DEFINE, GROW, PLATEAU
Define, grow, plateau. Heard of it?
This is the process of intentional change. When stripped down to its bones, it is what change looks and feels like. If I’m being honest, I first heard about this concept briefly mentioned on a podcast about manifestation… and I was like woah, wait a minute. This is what my whole LIFE looks like!
Lets use my business as an example. It all started with: “I’m going to start a business!”... and few hours later I rose out of my office with a URL and Business number. Check.
I quickly moved into all kinds of messy ups and downs and all arounds. How do I make that? How to I sell it? Who will buy it… turned to what is a “flat lay” or a “line sheet” to “I know nothing about this” to “holy fuck… a stranger just bought my stuff!!” Fun, emotional times there. Finally, I hit the, “I got this, now what” stage, and back to refining I went.
Now that I see the process (in every aspect of my life) I can recognize it and it makes it 1000x easier to get over myself. So I thought I might share with you in hopes that it will make the messy feeling…. normal. I also hope it will help you recognize when it's a good time to challenge yourself and refine vs living through the painful learning part.
Alas, here are the phases and how to recognize them:
Define
You might be in the define phase if you are feeling motivated to create a change, to set an intention or to articulate something that is on your heart. You are in this phase when you say out loud..."I think I'm going to do, be or have, x" or "I feel called to do y". Here you are defining your future self in language and telling the brain “change is coming and this is what it looks like''. But the brain doesn’t like new… it's likes the systems it knows, so it throws a bit of a tantrum and that looks like: Growth
Grow
You know you are in the grow phase when things feel chaotic, messy, and are full of ups and downs. This is what it looks like to learn. Sometimes we nail it, sometimes we don't. A lot of the time it feels painful, until one day it just doesn't. This is a powerful place to be because this is the becoming. This is the stage where you break from your former self and become the new self. That never happens without shedding (at least) some of the old, and yes, it hurts, sometimes. For me this time always looks like chaos, because to our brain, that is exactly what it is. It is new and scary, so the brain goes to fight or flight and the reality is, this shows up like chaos. But eventually, as you train your brain to know this new way of being, it starts to learn the patterning and settle down. This is done moment by moment, day by day, until the old you is exactly that and the new you is what you know, see, and experience in the now.
Plateau
Here you find some peace and a feeling of wow, that change happened! This is often quickly followed by the plateau. The place where there is no change or growth. It is the time where our hearts get a moment to reimagine a new future, and just as soon as you speak the words, bam, there you are back in define ready to start the process once again.
What phase are you in?
Loved this post? Get on my email list and find even more weekly goodness there.