Are You Growing Your Roots?
You want to be successful. You want to be a kick-ass investment banker (or “insert other job here”). You spend money and time at school to learn the basics: accounting, financial management, networking, independence, how to work hard for goals, etc. As you progress, you start to achieve your goals, maybe you land that internship at Wellington or finally start trading at another firm. You keep progressing, spending countless hours on this job, pouring all your precious time chasing your definition of success and thinking happiness is right around the corner. You wait for tomorrow, and it never comes. You’re 40 or 50, with millions in the bank, but greatly dissatisfied with life. You start to ask why you’re not happy and how you ended up here. That is when the dreaded midlife crisis takes hold of you. What do you do now, buy a sports car? How would the same thinking that got you there solve the problem?
The life of the investment banker I fictionalized above is an example of someone who grew their metaphorical tree without expanding their roots. What happens when a tree grows so large, but the roots can not support it? It topples over.
Compare your life to a tree. You have your trunk, or the core things you are chasing in life right now, the ultimate goals, whether it be an investment banker, mechanical engineer, biologist, or guitar player. The branches are your progress toward them, things like internships, job offers, network opportunities, reading on the topics to further your knowledge, etc. The leaves are your accomplishments, getting that million in the bank, creating the next great product, heading the department of a large corporation, etc.
We’re taught to focus on these things, these tangible goods that we’re told will guide us toward the path of happiness and purpose. Many parents, universities, employers and more push us on toward this path, and since we have to go in a direction, many of us follow the “tested and true” guidelines for what we think success is supposed to encompass. These people might mean well in our lives, but here’s the thing, if you only follow the path given to you without contemplation of that avenue and it’s alternatives, you run the risk of becoming the tree that falls over, broken, and wonder to yourself “How did I get here?”
In my opinion, the value of personal development is often overlooked or misunderstood by many.
Quick, where do you want to be in 10 years and why?
……..and…we’re back!
Not many parents tell their 18 year old to take a year or two off from school to “find themselves.” Even if they do, many do not have much direction or support to find knowledge, people and other resources to help them along the journey, and so fall back to the norm due to fear. I’m not saying anything is wrong with this per se, but what I am saying is that currently, personal growth is not exactly a subject many people help their budding teenagers and young adults with. No matter what path you are on as of now, start to put a focus on your personal growth, especially if you haven’t before, and amazing breakthroughs start to happen.
Seek books and blog posts on subjects that interest you and make you wonder, talk to everyone you can and put your ideas out to the world. Someone or something else may help you to find the puzzle pieces you’ve been missing. Growing your roots lets you develop your tree in the direction you want to be heading. When you feel lost, explore why. When you move in a direction that gets you excited, ask yourself why it makes you excited. Interact with people you would normally not. Expand you views, your horizons, and discover things about yourself and the world you brushed over before. Is it easy to find yourself? I’d say not. Is there a specific path to follow? No, its like a jungle gym, there are so many ways to the same destination. Sometimes you start in one direction to only end up at another. The important part, is that you start to move in a direction of self development.
It isn’t required to know everything you want or need right now, but just remember as you expand your tree upward, don’t overlook the value of spreading your roots downward, into the corners of your mind.
Cheers,
Scott
