In the process of growing up, from a toddler to a young child, and to an adult today, did you recall when you were very young, crawling on the floor, before able to walk and run as the years went by ? Did you learn Calculus first before Mathematics in school ?
All real growth and progress is made step by step and we never skip a single step such learning to crawl to running because it is a natural sequence of development. However, in the later part of our life, have we been taking short cuts and skipping the sequential steps ? By taking short cuts in our natural growth and personal development, resulting in imitation for innovation, style for substance or pretense for competence.
In life, there are stages or processes of growth and development and the concept of Six Days of Creation applies. We may have the skill level of Day 3 in playing football, however, if we decide to showcase our skill at a football game at the skill level of Day 6, it would be simply impossible to violate, ignore or short-cut this development process, it is against nature. By understanding which Day of Creation you are in and refusing to pretend you are ahead of your current skill and development level, it is a key step to progress.
There are people who are intellectually high (Day 5), however, their emotionally and internally, they are at not as high (Day 2). They look good on the outside, in the public and nobody would be able to spot it. With a Day 2 internal maturity, a person may find themselves fighting with their internal monsters such as anger, impatience and criticalness.
These type of people can be your friends, colleagues, leaders or employers. Competent, knowledgable and skillful (at Day 6) but their emotional and spiritual level is lower and thus immature (at Day 2). They might borrow strength from position, size, strength, experience or emotions to compensate for their character imbalance. However, these would result in weakness being build up in the following areas
(1) Building weakness in themselves
(2) Building weakness in other people
(3) Building weakness in the relationship
People who tend to borrow strength from other sources would eventually lose their influence, especially to those that they want to impress most.
For the Six Day Development Process, we need to take note of the following 6 pointers
(1) Growth is a natural process
(2) We are all at different “Days”
(3) Comparisons are dangerous
(4) There is no Short Cut
(5) To Improve, we must start from where we are
(6) Introspection gives us an accurate understanding of our weakness and the power to overcome them
The key point to the growth and development of our a person is to always begin at Day One.
(Adapted from Chapter 6 – Six Days of Creation, from “Principle-Centred Leadership” by Stephen R. Covey)