We have to be considerate of what type of growth we want — deep vs wide.
Too often we aim for growth generally, and we’re happy if we find success generally.
But do we ever stop to consider what type of growth we are after?
Is it depth of knowledge, skills, or relationships?
Or is it more knowledge, skills, and relationships?
These are distinctly different — one emphasizes a long term foundation and one spreads the foundation thinly over a larger surface area.
When it comes to relationships, depth is far more vital. Every entity, organization, or group is composed of people striving toward a common set of goals. Sure, at times, you simply need more people. But many times, we should strive for depth over width in our relationships.
What about the development of skills? Sure, there are times we need to broadly develop a lot of skills in order to accomplish the tasks at hand, but how many times do you hear of a master of many, many skills? In order to obtain excellence and mastery, we must focus on the depth of skill development, even if just for a season.
As Bruce Lee famously said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
So be considerate and aware of going deep vs wide. If we start out general and broad, width is the only meaningful measurement we can feel good about. However, we might be missing the mark and depth is what we’re really after.
Be clear and intentional with your growth — we all have seasons of deep or wide.
