Grow Me, Serve You

Often it is the simple lessons in life that make the biggest difference in our businesses and careers.  One of those lessons that has had a profound impact on me is one that I learned from Tony Robbins.  I call the lesson “Grow me, Serve You”.

Grow me, Serve you is a mindset that is important if you want to live life to the fullest.  It is a basic principle that encourages an individual to focus every day on growing, and then to use your gifts, talents and experiences as a means to serve others.  Tony often refers to this as the “2 Spiritual Needs” because growth and contribution are truly the foundations of a meaningful life.

Growth revolves around a principle called CANI (Constant and Never Ending Improvement).  It is about seeing every day and every experience as an opportunity to improve at everything in life.  It is about embracing problems and challenges as gifts that will increase your capacity to serve others.  Growth never ends.  One of the laws of the Universe is that you are either growing or dying.

Contribution is the benefactor of growth because it is the true measurement of one’s real value in life.  While some put more value on achievement than contribution, it is often these people who tend to end up very unhappy and unfulfilled.  Life without happiness is failure, not success.  And to truly be happy you have to both grow and contribute.  I have always seen contribution as a responsibility.  I embraced the concept that life was about we vs. me.  I grew to understand that despite all my personal success, what really built my legacy was the difference I was making in the lives of others.  Today, contribution is the driving force behind my “Why” in everything I do in life.

So for those of you who really want to utilize the principle of Grow me, Serve you, I would like to offer a couple strategies that might help in your life’s journey.

1.  Make Growth and Contribution part of your identity.  An individual’s identity is one of the strongest forces in a person.  It is about how you see yourself and how you want others to see you.  For growth and contribution to become a driving force within your identity, you have to have both pieces “define you as a person”.  That means these principles have to be part of you at ALL TIMES, not just when they fit into your life.  There is an old adage – what you feed you become.  If you make the focus of your being about growth and contribution, then in time it will become a major part of your identity.

2.  Avoid the “Comfort Zone”.  Often I find people get very comfortable with who they are and what they are doing to serve others.  I find that staying in a comfort zone too long leads life in the wrong direction.  No matter what you do and how long you are on this earth, your ability to grow and contribute at a higher level will never be fulfilled.  If you are stuck in that “comfort zone of life”, start making growth and contribution a bigger and bigger part of your DMO.  One of the best tools to do this is journaling because it makes you accountable to tracking life.  It is also is a great tool for self improvement.  I have found it very useful in allowing me to run life vs. life running me.

3.  Put yourself in an environment that promotes both growth and contribution.  We all become products of our environment.  I don’t think people realize how powerful their environments, especially relationships, are to their success and fulfillment in life.  I never found much value in running with an easy crowd.  I looked for environments and people who demanded more from me. Often what forces the process of one’s development as a person and their success in life is their environment.  For years I have surrounded myself with mentors like Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins.  Investing in personal development is one of the best investments anyone can make in life.  I embraced those environments whenever I had the opportunity because it ALWAYS had a profoundly positive impact on my life.  If you are in an environment or relationships that hinder your growth or create a mindset that serving oneself is more important that serving others, then you should ask yourself an important question – what cost does this environment have on me? Often it is simply the change in an environment that becomes the catalyst for changing one’s life.

Of course these are just a few of the strategies that can be used to integrate the principle of Grow Me, Serve You.  I encourage you to share on my Facebook or website some strategies that have worked for you as well.  We can all learn from each other.  In the end, life is pretty short and can change at any moment.  Don’t wait to embrace this principle.  The sooner this principle drives your life, the sooner your life will grow to new heights.