Love People, Use Things by Joshua Fields Millburn

Author:Joshua Fields Millburn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Celadon Books

FOUNDATIONAL VALUE 4: GROWTH

Imagine winning the lottery, getting into the best shape of your life, finding your soul mate, establishing the most meaningful relationships possible, paying off your debts, moving into your dream home, cultivating the creative project that makes you the most passionate, and discovering your life’s mission. Now what? Visit the nearest lake and fish every day? Sit on the couch and bask in the bluish glow of your television? Of course not. You want to continue to enjoy your newfound life—the one with the improved health, improved relationships, and newly discovered creativity. Thus, you must continue to improve; you must continue to grow. Turns out, the old saying “if you’re not growing, you’re dying” is brutally true.

Of course, not all growth is beneficial. A bicep after a month in the gym is a type of growth. But so is a tumor. So we better choose deliberately how we want to grow, or we’ll grow according to the dictates of everyone else. Our society has developed a particular narrative since the Industrial Revolution, one that says we must explore never-ending growth, which might sound appealing at first, but it’s not the type of growth I’m interested in. What I’m focused on is intentional growth.

Never-ending growth says we must grow at any cost; intentional growth happens when we grow in accordance with our values. Have you ever made a “one-time” compromise that led to a series of greater compromises? I have. I’ve literally lied and stolen to get what I wanted. But then I didn’t stop with the first indiscretion. I’d lie to cover up the previous lie, and then I’d need to tell an even bigger lie to cover up the cover-up. What a tangled web. This often happens when we compromise, even though there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with compromise itself. In fact, most relationships require continually meeting in the middle. The problem occurs when we compromise what we desire to get what we want today. It’s harder to stick to our principles—to avoid the allure of the shortcut—but it’s important if we want to grow with intention.

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