Most people have goals. Fewer people are willing to become the person their goals require. Whether the goal is playing professional baseball, graduating from college, building a business, becoming a better parent, strengthening a marriage or leading an organization, achievement requires development.
You cannot achieve a goal that requires a version of you that you are unwilling to become.
Here are six things that can keep you from becoming that person.
1. You Can’t Hear the Truth
Growth requires truth.
Praise can encourage you, but truth develops you.
Sometimes the most valuable thing someone can tell you is something you don’t want to hear.
You’re not ready yet.
You’re not as good as you think.
Your habits don’t match your goals.
Your effort isn’t enough.
If every difficult truth feels like disrespect, you will spend more energy defending yourself than developing yourself.
The goal isn’t to enjoy hearing the truth. The goal is to learn how to use it.
2. You Can’t Do Hard
Everybody wants the outcome.
Not everybody wants the difficulty required to produce it.
Hard conversations.
Hard workouts.
Hard decisions.
Hard seasons.
Hard sacrifices.
We can become so committed to making life comfortable that we unintentionally become incapable of handling difficulty.
But hard isn’t always harmful.
Sometimes hard is preparation.
If your goal is significant, expect it to require something difficult from you.
3. You Can’t Handle Failure
Failure is coming.
That’s not pessimism. That’s development.
You will lose.
You will make mistakes.
You will be rejected.
Something you were convinced would work won’t work.
The question isn’t whether you will fail.
The question is what failure will produce in you.
Will it produce excuses and blame?
Or will it produce evaluation, learning and another attempt?
Failure doesn’t have to be fatal.
Failure can be feedback.
4. You Can’t Make Adjustments
Awareness without adjustment isn’t development.
Once you know something isn’t working, something has to change.
Sometimes that’s your strategy.
Sometimes it’s your habits.
Sometimes it’s your environment.
And sometimes it’s you.
Maturity is being able to say: “What I’m doing isn’t producing what I said I wanted, so I need to change what I’m doing.”
Don’t confuse changing the goal with changing the approach.
The goal may still be right.
Your approach may simply need an adjustment.
5. You Can’t Self Manage
Eventually, somebody has to stop reminding you.
Your parents can’t do it forever.
Your coach can’t do it forever.
Your boss shouldn’t have to do it forever.
Self management means taking responsibility for your time, emotions, preparation, decisions and commitments.
It’s doing what needs to be done without constantly needing somebody else to motivate, monitor or rescue you.
If somebody always has to manage you, eventually your inability to manage yourself will limit your opportunities.
6. You Can’t Perform Without Comfort
This may be one of the most overlooked barriers to achievement.
Everything won’t always feel right.
Everybody won’t understand you.
Everybody won’t like you.
You won’t always have confidence.
You won’t always have ideal circumstances.
And you shouldn’t have to become somebody else just to succeed.
But you do need adaptability.
Comfort is a condition. Adaptability is a skill.
The goal is learning how to enter uncomfortable environments, maintain your identity, manage yourself and still perform.
One Plan to Develop All Six
You don’t need six complicated development plans.
Start with one goal and use one six day cycle.
Day 1: Truth
Ask someone you trust: What do I need to hear that I may not want to hear?
Day 2: Hard
Do one necessary thing you’ve been avoiding because it’s difficult.
Day 3: Failure
Identify one recent failure and determine what it taught you.
Day 4: Adjustment
Make one measurable change based on what you’ve learned.
Day 5: Self Management
Complete something important without being reminded, rescued or motivated by somebody else.
Day 6: Discomfort
Intentionally do something productive outside your comfort zone and practice performing anyway.
Then evaluate yourself.
What did the truth expose?
What did hard develop?
What did failure teach?
What adjustment worked?
Where did you take ownership?
How did you respond to discomfort?
Then repeat.
Become Before You Achieve
Goals aren’t only about getting somewhere.
They’re about becoming someone.
Truth gives you awareness.
Hard builds capacity.
Failure gives you feedback.
Adjustments create growth.
Self management creates ownership.
Discomfort develops adaptability.
So maybe the question isn’t simply: What do you want to achieve?
Ask the harder question: Who do you need to become to achieve it?
Because sometimes the biggest thing standing between you and your goal isn’t opportunity.
It’s development.
Remember: Intelligence tops being smart.
For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today.
If you found this inspiring and thought-provoking, or if you have any questions, comments or concerns, add me on Discord and let’s go deeper.
C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.
