How do you measure growth?

So I have been looking at a lot of rappers who are achieving success or are on the way to success and there seems to be a correlation with their career growth, and their hair growth.

Have you noticed it?

Hov, Cole, Kendrick, Bas, Chris Brown, just to name a few.

Now maybe this is a phase that they are all going through, but it got me thinking,

how do we measure our own growth?

With all growth comes changes, and you don’t have to be the person to notice it. We all have that moment when our friends from back home stop, look at us, and say, “You’ve changed.” See they have their own markers for your growth that can be anything from the clothes you wear to the people you hang around.

Through it all, people fear change. Even as you yourself are growing and changing, you are probably fearing the consequences and implications of that change. It’s all-new. You are doing something you have never done before, living somewhere you have never lived before, meeting people you have never mingled with before, and with each new interaction you are growing, and yes, changing.

So don’t let it scare you. Don’t let it stop you. Don’t let it pause your progression. Take control of your change and own every second of it. Create your own measurement of growth. It can be anything from the length of your hair to the number of miles you put on your car.

And a growth measurement isn’t always a positive correlation, for many many people it is a negative correlation. For example, your friend group may get smaller and tighter, you may find you don’t need as many possessions that you thought you couldn’t live without, and, the greatest sign of the growth of them all, your debt, specifically to Sallie Mae, is decreasing to nill. It’s all about taking control of the process and finding ways to celebrate through it.

There will be moments where your growth is stunted. You may hit a wall or face a giant hurdle that can make you feel like giving up or just stopping right there and quitting. There are even times when you have to go backward, or even restart, but when you take control and measure your growth, you can look at how far you have come. It is that very moment when all of the change matters. You have a tool to see how much work you have done to get to this point, and one obstacle isn’t going to stop you from keeping going.

There is a sense of self-confidence, self-awareness, and self-assurance in controlling your growth. What it does is, it allows you and only you to measure and determine your success. With success, growth and change will come opinions, suggestions, and gossip. They will talk about why your hair looks like that, why “you don’t talk to people no more,” why you dress like that, but it can’t hurt you, because all that is, is them noticing your success.

So let them talk, hey, stirring up a little chatter is always a sign of growth.

“You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation.”