Introduction
It was one of the Sundays and as usual, many thoughts were running through my head and suddenly my thought process got stuck at one point and it made me think and rethink how you can or how you should measure your personal growth. ?
1) Your success on tests is measured by your grades (your percentile).
2) Your success in business is measured by the income and profits you make.
3) The versatility of your business is measured by your expansion plans, both in terms of geographic expansion and entering new industries.
4) Experience is usually measured in years.
5) Your height, your weight, your age … everything can be measured.
So how can you measure your “personal growth”?
Things you do
To understand and measure your personal growth, let’s first list and understand the various activities that we do in our life. Once we understand that, it will help us to configure the measurement parameters and / or select the measurement scale. There is no second doubt in my mind that when we speak of “Growth”, it must be objective and not subjective. It must be measured.
As an individual, whatever you do, it can easily be classified into two parts:
1) professional
2) Private
As a child or adolescent, we do certain things that either help us in our profession (give directions to our professional life) or make our private life more satisfactory.
1) Professional life: basic education, professional education, salaries (wealth), promotions (role, decision-making power, scope of control, etc.), training and development (workshops and seminars), their popularity (and demand) and network professional.
2) Private Life: Relationships with family (Parents, Brothers, Relatives) and friends, Marriage (Success, Happiness and longevity of your married life), Home and other comforts, Health, Children (Birth, Growth, Grooming and Values of your children), Love, Care and SATISFACTION.
(Note: Care has been taken to include everything that a person should have or would like to have in this life. However, this list is inclusive and not exclusive).
Let’s analyze and measure
Well, the “career front” of your life can be measured by the following factors:
1) Number of professional titles you have.
2) Institutes in which you have studied (To study in good institutes, you must not only be smart and knowledgeable, but you must also have enough money to cover the expenses of your studies).
3) In case you are a salaried employee, what is your salary and how many increases do you get each year? In case you have your own business, then your earnings and wealth.
4) The position and the designation it occupies. In short, what matters is your ability to make and influence decisions.
5) Your demand and popularity in your profession and industry, is another criterion to measure the “Professional Front” of your life.
All of these factors are part of your “personal growth” and they are all measurable.
Now, let’s calculate your “growth” in “Private life”. It is not possible to be successful in the “Professional Front” without “sacrificing” and making adjustments in your “Private Life”. However, what he has sacrificed and how he has established balance in relationships determines and measures his success in “Frente Privado”.
The following are the factors that can be measured and calculated:
1) Longevity and happiness of your married life
2) Amount you spent on your medications
3) Value system, education and success of your children (believe it or not, but if your children are good citizens of their country; if they do well academically; if they are successful in life … that is reflected in your success).
4) It is not possible to keep everyone happy, you need to identify (indeed choose) the people you want to keep happy and then do everything you can to ensure their happiness. So your success is measured by the decisions you make and prioritize.
However, there may be a slight difference, but all of these factors can be measured and evaluated. As I said earlier, to measure your growth, you must have a foundation. Measuring growth, it starts from the past and ends with the present. Your dreams and goals start from your present and end somewhere in your future.
Discussion table – Brainstorming
I asked various people from different countries, age groups and both genders what they really mean by “Personal Growth” and how do they think personal growth should be measured. Due to limited space, it is not possible for me to include all responses, but instead I have taken a sample size.
According to Marc Aniballi (Managing Director, Crack Method, Canada), your criteria for measuring your personal growth changes over time and is entirely based on the phase of life you are going through.
A baby measures its growth in inches;
A young man measures his growth by his peers;
A young person compares his growth with that of his parents;
An adult measures his growth against the world around him;
A mature adult measures his growth against himself;
An old man measures his growth against ideals;
Maria Sheila Riikonen (Business Intelligence Consultants, Finland), added a philosophical twist to her answer, saying that the path to personal and professional success is rarely easy, so it is important to have a strong sense of yourself wherever you go. the road takes you. I always like to remember my favorite mantra from the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882):
“To laugh often and a lot,
Win the respect of smart people and the affection of children,
To win the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends,
Appreciate beauty, find the best in others,
To leave the world a little better, be it for a healthy child, a garden or a redeemed social condition,
Knowing that even a life has breathed better because you have lived it.
This is to have been successful. “
In the words of Mukund Toro (Director of Engineering, Sasken, Bangalore, India), you cannot generalize parameters to measure personal growth and everything varies and differs from person to person and largely depends on an individual’s background. He said: “I find it difficult to answer your question. I think it depends on the person; It depends on their needs, aspirations, obligations and duties. I suppose it depends on what is central in your life. You could look at Habit Two (2) of Steven Covey regarding the various centers of life. I have found myself struggling between various ways of defining success. Sometimes it’s career, sometimes finances, sometimes doing something for others, etc. To quote (not verbatim ) Dr. ES Srinivas from XLRI, some questions may never have a clear answer. The important thing is to ask these questions. “
Dinky (Denise) Durso (Business Development, Manager, Alliant Credit Union, Greater Chicago Area), is also of a similar opinion and says that the criteria for measuring personal growth vary from one individual to another and are greatly influenced. measured by personal convictions, ideology and principles. He says, “While I can appreciate the basis for your question, I have a hard time aligning my beliefs and values within the confines of your question-and-answer terms. Growth and success don’t have to be measured, even within the terms that You put years, total income, or total wealth (income) during the year. Rather, growth and success have more to do with immeasurable personal wealth (ideals, convictions, ethics) and personal successes, such as independence, balance between work and life, growth and income (which can be measured from year to year, but not a true measure within one’s experiences).
I measure my growth based on how committed I am, the amount of support I receive from my manager / director, how successful I am in my business and personal relationships and goals, the balance I have between my business and personal life, and the amount of relationships I have. take into all aspects of my life. I am sure that I am missing something important in this answer; But the main point is ~ money or your bank accounts cannot measure your growth, satisfaction or success, only your feelings, relationships and heart can measure your personal success. “
Jay Sison (General Manager, 1 & 1 Internet, Philippines) believes that to measure your “personal growth” one must clearly define your goals along with a time frame to achieve those goals. Opinions are expressed as follows: “The good thing about this question is that only the person can answer it and can establish the baseline and timeline. You just have to outline the desired goal that can be objectively and subjectively quantified. Once defined, you can set the timeline by which you want to achieve and how aggressive you would like to achieve. I would recommend short, medium and long term. Therefore, the measurement depends on the standards of the person. The keyword in your La The question is “personal.” “Growth” and “success” are relative to the person. “
In the words of Gary Sieling (a software engineer at Thomson West, Rochester, New York area), the measurement of growth differs from time to time and is also based on the phases of life. A person is a complex entity and there are so many things (activities) that are involved in his life. You can’t measure all of these things with a scale of measurement. To measure everything that is involved in the life of an individual, it is necessary to use different scales. Thoughts are expressed as: “What I consider growth changes over time. Sometimes there are new things that I want to learn or do, but sometimes you, your perspectives change completely, for example, after having a health crisis. You can. set metrics for those things – just not numerical measures like you want. For example, if you want to grow a relationship, you can say “I keep up with them at least once a quarter on average” or “I would like to have a friend with him. that can speak. on personal matters. “Those are just goals, and as long as you are achieving them, you will be growing. Be wary of using a single measure: tracking your progress over time is generally informative, but if you use it as a decision-making tool , there are unintended consequences (for example, sacrificing health or happiness for more income).
However, Bjorn Martinoff (USA / Global Managing Consultant at IL International Human Capital Solutions, California), wants to make a clarification and says that there is a difference between growth and the satisfaction of doing something. He continues, “A lot of people confuse / collapse growth with success or growth and the results of growth mean income or reaching goals. Never, ever confuse these two because they are so different. I can achieve goals without personal growth, that is, I could win the lottery. However, no growth is needed for this or I might find myself with an inheritance, nor is much luck needed there. Therefore, money can be excluded as a reliable measure of growth. However, money often, not always, it is the result of growth. I measures of growth and success are the level of freedom and happiness that I experience in my life. “
Conclution
Everything that can be measured can also be managed. Depending on what you want to measure, there are different measurement scales. Your bank balance (your assets and wealth), time, education level, future and success of your children, your position in society and the way people perceive you (respect and admiration) that you have earned … these are some of the scales and criteria to measure your growth in “personal” life.
If you want to “manage your life”; you also need to know how to measure it.
Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep smiling.
Share your views.
With love
Sanjeev himachali
(BLOG: http://sanjeevhimachali.blogspot.com/ and http://sanjeevhimachali.multiply.com/)
(Email: [email protected] and [email protected])