How would you envision a pathway to grow?
That question crossover to various areas of our lives. When you step back, you could identify how you would like to mature in your work, relationships, personal development, and spiritually.
Focus can become the problem. Without realizing it, we can rest on our laurels and begin to coast. At other points, we tinker in areas where we identify our need for growth when in actuality our coworkers, family, and friends might identify another area.
Ben Cohen of the Wall Street Journal recently wrote a piece on Stephen Curry, Stephen Curry Wants to Get Better at Shooting. Whether you know basketball or not, Curry has risen to the top of his game. He won two MVPs. Even ten years into his career, some pundits would rank him as the greatest shooter of all time.
Those factors make this article an interesting read. Curry believes that he still has areas of improvements. Listen to what he says in this article:
“As I get older,” Curry said, “the more efficient you can be with how you get your shots, how you create space, knowing where to be defensively, you prolong your career at your peak.”
It seems that Curry in this stage of his career has sought to make incremental changes to last longer. Those minuscule improvements make a vast difference. His workouts six days a week during the offseason attempting to make around 600-1000 shots. The arguably greatest shooter of all time still has not seen his peak in his own eyes.
Why would Stephen Curry’s shot matter to you? I wonder if we have the same perspective on growth in our own lives. Do we check the box on strengths that if we made incremental improvements could make a difference? Curry provides us with a model to view growth.
Today, take a moment to consider the minuscule steps of growth you can pursue. They may coincide with how you relate to other people, organize your schedule, taking a walk, or finding more inspiration outside of screentime.
You could take it to the next step and ask a person close to you, “What’s one minor improvement that you think could make a difference in me?”
Lastly, I wonder if we considered the implications of spiritual growth in our lives. The Gospel reminds us of the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to transform us. All too often Jesus shines a light on the small areas of lives like our motivations, faithfulness to serve, and our time with him behind the scenes. It seems that Jesus in many cases takes our small acts of faith and multiplies them to make a significant difference.
(Image via The San Diego Union-Tribune)