3 Gaps Between Knowing and Doing – Moving My Growth Plan Forward
I know I should be…., but I am not. Can you relate to that statement? What is one thing you know you need to do, but are not currently doing? What is holding you back? How do you get from the space of knowing to taking action?
Focus on closing your growth gaps.
A growth gap is the distance between knowing and doing. It keeps you from moving forward on your growth journey. Leadership author and national speaker John C. Maxwell identifies 8 common gaps in his book The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. When I work with clients, the top 3 they most closely identify with are the knowledge, timing, and mistake gaps.
- Timing Gap
Clients say, it is not the right time or there isn’t enough time to grow. Ask yourself, if not now then when? In Chris Bailey’s The Productivity Project, he says it is not about having enough time, but instead about how and where you spend your energy and attention. If personal and professional growth is a priority, it deserves time on your calendar.
- Knowledge Gap
You want to, you know you need to, but you do not know how to grow. There is so much information available to us that it can be overwhelming to figure out how to grow. First, determine one opportunity for you to grow; public speaking, leadership, project management. Second, who are the leading experts in that area and have they written books, newsletters, blogs, or are they on social media? Third, start following them, read their books, see if they are speaking at a conference. Fourth, identify the top concepts in the field you need to learn about and put into practice.
- Mistake Gap
Growth comes with making mistakes and we don’t have all of the answers. What is most important is to ask the right questions. If you want to change and grow, you will make mistakes. As American Scholar Warren Bennis says, “A mistake is simply another way of doing things.” Focus on what you learned from your mistakes, make adjustments, and continue moving forward.
Having an awareness of your growth gaps is the first step in allowing you to move from the “I should” space to the “action” space. Identifying and committing to ways to close your gaps reduces your stress, because you are no longer worrying about what you should be doing and you are taking action.
What growth gap do you identify with most closely? What is one action you are going to take to close your growth gap? Share your thoughts and experiences, join the conversation below.
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