Transcription

• Speaker #0

  You could be busy and still not building. You could be moving and still not maturing. On today's episode of the Growth Gym Podcast, we're going to find out the real truth.

• Speaker #1

  Welcome to the Growth Gyms Podcast, where we believe that growth is a journey, not a destination. This podcast is designed to empower you with the necessary tools to unlock your full potential and develop yourself. both personally and professionally. We provide insightful conversations and share inspiring stories that will help you grow emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially. Our goal is to create a community of like-minded individuals who are on a journey of self-improvement and help you live a more fulfilling life. We aim to equip you with resources, strategies, and growth gems that you can apply in your daily life to achieve your goals and reach your full potential. So get ready to embark on a journey of transformation and join us in discovering the power of growth.

• Speaker #0

  What's going on, family? Welcome back to another episode of the Growth Gym Podcast, where we believe growth is a journey and not a destination. I'm your host, Chris Briggs. Thank you so much for joining us today. And we're diving into a topic that many skip over today, but it's one that's most important part of our journey of growth is how do we assess our growth? How do we, as we come down to the end of the year, we just got a few more days left in this year, actually 21 days as I'm recording this episode. And how do I assess my growth? Because growth isn't just about movement, but it's about measurement. And so you can be busy and still not be building. You could be moving and still be not maturing because real growth requires a honest check in with yourself. And here goes the question. When the last time I've checked in and made sure that everything that I was growing properly because many of us are growing, but we're not growing properly. All right. So, you know how we do it on the Growth Gym podcast. Get your pen and paper out. Get your notes out. Also, share this podcast episode with all your family and friends. Share with individuals. Put it in the hands of people you know who needs to join us on this growth journey. Also, subscribe to this episode and also leave a review. I would love to hear from you. All right. So when we look at growth today, we're going to shine a light on areas that matter and give us. And I have five growth gems that's going to help us assess our progress. All right. So the question is, why assessment matters? Why does assessment matters? Well, family, let's be honest. Sometimes we don't want to assess our growth because we are afraid of what we will find. We'll be honest. We are afraid of what we will find. And assessment forces honesty. Assessment forces. Honesty, it challenged the comfort that we are in. It exposes patterns that we have taken on in our lives. But here's the truth that we must grip today is that you cannot change what you refuse to confront. You cannot change what you refuse to confront and you cannot grow what you refuse to measure. So assessment is very vital and assessment is not about guilt. It's not about to make you guilty. It's to give clarity on where you are. It's not to make you feel bad. It's not about punishment. It's about progress. It's not about the shame. It's about strategy, okay? So the version of you that you want to become is waiting on you to check in with yourself, with the version that you have become comfortable with right now. So this is the question. that we must ask ourselves, when is the last time I've made an assessment in my life? When is the last time I've taken time to look over my life to make sure I'm growing and I'm being all that life has for me? I'm reaching my full potential because we've become so busy with productivity that we fail to review and assess our growth to make sure that we are in the proper. place and we're doing the proper things. So what you should be looking for if I'm assessing my life, when you assess your growth. You're not just asking, am I doing better? You need to be asking these questions. You got your pen and paper, you got your notes, your phone. You got to ask these questions. This is what you have to ask. You have to ask, am I thinking differently? You got to ask, am I responding differently? Am I becoming more disciplined? Am I healing in places I used to hide? And am I making choices that align with my future, not my fears? These are the questions you must ask because growth is not just external accomplishments. Growth is internal transformation because many are growing externally. You are growing. You are successful. You are achieving everything externally. But internally, you hadn't transformed. You're still broken. You're still hurt. You still are avoiding those places that need to be healed. Growth is emotional maturity. Growth is developing a stronger mindset. Growth is becoming a better steward of your purpose, your time, and your relationships. So if I'm growing, I have to make sure I'm becoming a better steward of my time, relationships, and my purpose. So, are you taking time out to assess? And today in this episode, I want to make sure that I give you the tools, I give you the resources you need, that you can assess your growth over this 12 months. That you can assess your growth over this year, 2025. Because if we'll be honest, this year has been very uncertain. This year has thrown some curveballs at us. This year has had its ups, has had its downs. This year has put some smiles on your faces. But then also this year has caused some frowns. This year has come with joy, but also it has come with the contrary of pain. This year has had its proclivities. It's had its moments. In other words, this year has just been lifing. It's been doing what it wants to do. And you got to take the time to assess over your life to make sure that I'm growing properly. Because many of us are growing, but are we really growing properly? All right. Here goes the five growth gems I want to... I want to give to you that you can use to access as an assessment tool. All right. Here go the five growth gems I want to give you that you can use as an assessment tool. And I told you I want to give you the tools, the resources, everything you need to assess your life. Here you go. First of all, the first growth gem, you got to look at your pattern, not your promises. Anybody can make promises, but growth shows in your patterns. You got to look at it. Are your habits becoming healthier? Are you becoming more healthier in your emotions, in your body, in your physical? Are you taking more medicine? Or are you pulling yourself off? Is the doctor taking you off medicine because you're living a more cleaner and healthier life? Are you responding, are your response becoming wiser? Am I becoming wiser to the fact of that I don't make decisions before I think about it? Or I don't respond out of haste. I don't respond out of emotions. I don't let my emotions get the best of me. I respond in a way that seems of a wiser individual. And then even in me becoming wiser, I look at the fact of, am I giving attention? Is it even worth me giving a response to? You want to assess your growth. And I've realized over this year, I've seen myself grow to a place of where everything don't call for a response. Everything don't call for a rebuttal. Everything. And it comes with becoming wiser. Because you don't have the time and the energy. Now, there are some things you have to address, but you don't have to address everything. Are your cycles becoming shorter? Because your pattern tells the truth about your progress. And when I say your cycles, because many times we get in a pattern of a cycle. And I found myself, even this year, I started off good, then I get in a slump, and then I have to find myself, pick myself back up, and dust myself off and continue what I'm doing. And then I get back in another slump and I got to pick myself back up and continue to go on. I mean, I know I'm telling the truth on me. Now, I can't speak for you where you are, but you know where you are in your cycles. And one of my biggest hindrance to my growth is consistency and procrastination. That's the problem. I start something, but I don't have the consistency to go with it. to continue, the tenacity to continue it. I pick it up, start off good with a bunch of fire and desire, but then here comes something to rob my attention. And then my focus goes somewhere else. So that's where I am. Now I can't speak for you, but take the information, the tools, the resources that I'm giving you and assess your life with it. So look at your patterns, not your promises. But here goes the second growth gem. Check your fruit, not just your feelings. Check your fruit, not just your feelings. Because feelings fluctuate. Fruit don't lie. Ask yourself these questions. Are my relationships healthier? Am I building healthy relationships? And you know what I realized? That if you have conflict with everybody you come in contact with, if you're having conflict and there is problems, it's not them more safe. You got to check yourself. Am I healthy? Is my mindset stronger? Check your fruit. Is your mindset stronger? Is my discipline increasing? That's the big one for me. my discipline y'all I and y'all can tell by the discipline disciplining myself to sit down and record a podcast episode y'all sometimes it just it gets the best of me it it just just get the and I I'm like man I know what I and you be like that you know what you got to do but then you don't have the energy you don't have the just the push to get it done Am I producing peace instead of chaos? Because you know a tree buys fruit, but you know your growth by your outcomes. Oh, that's good. Oh, you better clock that. Clock that right there. That's, you know, a tree buys fruit, but you know your growth by your outcomes. You know that you are growing by the outcome of circumstance. Am I producing peace instead of chaos? Where do I lie? Is my life full of chaos or am I living a peaceful life? And that was a circumstance that happened just with my family during the holiday season. And I was proud of myself. Nothing bad, just typical family stuff. I mean, you may not have it in your family, but I mean, typical family stuff. And this is what I realized I had to be the peacemaker, but not so the peacemaker of not addressing something, but I had to realize how am I going to produce peace and how am I going to display my growth by, here go, not talking to other individuals about it, but I went directly to my family member. I went directly to them and talk to them and say, hey, this is not what you told me. and I'm hearing other things, give some cleverity to this. And once we talked about it, we got an understanding and it brought, and it's like, wow. And I was proud of myself because the growth, the immature me would have taken that situation and would have went another way. Now, let me be honest and very transparent. Did I get mad? Did I cuss? Yes, I did. But reality had to set in to slap me and say, hey, you got to handle this mature. You got to handle this with grace. You got to handle it as a growth, as a person who's growing, not as an immature child, not as an immature individual. So I don't want you to think, oh, I approached the situation, you know, with just when I first when it first when it first happened, I just approached it with, you know, jolly holly peace. No, I was mad. I'll just be honest. I was upset. I was cussing and fussing. I mean, I was... And I'm like, hold on. And then I had to check myself and reality had to set in and say, hey, you're growing. You can't you got to you got to break that cycle and you got to you got to produce peace. And once I produced peace, I saw the growth not only in me, I saw the growth in the individual. And not only did I see the growth in the individual, because it wasn't the thing of that. I came off when we talked. I didn't come off harsh. I didn't come off as angry. I came off as an individual who's concerned. And my whole objective was to produce peace. That's all. And those situations, and I'm just trying to help y'all. Those situations like that, you're put in certain situations and circumstances to help you see where you are in your growth. All right? Here goes another one. The third growth dream is measure your recovery time. This is a big one, y'all. As you assess your growth, measure your recovery time. Growth isn't avoiding mistakes. It's recovering faster from them. Ooh, this is a big one, y'all. Ooh. As you assess your life, y'all, how long does it take you? to do this? As you recover, as you assess your life, how long does it take you to apologize? It's quiet. How long does it take for you to refocus? How long does it take you to get your focus back? How long does it take you to get back on course? How long does it take you to regain your confidence? How long? Does it take you to bounce back from disappointment? I hope y'all writing this stuff down and taking notes so you can assess. As I'm giving you the tools and resources, you can take this and just assess your life and assess your growth. Because if your recovery time is shorter, that means your growth is deeper. You got to get to the place. And you know, can I just say something, y'all? life has taught me something um that life is too short to be holding grudges be angry mad unforgiveness so i'm learning that as i grow hey i gotta be quick to apologize because the reality it is you don't know if you're gonna get that opportunity you gotta how long do it take me to refocus the game i'm focused because distractions come and when i'm distracted My attention is elsewhere and I got to regain, like I told you, I got to regain my focus. I got to get back to what I know I'm supposed to be doing. How long do it take you to regain your confidence? Bounce back from disappointment, y'all. Can I tell you something? This year has been, I've had some moments of disappointment. Can I tell you? Oh, my God. I thought that I had a job. And I just knew I had that job. And I got a call. You know, I mean, the people wanted me. I mean, it looked like, you know, and y'all, I'm being very transparent. My wife had got a job offer. I got a job offer. We went house, you know, looking at the houses. I mean, we just knew this was it. We were, you know, we're going to transition, you know, we're going to, you know, move from one place to another to expand our lives, to continue to grow. And you get a call and it's like, no, we don't, you know, it didn't work out. And when I say disappointed, man, I was so angry. I was mad. I mean, in all the years of my life. me being with my wife, I've never cried the way I did because I just knew and I'm hearing my son. I couldn't tell him because he was excited. Hey, I'm going to a new school, new city. Man, we got a new life. And I had to get a grip on myself. Because honestly, y'all, this is very transparent. Because honestly, and I hope my transparency is helping somebody. Because honestly, y'all, I had disconnected with my current... demographic. My current location, honestly, I had detached myself because I just knew this was it. So I was like, man, hey, I'm not giving it no attention. I'm not, hey, my focus is on this. And when the disappointment came, I found myself very, very, very angry. But then I had to snap back but then in snapping back and coming back It's like I was being fake. It's like I wasn't being genuinely real because my reality wasn't matching what my heart desire was. It's like I was being fake. And so I was, you know, I was very upset. I was very angry. But I had to come back to from that disappointment. And I'm coming back slowly but surely. And I haven't given up on where I'm wanting to go and where I'm trying to do. And, you know, but it's just the fact of my wife was disappointed. My son was disappointed. You know, it was just a disappointing thing. And I'm like, man, we just knew. And can I tell y'all, this just didn't happen one time. It happened twice this year. Two jobs that I was seeking after. declined me rejected did not want me and we you know you got flights we you know out of state we're flying i mean you just knew go house and you know looking over the city and everything you were like man this is it to get a call and say no um we went another way you know we want somebody else and that's disappointing that's hurting and it makes you start questioning yourself He was like, what is it in me that they have and I don't have? What is it? And then you start reviewing over like, okay, did I talk too much? Was it my appearance? I mean, was it my mannerisms? I mean, you start questioning yourself. And you start questioning your ability. And you start questioning, you know, y'all, I mean. That's a whole nother episode for another day. I mean, just the recovery of disappointment because it do something to you mentally. It do something to you emotionally. It do something to you spiritually, physically, because you don't have the energy to get up that drive. Because why am I giving up my all? And the thing is, I was giving my all to that. And I neglected what my present was because I was so focused on my future. And I forsook my present to put my all into the future, and the future disappointed me. So, yeah, y'all, that's a whole nother episode for a whole nother day. But let me say this, I recovered. I'm recovering. Let me put it like that. I'm recovering, but I haven't given up. And I'm still going after all that my heart's desire. purpose, my drive. I'm giving it all I got because I know there's so much more. All right, here go to growth gem number four, y'all. You got to assess what you no longer entertain. You got to assess what you no longer entertain. One of the clearest signs of growth is what no longer gets your attention. Think about it. Ask yourself these questions. What used to offend you That no longer moves you. What used to distract you. That no longer interests you. What used to tempt you. No longer has power. Because your appetite. Reveals your evolution. What is it? Let me give you those questions. As you assess. What is not giving the entertainment. What no longer you entertain. What used to offend you no longer moves you anymore. You're not moved by people, their thoughts, their ideas about you. a past circumstance situation that occurred that may have offended that don't even bother you no more and that's the thing i'm not and you know you know we talk about a new year and and growing and everything it's just the reality that i don't care how much the new year comes there's still some past hurt that's that's that you want to bring into a new year but you got to assess your growth It may offend me, but it don't offend me as much. It may not offend you as much. Or what used to distract you no longer interests you. Some things that, I mean, you know what it is. And this assessment is not to evaluate somebody else's life. This assessment is for you to assess your life. Because only you know where you are. Only you know where you stand in life and with your growth. All right? Here go the last growth gem, y'all. Pay attention to who you are becoming, not just what you are achieving. Let me give you that again. Pay attention to who you are becoming, not just what you are achieving. Because growth... It's not just checking off goals. It's becoming more whole. And that is our main objective, to be complete, to be whole, to be a whole individual. You got to ask yourself these questions as you assess, am I kinder? Am I more self-aware? Am I more disciplined? Am I more consistent? Am I more aligned with the person I say I want to be? Because achievements impress people, but character impacts the world. Becoming builds legacy. Becoming builds growth. So am I becoming what I want to become? Am I more kind or am I still mean as hell? Am I nicer? Am I, you know, am I, you know, am I approachable? You know, am I more disciplined? I'll tell you now, am I more consistent? I don't think so in my life. I'm getting better. I put it like this. I'm getting better. But there is always, remember what I tell you. There's always room. And I know you may be assessing your life and like, oh, this ain't, you know, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. But let me tell you, remember, growth is a journey, not a destination. There's always room for improvement in your life. Always room. You're not where you want to be. You may be comfortable. You may be successful now. You may be doing good, but you're not where you want to be. Family, hear me. Growth is not accidental. Growth is intentional. You hear me? Growth is not accidental. It's intentional. An assessment keeps you accountable to the future you're called to live. So I want you to take these five growth gems, sit with them, journal on them, and let them guide you into a season. of clarity and transformation. Take these tools, take these resources, sit with them and examine your life, evaluate your life and assess your life. Thank you all so much for tuning in to another episode of the Growth Gym Podcast. And if this episode has helped you, share it with someone else. who's committed to becoming the best version of themselves. And make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on the next episode we have coming up. Until next time, remember that growth is a journey. not a destination. This has been your host, Chris Briggs. Thank you all so much for joining.

• Speaker #1

  Welcome to the Growth Gems Podcast. I'm so grateful to have you here with us today. I truly hope that you've enjoyed and learned something valuable from today's episode. Our goal is to provide you with the insights and inspiration you need to supercharge your growth journey, whether it's in your personal or professional life. As you know, growth is a never-ending adventure. It's a journey filled with ups and downs. triumphs and challenges but it's those very challenges that help us grow and become better versions of ourselves so no matter where you are in your growth journey keep pushing forward keep learning and keep growing if you haven't already please hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on future episodes we have some amazing topics lined up that i know you won't want to miss also follow us on social media facebook chris briggs Twitter at cabrigsSR, Instagram at cabrigsSR. Thank you for tuning in today. And I can't wait to see you again on our next episode of the Growth Gems Podcast.