Day 23 – Time to G.R.O.W.

This morning I woke a few minutes early to make sure I kept “The 365 Commitment.” I had to rush out of the house to catch an airplane, but I wanted time to review and pray about my list today.

As I went through the list I noticed a phenomena that is starting to occur. In some cases I am running out of the best things to do and I also noticed that a few things keep showing up on my list. One particular item has shown up 5 times now and everytime it makes it do the end of the list and I do not get it done. The challenge is real, this task is actually important and something I really want. The problem is that this is not a task – it is really more of a goal. It is not something I can get done – so what do I do about that? Well – I need to G.R.O.W.

GROW is an acronym for a process of inquiry designed to help you discover the tasks that will take you on a path forward to solving your goals. It is best that you have a GROW partner – someone that can ask you questions and guide you through the mental process. However, you can do it by yourself if you are uncomfortable asking someone to help you GROW.

Here is the basic line of inquiry that GROW follows:

Goal – The first line of inquiry is to determine what you want to accomplish. What is your end in mind? Do you really believe that you can accomplish this? What are the consequences of not obtaining the goal? What are the benefits? Plan on spending about 10 minutes answering these questions.

Reality – This line of questioning is designed to help you really think about what your reality is. What is your current reality? What is preventing you from accomplishing the goal. Why have you not acted on this before? What is your situation and what are your challenges. Do not spend a lot of time on this line of inquiry, it is just important to have a context for the next step. Spend about 10 minutes evaluating your current reality.

Options – This is the most important line of questioning. What options do you have for achieving your goal? What specific things can you do to head in the right direction? Keep asking, what else could you do? It is important to write down all of your options as you progress through this step. What would your mom say that you need to do? What would your spouse say? What would your mentor say? What would Katy Perry tell you to do? Ask this question from many angles, any angle that can inspire an option. Take advice from other people, from other sources. Come up with a long list of options that you could start doing to get to your goal. Spend most of your time on this section. About 30 minutes.

Way Forward – This is the line of inquiry in which you ask – out of all of these options – which seems like the best to pursue? Which one(s) are you the most likely to actually do? What options do you consider to be your way forward. Spend about 10 minutes answering this question.

When you are all done – you will have a list of real tasks that you can actually accomplish rather than just a goal. You can now start to put these tasks on your 365 commitment morning list. You can repeat the GROW process whenever you need. Perhaps after you have accomplished the options and need more, or perhaps when you have stalled in your progress.

You can also schedule a G.R.O.W. session as part of your morning task list. This morning I put as a #2 – Schedule a GROW session on . At my work, I have a person I go to whenever I need to do a GROW session. I think you will find using a GROW partner, mentor, or coach is always better.

Now start growing!

Guy Reams (23)
365 Member

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