How I Reinvented Professional Growth

Read time: 2 minutes

Today’s post is on framing professional growth.

Impact thinking isn’t just focused on problem-solving or decision-making. Part of it relies on your big-picture-meta-macro framing. In this instance, how you view growth impacts how you achieve it.

Read this if you’re serious about growth.

Nothing is more aggravating than finding the perfect job opportunity and then reading the requirement of “10 years of experience”…when you only have 6.

Actually, I lied.

It’s just as frustrating when someone hints or blatantly says you’re too inexperienced to solve their problem (when you’re not).

It reaffirmed the belief that professional growth cared more about time than intensity.

I was brainwashed to believe professional growth is this linear pattern.

• In your 20s, you build a foundation of hard work

• In your 30s, you grow & earn through smart work

• In your 40s, you grow & earn through management

• In your 50s, you grow & earn through leadership

• In your 60s, you grow & earn through wisdom

This is the proverbial ladder — a specific order to learning and opportunity.

If you’re ambitious and competitive, you try climbing that ladder as quickly as possible. With some luck, you might jump a rung, but you stay on this linear path for the most part.

By doing so, you reinforce the ladder.

While the ladder is typically associated with the career professional, the entrepreneur also falls prey to the “once I get to this level, then I can X, Y, or Z.”

No one is immune.

The truth is time is misleading in professional growth; the real driver is the level of focused energy and attention.

2 years of immense focus and repetition is far greater than 4 years of just showing up.

Let me be crystal clear — I acknowledge that time is required for professional growth; however, thinking of it as a simple, linear sequence is a mistake.

Professional growth is not a ladder; it’s a game.

Your entire career will be filled with many tiny positives and negatives, but only a few significant triumphs and setbacks make all the difference.

In this game, the goal is not to win. Instead, it’s to keep playing.

But I’m not sitting here telling you games are always fun.

• Games can go from exhilarating to frustrating within a matter of minutes.

• Games need an active player, not just a passive spectator.

• Games require strategy, luck, and a lot of reps.

The game mentality reveals how professional growth is exponential, not linear.

For me, the game revealed itself when I started my business.

I started to perceive my growth as a game I got to engage in daily — years of experience no longer mattered. You don’t get upset because the rules aren’t in your favor — you keep working, preparing, and finding ways to keep playing.

The game is constantly in motion.

• You experiment and engage in various activities

• You reflect and double down on what’s working

• You pivot and adapt to the market (or environment)

• You capitalize on your focused energy and attention

But you don't need to start a business to make the switch — it’s a mental reframe, not a career change.

You can start at any time — with no previous experience required.

Thanks for reading.

Peter

P.S. If this post made you think differently about your growth, please share it with 1 business owner (whether that’s a friend, colleague, or even a stranger) — you can help me take this farther than I ever could on my own. I’d be grateful.

If you missed last week’s post

Last week, I wrote:

How To Strike Gold With Your Strategic Growth (For Seasoned Business Owners)

It’s a deep dive into the nuances of drivers and levers so that you can navigate growth. The difference between “pushing or pulling” could mean incremental and exponential results.

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Welcome to Impact Thinking.

Hi, I’m Peter. I quit my highly-regarded, 6-figure job at Harvard to build a strategy consulting company in 2019.

I’ll help intellectually minded business owners grow profits by channeling strategic, critical, and creative thinking to impact decisions.

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