If you want to reach your potential, the most effective solution is through personal growth.

However, the journey of personal growth is not an easy one.

The reality is that the process of reaching your potential and achieving your dreams can be challenging. You will have ups and downs, highs and lows, and seasons of knowns and unknowns.

But it is through the process of personal growth that you will learn to develop perseverance along the journey to your goals.

The process of personal growth involves a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.

• Trusting the process is a continuous act of faith.
• To reach your full potential, you have to embrace the process.

So how can you reach your potential through personal growth?

1. Create a positive growth environment.

If you were to plant a seed, you would need the right external factors including the correct temperature, water, oxygen, and the proper amount of light or darkness.

Additionally, the soil makeup is also a factor. In the right environment, that seed is able to develop into its full potential and function according to what it was designed for.

Conversely, if the environment is not right, that seed will lie dormant and never reach its full potential.

Just as seed germination depends on both internal and external conditions, so does the development of your potential.

When you create the right positive environment around you, you can develop and become what you were created to be.Click To Tweet

What daily action can you do to create a positive environment for growth in your life?

2. Stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone.

There are often times during the process of personal growth that you have to be willing to leave behind what is familiar and comfortable.

You will be forced to take risks, become courageous, and step into the unknown.

• You cannot move forward to your potential if you continue to hold on to the past.
• You cannot remain in your comfort zone and reach your potential at the same time.

When you are devoted to a life of personal growth, you have to be willing to give up “good” in exchange for “great”!

What are you willing to leave behind that is familiar?

3. Develop the right inner circle.

People often come into your life for a specific reason.

Your potential is determined by those closest to you.Click To Tweet

As you grow personally, you need people around you that will uplift and push you to a higher level of thinking.

When the right people come into your life, you must ask yourself:

• What am I meant to learn from them?
• What is the lesson?
• And most importantly, what will I do with the lesson?

As you trust the process, take time to evaluate why certain people are placed in your life.

Who in your life are you meant to learn from? If you don’t have the right people in your life, how can you get them in your inner circle?

4. Be intentional about self-reflection.

Self-awareness gives you the revelation of what direction you need to go in in order for you to reach your potential.

You can’t grow until you know who you are.Click To Tweet

Personal growth enables you to face the truths about yourself. Nothing in life just happens.

Everything you go through is a lesson for you based on the choices you make.

Life lessons allow you to know what is working and what is not working.

Once you find out what’s working or what’s not working, you can then decide what you are going to do differently with the truth you have now discovered.

This will help to keep you moving forward. But remember, your external truth does not dictate your internal truth.

What is happening in your life (both professionally and personally) that is a clue that it is for change or improvement?

5. Have faith in a source beyond yourself.

Having faith or belief in something greater than yourself gives you a sense a purpose. This sense of purpose gives you the momentum to grow.

Personal growth is most effective when you believe that you have a purpose for your life that is bigger than what you can see.Click To Tweet

This will motivate you to embrace the personal growth process so that you can move from where you are to where you want to be.

I am a believer that there is a God who has equipped everyone with gifts and talents to be used to add value to others.

Your belief system can be leveraged to motivate you to reach your full potential.

What/Who is your faith or belief system in?

6. Are you willing to trust the process to grow to your potential?

To reach your full potential, growing personally is the key to your success.

When working with my coaching clients, I help them to understand that personal growth is something that happens continually, not in just one day.

Time is needed to unlearn old habits and negative mindsets. You have to embrace the process and constantly renew your eagerness to fully develop into the person you were created to be.

You will have to be intentional and work diligently on the areas where improvement is needed.

Personal growth has to become a lifestyle, not a one-time event.Click To Tweet

Nicole “Dr. Nic” Rankine is one of the most engaging certified Personal Growth Coaches around. She is an international speaker, teacher, and coach and whether working with educational leaders, youth leaders, entrepreneurs, or emerging leaders. Dr. Nic has a proven track record of success of teaching personal growth and leadership principles so her clients can see, own, and achieve their dreams.