To succeed in life you must make personal growth one of your highest priorities. The fact is, you never stand still. You’re either going forwards or backwards, stretching or stagnating. Let’s take a moment and think about what happens when you allow yourself to stagnate. You lose your influence. Do your friends seek your advice and then act on it? Do your co-workers value your opinion? If you’re not bringing new ideas and information to the table on a regular basis, people will start looking elsewhere and you’ll end up becoming marginalised.

Today’s businesses move at the speed of light. New ideas, technology, leadership techniques, financial models, sales principles, and ways to communicate are constantly being scrutinised, discussed, evaluated and tested. Company leadership is looking for men and women who aren’t automatons. They’re looking for original thinkers, people who can look beyond normal everyday workplace interactions and find new solutions. Become the ‘go-to person’ when it comes to answers and ideas. Be the one who knows how to find new information, and who can provide innovative insights and perspectives. If you keep your eyes and ears open, your mind alert, and listen carefully, you’ll discover that great ideas are all around you. You’ll find a hundred people who can manage a good idea, for every one person who can come up with that good idea.

If you’re not influencing decisions, directions, or people, you need to implement a plan for personal growth—immediately! Solomon, who is often referred to as the wisest man who ever lived, apart from Christ, said, ‘Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.’