Motivated leaders refuse to settle for mediocrity. Instead, they want to maximize their potential. This requires a commitment to personal growth.

There are five keys to reaching your full potential. Together, they form the acronym REACH. Prioritizing each of the following areas will expand your growth and raise the ceiling on your potential:

Resources

Growth often begins by accessing resources that stimulate the growth process. Those resources might include books, magazines, videos, courses, assessments or a host of other tools. 

Resources provide the information and knowledge you need to grow. While acquiring knowledge doesn’t guarantee growth, you also can’t apply what you don’t know. Resources help close your knowledge gap so you can ultimately close your growth gaps.

The great news is technology has put an unending pool of resources at our fingertips.

Experiences

Experiences include opportunities, assignments and activities that further stimulate the growth process. For example, if you desire financial growth, creating a budget is an appropriate first step. If you want to grow in physical health, you might consider starting a workout routine.

Experiences translate knowledge into practical action. They help us move beyond the acquisition of information to the application of it. Experiences also enrich the learning process as we learn by doing.

Accountability

We can’t grow to our full potential without the help of others. Emotions, resistance and challenges can make quitting seem more attractive than pushing forward. That’s why we need accountability.

We need someone with godly wisdom and perspective who is willing to provide guidance and honest feedback.

Some accountability is automatic. In other words, we don’t choose it. For example, when you were growing up, you might have had chores around the house. If you didn’t do them, your parents likely held you accountable. Whether you liked it or not, there were consequences for not following through on your obligations.

But there’s also accountability we choose. This involves asking someone to help us take steps toward growth.

Without accountability, it’s too easy to dodge the price tag of growth. We need others. We need a growth team. We need someone with godly wisdom and perspective who is willing to provide guidance and honest feedback.

Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” That sharpening often happens when we have the courage to welcome accountability. 

Coaching

Coaches and mentors play a critical role in our growth. A good coach offers evaluations, insights, and words of encouragement.

We will never outgrow our need for coaches. They help us reach our full potential and give us the perspective and permission we need to climb to new levels of effectiveness and impact. 

The apostle Paul was a mentor to Timothy. Paul told his young protégé, “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2).

Paul was a multiplying mentor. He coached Timothy and implored him to do the same with “reliable people” who could then “teach others.” 

Humility

Abraham Lincoln was an avid reader and a voracious learner, but humility was at the heart of his growth posture. When editors were preparing a directory of congressmen, they requested Lincoln’s biography.

Lincoln humbly wrote, “Education defective.” He was aware that despite his position and power, he still had a lot to learn. Lincoln embraced a lifelong pursuit of learning and a posture of humility.

Humility is at the heart of growth. Without humility, we won’t seek resources or experiences to help us grow. Without humility, we won’t willingly become accountable to others or welcome the feedback and perspective of coaches and mentors. Most importantly, without humility, we won’t depend on God. 

The Message paraphrase captures a powerful perspective on Proverbs 1:7: “Start with God — the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.” We can’t reach our full potential without God, we can’t approach God with a spirit of pride. Humility is the starting point. 

Proverbs 11:2 reminds us, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Humility enables curiosity, teachability and resiliency. It’s the on-ramp to growth that puts our full potential in reach.