The Growth Initiative

The pattern I noticed

Each one began with a personal problem they needed to solve.

Someone faced friction in their own life. They read. They studied. They experimented. Something worked. Over time, success followed, and only then did a framework emerge. 

James Clear was recovering from an injury. That led to blogging, which eventually became Atomic Habits. David Allen needed more clarity around his productivity, which became Getting Things Done. Tiago Forte experienced a mysterious illness, began studying relentlessly, and eventually articulated the idea of building a second brain.

Each of them was solving a specific problem they personally needed to solve. 

I realized I'm inside that process

I’m in the middle of my own development.

What interests me most right now is not a finished system, but the process itself. I’ve started to think of this project as a meta-level evaluation of a simple question: how do I grow professionally?

Instead of waiting until I reach some endpoint, I’m examining that process while I’m still inside it. I want to capture what I actually do as I try to improve and become more intentional about how that improvement happens. 

That’s what I’m calling The Growth Initiative.

My central mantra is simple: I’m willing to grow. I don’t want to stay where I am. I want to improve. The real question is how.

The loop I'm paying attention to

Over time, I’ve noticed a loop emerge in my own work. 

I read widely, always searching for clear thinking that might benefit me. Sometimes what I find is small, even a single sentence. Colin Powell’s biography taught me one principle that changed how I operate: hope is not a strategy. 

Since then, I’ve tried to replace “I hope this works” with “my strategy is.”

Other ideas have reshaped how I work more substantially. David Allen’s Getting Things Done opened my eyes to a clearer way of managing productivity. I still use task lists, but I’ve shifted my thinking toward project management, and that change alone dramatically increased my effectiveness.

Each iteration teaches me something. Sometimes the improvements are small. Sometimes they’re structural. But over time, they compound.

Where AI fits

More recently, I’ve made another advancement with the introduction of AI. 

I primarily use ChatGPT, which I call Pepper. When I need scholarly grounding, I use Gemini. AI hasn’t replaced my thinking, but it has given me something new: a thinking partner.

I use Pepper to organize, clarify, create, and evaluate. She helps me examine my thinking, not outsource it. AI supports the process, but it doesn’t drive it.

Why I'm documenting this publicly

With this project, I’m trying to make my growth process more intentional by documenting it. 

Writing forces me to slow down, pay attention, and learn from what actually changes. Publishing creates accountability. I’m doing that work publicly on Substack.

If you’re interested in watching that process unfold, you’re welcome to follow along.

Follow my work on Substack