How a Hockey Stick Growth Curve Can Apply to Your Personal Goals
The slow initial growth experienced by start ups can mirror your personal growth, too.
For a start up, innovation can take years of low or no revenue before it hits a crucial inflection point. When charted against time, this growth line has been called a hockey stick growth curve.
For the first few years, growth seems dismal over the flat hockey stick blade. It’s not until an inflection point does the payoff become tangible. After the inflection point, growth surges over the rising incline of the hockey stick shaft. After this point, it’s finally a feeling of, wow, this is really happening.
In sum, the basic principle of a hockey stick growth curve is that nothing happens overnight.
Personal Growth Also Takes Time
I’ve never launched a start up, but I have decided to learn a language, make lifestyle changes, and “launch” a new career. And looking at the hockey stick growth curve, I find a familiar timeline.
At the beginning of any new project, my efforts seemed like wading through the mud. There was no immediate dopamine hit to keep me going. Having little reward makes the blade section of the growth curve a true test of consistency…
