As always when approaching the end of the year, I’ve had the rumblings of my goals for the new year building up inside my head. I was riding my bike this afternoon and thought “how can I challenge myself next year” and my mind immediately jumped to “how many research projects can I help out with” but I quickly knew that was not going to help me grow. It may help my publication count grow, but it won’t help me to grow as a person. This year there were periods where I probably overcommitted myself and wasn’t able to do everything as well as I would like. Whilst this did challenge my ability to organise my time efficiently, beyond that it didn’t help me much, other than surviving and getting what I needed to done. Next year I really want to be continuously challenging myself to be out of my comfort zone, because then no matter if I pass or fail (metaphorically), I will always be growing as a person.
Growing comes when you initially think “I can’t do that” or “I shouldn’t do that,” but you don’t listen to that incessant voice inside your head, and do it anyway. That voice is the voice of self-consciousness, or self-doubt, two things which will do nothing but hold you back. These can be very powerful voices, and we often cede defeat to them, but true growth comes when we ignore them and push on.
The reason I’m so keen on growth at the moment is because there is nothing else I need more. I’m lucky enough to have savings so I don’t acutely need money and I don’t really need to focus on my career or keeping my job. The long term gains from pushing myself out of my comfort zone will reveal themselves as career gains, and gains in long term ability and happiness.
I feel lucky to have realised this quite early on, before I have too many sunk costs to my name, ie. a long term career, kids, a mortgage etc. I’m still able to be flexible and risk a lot, for a lot of gains until I find something I really enjoy doing and am passionate about. I don’t think I’ve found that yet, but the next year is about putting myself in a position for it to reveal itself to me.
Harrison Hansford 