My Personal Growth Story.

Today’s blog post is going to be different, Its actually storytime by the way. I have received so many questions from people on how my love for personal growth started and why I decided to learn more on the subject.

I was just a regular young girl in school focused on getting good grades so that I can make it to college, or University as many in my country would best refer to it. Just like most kids, I had plans to finish school and get a well-paying job and that meant majoring in well-respected degrees. I remember at some point I wanted to become an Actuarial Scientist. All I am trying to say is I had a mentality of getting school done get a job (for security). For things to become better I always relied on the outside environment to change. When I got bad grades I would blame it on the teachers and the fact that my school was not an A school. When prices hiked I would blame the government and wait for them to change things. I never took 100% responsibility for my life. Everything that was not going well in my life I would blame it unfair conditions I thought were working against me. My life did not have a clear vision, I was following the norm school – well-paying job – family.

All this changed when I became a member of the Junior Achievement Zimbabwe ( JAZ) at my high school. The club required students to establish functional companies that can generate profit. I was elected as the President/ Ceo of Club. Basically, JAZ was more about entrepreneurship. In pursuit of becoming a better leader and develop skills to successfully run a company as well as lead a team, I became interested in reading and learning about entrepreneurship and leadership. I listened to so many entrepreneurs the likes of Richard Branson and many more. I started to listen to John Maxwell ( my legendary leadership guru) John Spoke about how to become a better leader/ build a great company is only if you become better yourself. This was a paradigm shift for me because I always believed that the outside environment had to change for me to succeed.

My mum introduced me to Terri Savelle Foy and she taught about Dreams and goals. This gave me a complete change in the way I viewed life. I was no longer that girl who was focused on good grades to try and get into college. It was like I was beginning to know myself all over again. I remember listening to Terri’s podcast on my iPad during my commute to school. I began brainstorming about what I wanted in my life. For the first time, I began learning about goal setting and taking time to dream about my future.

I heard Jim Rohn say you have to take 100% responsibility for your life. To change what is around, I had to become better myself. John Maxwell taught me about the Law of the lid, Your Organisation, company or success can never far exceed your personal growth. In short for everything around you to become better, you have to become better yourself. This was the beginning of my journey and three years later I am continuing and bringing you along with me. By this time I was in upper six, by the way, our Junior achievement company was a success. I am thankful for the experience because it lead me to this path of personal development.

When I finished my A’ Level during the holiday ( waiting for results ) I made a decision to grow myself. I remember when all my friends were making their holiday plans, I used to sound ridiculous when I would say I want to grow myself. It didn’t make sense to them because we usually assume growth is automatic, as we get older we get wiser and better. True growth is intentional.

During the vacation, I made it a priority to read books that challenged my growth. I developed habits that promoted discipline and had long term benefits. I woke up early morning to workout, I did this even when I didn’t feel like it. I listened to good podcasts, I started working on specific areas in my life like confidence and insecurities. I made sure I kept my room tidy oooh yes I did, I would take time to fold my laundry and make sure my bed is nicely done. You might be thinking this is basic but how many people live in cluttered places.

I learned many ways of developing myself and I am still learning because personal growth is an ongoing process. This journey has contributed to the carrier that I have chosen and gave me a different view for my life. This has added value to my life, I hope this blog will do the same to you.

Well, this is how I started on my personal growth journey. I am so excited to be sharing some strategies with you so that we can live as the best version of ourselves. I will share more on my personal experiences with personal growth in the upcoming articles.

tanyafungai