Growth is a Circle, not a Line.
Unfiltered thoughts on a Tuesday evening.
Hi friends,
I hope you are doing good.
I have a question for you: when you think of growth, what visual(s) pop up in your head?
Is it a diagonally rising line with an upward arrow or an iteration of this basic visual?
A few days ago I realized that I think of growth and success in linear terms like most of us. And this thinking manifests itself in our belief in success and failure, growth and retardation, forward and backward in binary opposite terms.
You can either have + or -
And there is no simultaneity because it is a line, it is always defined by absolutes, and it always moves in one direction.
Do you see the obvious problem here?
Growth, in reality, is a circle, not a line.
Think of all the facets of your life- health, income, friendships, family, pets, vacations, deadlines, work, colleagues, relationships, personal goals, ambitions, dreams, etc.
When you sit down in the last week of December, contemplating the year that you have had do you label it as good or bad based solely on any one of these facets? Does a breakup mean a downward graph? Does a week-long Goa trip mean a positive graph?
All the facets of your life are individual dots. Yes, there is a line, a line connecting these dots, forming a circle. To speak in mathematical terms, the circumference of this circle stands for your growth.
Growth is the net outcome of the interaction of all the aspects of your life.
Growth is a circle.
Once we start thinking of growth in these terms, the much sought-after work-life balance will stop being so elusive.
We put too much importance on one facet of our life failing to understand the correlation and interdependence of the dots. No dot is more important than the other. And though a shrinkage in one impacts the overall circle, it does not dominantly influence the overall circle. But it does influence the other dots which in return impacts the circle.
This also helps us to realize the dynamic nature of growth, and the beauty of compounding. Small changes in the size of the dot influence the size of the circle exponentially over time.
Visualizing a circle helps you realize the wholesomeness of your life and endows you with a complete vision, fuller and more prosperous.
Next Sunday is Father’s day! And I am planning to take out a special issue regarding it covering all of your stories about fatherhood, your relationship with your father, the way it has changed over the years, your favourite childhood memories, basically anything and everything. I will be featuring every response I get, and it can be anonymous if you want. So, please send in your thoughts by replying to this email, you can also drop in my DM @pawan_rochwani
Thank you for reading till the end, see you next Tuesday!