and the like), and they inspired human beings when required. Words like music and museum come from the Muses.

For Ancient Greeks and Romans, creativity and inspiration came from a divine source. Human beings could tap into it, but it was up to the deities to respond to the requests of the mortals. 

Creativity was seen as something external to people; it depended entirely on the wishes of the gods. 

During the Middle Ages in Europe, the Muses and similar deities were replaced by God. Creativity had a divine source in many other cultures as well. 

There seems to be something magic and divine about the capacity we human beings have to create new things, be them works of art, engineering, science, or any other field.

In the Renaissance and later in the Enlightenment, humankind was put at the centre of everything, and that included creativity too. Creativity stopped being something coming from outside, and it was to be found within ourselves.

The source of creativity is now found in the brain. Its origins are just biochemical, some neurons firing at each other and creating new connections.

Neuroscientists are studying creativity and trying to find where it originates in the brain, but it’s elusive. Creativity comes from all the brain areas and not from one area in particular. 

Left or right hemisphere, prefrontal lobe or neocortex… creativity is coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. 

All brain areas play a role in its origins, and often the connection between these areas is more important than the specific focus from one single area. 

Connecting the dots

Arguably the most famous quote about creativity comes from the personification of creative genius himself, Steve Jobs:

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things”.

Creativity is really about connecting the dots.

But why do some people connect those dots and others don’t? And why do people connect them in a particular moment and not in others?

It is not surprising that creativity has had a mystic hoe throughout history. The feeling many creative people have is that it comes out of nowhere, from outside ourselves, when we least expect it.

When creativity suddenly appears

In this Ted talk, writer Elizabeth Gilbert talks about a conversation she had with 90 years old poet Ruth Stone about how she got the inspiration for her poems. 

She explains the following:

“she told me that when she was growing up in rural Virginia, she would be out working in the fields, and she said she would feel and hear a poem coming at her from over the landscape. And she said it was like a thunderous train of air. And it would come barreling down at her over the landscape. And she felt it coming, because it would shake the earth under her feet.

She knew that she had only one thing to do at that point, and that was to, in her words, “run like hell.” And she would run like hell to the house and she would be getting chased by this poem, and the whole deal was that she had to get to a piece of paper and a pencil fast enough so that when it thundered through her, she could collect it and grab it on the page.”

Sometimes she wouldn’t get there on time, and the poem would be forever lost, or in Stone’s words, “it would run away looking for another poet”. 

In Stone’s interpretation, creative inspiration comes out of nowhere. We know it doesn’t happen this way, but this is the feeling many people have about it.

The Creative Act

Rick Rubin exposes a similar view in his recent book The Creative Act: A Way Of Being, a book I highly recommend. 

The book has an esoteric touch. It is a bit “out there”, with Rubin telling us what the Universe wants us to do, creativity being what we are meant to do, the Work of your life, and similar things. Still, it is a great read.

Rubin believes creativity is the most fundamental human characteristic, and we need to answer to our creative calling to live fulfilling and happy lives. He also believes it is coming from outside; it is somehow the Universe talking to us, it is a calling, and we need to listen to that calling. 

It is our duty. 

Purpose and creativity

As Rubin says, many people question their purpose when creating something. 

They ask themselves: why am I doing this? But that’s the wrong question to ask. 

Rubin writes, “if we like what we are creating, we don’t have to know why. (…) When we are making things we love, our mission is accomplished. There is nothing at all to figure out.”

I have often written about purpose in this blog, as I believe it is an essential part of our lives that usually doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. Creativity and purpose are linked, but I agree with Rubin. 

When creating something, we don’t need a higher purpose to do so. The mere act of creation is enough. When making something, you enter into a flow state, connecting with your inner self and what needs to be done. 

Creativity helps us be closer to our life purpose, without overthinking it too much or trying to figure out what that purpose is. 

Creativity is not an exclusive gift

Creativity is an amazing gift, but it is not an exclusive one.

We are happier and more fulfilled if we let our creativity out, make new things, and have new ideas. This is a gift.

But it is a gift available to all human beings, and that makes it an amazing gift.

We have been sold a myth: that creativity is a talent rather than a skill that can be developed. We need to break this myth and free ourselves from the shackles of suppressed creativity. 

As Rubin says in the first few pages of his book:

“Creativity is not a rare ability. It is not difficult to access. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human”.

If so, let’s all be more creative, shall we?

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Personal Growth is the fourth and last Leadership Quality of the Future Leader

To learn more about developing this Leadership Quality, read How Coaching Exercises Can Help You Develop into a Successful Future Leader

Personal Growth is the foundation of successful leadership. 

It always has been. In a world that is more VUCA every passing day, the ability to unlearn old skills and learn new ones will gain importance and criticality. The future leader will have to be obsessed with their personal growth and that of their team members to be successful. 

We have already touched on the other leadership qualities of the future leader (Future Ready, Purpose, and People Skills). Here we will go deeper into Personal Growth.

Why Personal Growth is critical for future leaders

Think about the leaders who inspire you the most. Chances are, they’re the ones who have continuously worked on their personal growth skills.

You cannot stay still in a changing world. 

Leadership is a complex and multifaceted discipline, a very demanding one at that, and it requires its practitioners to keep updating themselves, their skills and their views on the world constantly. If we add to leadership the future dimension in an ever-changing world, this requirement to continually grow and learn is even more essential. 

There cannot be a great future leader who isn’t constantly learning and developing themselves and their teams. 

How to work on your personal growth

First, a caveat: we are human beings, not machines. 

We can do many things to learn and improve, but there are some limits.

If you read social media and many publications today, many people don’t seem to have received the memo, and they treat people like machines. There is a hustle culture with an excessive focus on productivity, working a lot and filling the hours of the day with either working or learning new skills. 

You are supposed to wake up at 5 am, have an ice-cold shower, have introduced two hours of deep work under your belt, and read a chapter of a book by a self-help guru even before you sit down for breakfast. 

This approach is toxic (see the Manifesto against Hustle Culture) and unsuitable for high-performing or high-growing leadership. 

Personal growth is crucial but must be part of a balanced life. 

Having introduced this caveat, let’s look at three tips to work on your personal growth.

Self-awareness, or why you cannot improve what you don’t know

The average person spends more time on their phone daily than they do reflecting on their thoughts and emotions.

We sleep-walk through life without thinking about ourselves and without knowing ourselves well. We lack self-awareness. The thing is, without self-awareness, there cannot be any personal growth. 

You cannot improve what you don’t know. 

Self-awareness means understanding our emotions, traits, quirks, motivations, passions, and intuitions. 

In order to grow, it is crucial to know our final destination, but it is also essential to know where we are starting from. Self-awareness is knowing where our starting point is, who we are today, and who we have the potential to become.

As I explained here, there are different ways to work on your self-awareness, but my favourite ones are asking and receiving feedback, working with a coach, and meditation. 

Good habits are the foundation of Personal Growth

There is a reason why Atomic Habits by James Clear is one of the best-selling books of the last few years. 

Good habits are the building blocks of personal growth and a happy life. We become who we are by showing up consistently, doing the right things regularly, and stopping doing the things that don’t add value to our lives. It is easier said than done. reinforcing

Nobody said it was easy, but if you can build the right habits for yourself and stop the harmful ones, you will be on the right track.

Little tiny atomic habits bring tremendous results if you keep at them long enough. Consistency is key here. Good habits compound over time, like a savings account with interest, so small changes can have a considerable impact.

As I explained in this post based on James Clear’s book, there are four laws to consider when building good habits (or stopping bad ones, the process is the same):

1st Law – Cue: Make It Obvious

2nd Law – Craving: Make It Attractive

3rd Law – Response: Make It Easy

4th Law – Reward: Make It Satisfying

Follow these rules, and you will build healthy and positive habits, and as you do so, you will progress in your personal growth journey. 

Sharpening the saw

In his classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey gives the seventh and last habit an extremely apt name: Sharpen the Saw.

Like a woodcutter must sharpen the saw to carry on chopping wood and falling trees, so the great leader, the effective manager or the person merely focused on their personal growth must continue sharpening the saw in the four areas of life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Books and book collections have been written about growth and care in each of these areas, and this is not the place to go deep into each of them. Still, I wanted to highlight here that life goes beyond the mental or physical arena, and there are many different areas to consider. All of them should be taken care of. 

Tools like the Wheel of Life can help us maintain the necessary focus on all critical areas of life. 

Do exercise, meditate, meet regularly with family and friends, read extensively, get a coach or a mentor, write in a journal, study or learn something new, travel around, meet new people, reflect on your emotions… 

Do whatever takes you out of your comfort zone and gives you growth opportunities in each area of life without focusing too much on only one. 

Growth vs Fixed mindset

We cannot finish a post treating the topic of personal growth without talking about growth and fixed mindsets.

Popularised by Carol Dweck in his book Mindset and many speeches, articles and Ted talks, the concept of growth mindset has gained broad popularity in the last few years. Like most powerful concepts, it is simple: some people have a fixed mindset, and others have a growth mindset, and that makes a huge difference.

People with fixed mindsets believe our talents and abilities are innate, so there is not much we can do to improve them. When we fail at something or make an error, it is us, as a person, who fail. The failure is proof of our incapability to do that thing correctly.

People with growth mindsets, on the other hand, believe our talents and abilities are acquired, and we grow them through hard work, learning, living experiences, and, yes, by making mistakes. A mistake or error is not a failure or proof of anything, only a new opportunity to grow and learn.

There is no question which of the two mindsets is more beneficial if we want to develop our personal growth and development. If you see yourself falling in the ways of a fixed mindset person, be aware of what you are doing and try to change your thinking. 

A fixed mindset won’t allow you to grow; a growth mindset will.

Personal Growth is a journey that never ends, and that’s fine

Leaders who neglect their personal growth skills are doomed to fail.

This premise is now truer than ever. It applies to everyone, not leaders only. Adapt, learn and grow, or fail.

The world is changing faster and faster, so we need to adapt more quickly too. That means learning, developing and acquiring new skills.

Personal growth will make you a better professional. It will also make you a better human being, a better partner, friend, and all the other roles you have in your life. 

It will also make you happier. Self-actualisation and the thirst for learning and self-improvement are the highest human need, so we are happy when we learn new things and become a better version of ourselves.

Personal growth never ends, but that’s fine. Personal growth makes us more human and more satisfied with our lives.

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