An ecological metaphor, even if I’m covered in snow (literally)
Most of us are not great at diagnosing our own growth. We tend to compare ourselves to others and assume we’re stuck or behind.
But growth doesn’t go from 0 to 10 overnight. It takes patience and learning, with prizes and punishments at each step.
To break this down in a way that’s easy to understand (and help you see where you stand), I created a brand new tool that maps the four phases of growth we go through as humans.
The first time I shared this was in the webinar I hosted a few weeks ago. Now I’m sharing it publicly with you.
Each of the four phases has a theme to it, and each phase has its prizes and punishments for moving through it.
Seed leads to Shoot leads to Flower leads to Fruit.
Who doesn’t love a metaphor?
If I were to guess where most people reading this newsletter are, I would say that 40% are Shoot and 30% are Flower.
It’s a classic bell curve, with small numbers at either end.
And the nice thing about being in a growth phase means there is no wrong place to be. Wherever you are on the scale, it is perfect for you right now, with the opportunity to, well … grow.
So let’s zoom in on Shoot. (And if you want to learn about all four, watch the webinar replay. I talk about these growth phases around the 30:08 mark.)
Shoot: The Prize and Punishments
The price you pay for transcending the Seed phase to Shoot is needing to break through the shell, an act of violence and liberation that allows things to begin.
The core theme of Shoot is seeking, and how thrilling this can be.
This is the phase where you’re in motion, and motion feels like progress.
New people, new ideas, new ways of being in the world. The map unfolds, and you’re actually walking somewhere that matters.The prize is the Journey. That sense of new possibilities opening up, an unfolding and increasing sense of potential.
You’re no longer static or safe in containment.
You’re exploring. And exploration is intoxicating … every book, every experience, every conversation, every risk shimmers with possibility.
But stepping to the edge of your known world means you’ll eventually meet what you don’t know.
About the territory, sure. But more uncomfortably, about yourself and your limits and your fears.
Your capacity for courage or self-sabotage will be tested. (This is the punishment.)
Old maps warned: Here be dragons. (I’m not sure old maps actually said this, but we’re going to pretend that they did.)
The Shoot phase asks: Are you willing to encounter what you’ve been avoiding?
Because the dragons aren’t just out there in some distant land.
(As an aside, I’m not convinced that “dragons = bad” is the whole truth. Certainly, in Eastern storytelling, a dragon in the story was always a propitious sign.)
But they’re also in you.
And the way through, the way to move to the Flower phase, is to face them.
If you want to dig into the other three phases — and figure out where you are right now — take a look at the webinar replay before we pull it down. I’m guessing it’s well worth your time.
