PDF Summary:The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, by John C. Maxwell

Everybody has the potential to live a meaningful, fulfilling life, but in a world teeming with possibilities, it can be hard to figure out how exactly you’re going to accomplish that. John C. Maxwell believes that if you want to live meaningfully and transform into your highest self, you have to pursue personal growth. In The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, Maxwell—a pastor and personal growth expert—offers directions to help you navigate the journey of personal growth more smoothly.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to build strong character and how living with integrity can help you become your highest self. You’ll also learn how to envision, commit to, and pursue meaningful goals, and the importance of learning and growing throughout the rest of your life. We’ll supplement Maxwell’s advice with current research on personal growth and the perspectives of other self-help authors so that you can make the most of your personal growth journey.

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2) Practice positive self-talk. Let go of limiting beliefs, such as the belief that you’re not smart enough to achieve your dreams, and tell yourself that you can do what you set your mind to.

(Shortform note: Limiting beliefs are those that tell you that you can’t do something you want or need to do because you’re not good enough, smart enough, lovable enough, and so on. One way to dispel limiting beliefs is to challenge them—that is, reason out why these beliefs are probably untrue. For example, if you formed the limiting belief that you don’t deserve romantic love, you might explore reasons that you are deserving of love, starting with a list of things that are lovable about you. Once you work through and reject these limiting beliefs, it’s easier to say—and believe—positive things about yourself.)

Principle 3: Commit to Growth

Once you’ve developed the foundational mindset needed to pursue personal growth, Maxwell says it’s time to take the next step of committing to growth. In the context of personal growth, commitment means setting an intention to become your highest self—and, crucially, following through on that intention by making the changes and seeking out the opportunities that will get you there.

(Shortform note: If you don’t feel ready to commit to personal growth, that’s okay—but don’t let that feeling hold you back from getting started. It’s normal to hesitate before undertaking growth-related challenges, but the only way to reap the rewards of growth is to push through discomfort and take action anyway. It may help to keep in mind that when it comes to personal growth, you’re aiming for improvement, not perfection. You don’t need perfect character or complete self-knowledge and self-love to commit to growth—you just need an intention to get better and a willingness to follow through on it.)

In this section, we’ll explain why Maxwell believes commitment is necessary and why you shouldn’t put commitment off. Then, we’ll explore some ways you can commit yourself to growth today.

Why Making a Commitment Helps You Grow

Maxwell argues that making a commitment is necessary because growth can only happen intentionally—not accidentally. Many people make the mistake of expecting to grow automatically throughout their lives. Because of this, they never intentionally improve themselves; then, they wind up dissatisfied with how their lives turn out.

(Shortform note: Although Maxwell argues here that you can only grow intentionally, he has said elsewhere that accidental growth can happen—it’s just not as effective as purposeful growth. In any case, his position is that intentionality helps you achieve more than you would otherwise.)

How to Make a Commitment to Grow

Maxwell doesn’t just encourage commitment—he encourages making a commitment to growth today because the longer you procrastinate, the less likely you are to do it. Here’s how you can cement your commitment and avoid procrastination:

(Shortform note: Maxwell argues against procrastination due to the way it can make you lose your motivation to follow through on growth. However, there’s another reason not to procrastinate on making commitments: It can lead to loss of opportunities. You won’t be able to take advantage of the opportunities to grow that are available to you right now, and they may not be available to you in the future. In Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely recommends evaluating how time-sensitive your opportunities are and immediately pursuing any that are likely to disappear in the near future.)

Method #1: Evaluate Your Excuses

If you don’t feel ready to commit to growth, a good place to start is to evaluate your excuses. You might be able to think up some reasons for putting off growth, like fear of failure, not knowing how to get started, lack of time, or lack of motivation. But according to Maxwell, none of these are valid excuses—the benefits of personal growth outweigh whatever reasons you might have for putting it off. Don’t let your excuses hold you back; instead, find a way to overcome them.

For example, say that you’re worried you don’t have enough time to exercise. If you evaluate this excuse, you might realize that you spend a lot of time on non-essential activities like watching TV. In that case, your excuse wouldn’t hold up—you have plenty of free time; you just have to start spending it more wisely.

(Shortform note: Maxwell claims that no excuse should stop you from pursuing growth—but there are situations where you may have valid reasons for putting off growth. If you’re “in survival mode”—focused on merely surviving from one day to the next—you’re not going to have the time, energy, or resources to start pursuing your bigger dreams. For example, if you’re exhausted because you’re caring for an aging parent, it’s probably not wise to add anything extra to your plate. However, you can still recognize your desire to grow and make a commitment to honor that intention when the right time comes along.)

Method #2: Schedule Time to Grow

Once you have an intention in mind, you must set it in stone and give yourself time to follow through on it. That’s why Maxwell suggests assigning time in your schedule every day, for at least a year, that you’ll devote to pursuing your personal growth-related goals. For example, you might schedule time to practice the piano every evening after dinner.

(Shortform note: One benefit of scheduling personal growth is that it can help you manage your time more wisely—ensuring that you prioritize the right things in your daily agenda. If you fill your schedule with activities you really care about—in this case, growth-oriented activities—you won’t have as much time for, or waste as much time on, the things you don’t care about.)

Method #3: Make Your First Move

Today, find a way to make immediate progress toward achieving one of your goals. For example, if you’ve made learning piano one of your goals, write down, right now, a time you plan to practice today—or even sit down and practice for 15 minutes. Taking immediate action toward your goals will affirm your commitment to growth and help you avoid procrastination.

(Shortform note: Maxwell’s suggestion to take a tiny, immediate step forward is meant to make growth seem more easily doable. In One Small Step Can Change Your Life, Robert Maurer explains that breaking large goals down into small, achievable steps helps you avoid feeling overwhelmed by the amount of time and effort changes take, which is one of the main drivers of procrastination. Additionally, as you easily overcome these small steps,your successes will motivate you to keep going.)

Principle 4: Take Thoughtful Action

Making a commitment to your growth and taking the first steps to follow through on that commitment is a launching point for your personal growth journey. From there, to become your highest self, Maxwell says you’ll have to act on that commitment over the long term by taking thoughtful action. This means planning challenges and opportunities for improvement in your life—and consistently rising to meet them.

In this section, we’ll explain why thoughtful action helps you on your journey of personal growth. Then, we’ll discuss Maxwell’s tips for taking thoughtful action effectively.

Why Taking Thoughtful Action Helps You Grow

Thoughtful action has two components: strategy and consistent follow-through. First, you’ll strategically plan the course of action you’ll take to progress toward your goals. Then, you’ll consistently follow through on your plans by making a daily habit of pursuing your goals. Let’s explore how each of these components contributes to growth.

Strategic Planning Increases Productivity

The strategic planning component of thoughtful action helps you grow because it helps you be more productive. When you strategize effectively, you make tactical choices about how your time, effort, and resources are best spent. You then devote yourself to the opportunities that will actually help you achieve your goals. As a result, you won’t waste your time and energy on unnecessary challenges.

(Shortform note: Strategizing can help you make wise investments, but life is unpredictable—beyond being strategic, you’ll have to be adaptable if you want to continue productively pursuing your goals. Adaptability is about correcting your course when you realize that something you’re doing—or planning to do—isn’t going to work anymore. If your circumstances change and one of your goals suddenly seems impossible, adaptability allows you to determine what is possible and revise your plans—or, if necessary, the goal itself—accordingly.)

Consistent Follow-Through Demands Concrete Effort

The consistent follow-through component of thoughtful action helps you grow because it involves making a concrete, consistent effort to accomplish your goals. Recall that Maxwell says you can only grow intentionally, not accidentally—if you want to achieve something, you have to take real action toward it. And, when you consistently act on your intention to grow, you’ll make slow but steady progress toward realizing your highest self.

(Shortform note: While Maxwell focuses on how consistent effort carries you toward your goals, it’s also beneficial in those situations where you don’t accomplish your goals, in several ways. First, in Keep Going, Austin Kleon explains that the process of pursuing a goal is more fulfilling than achieving the goal. Focusing on the consistent steps along the way to your goal will help you feel satisfied with how you spent your time—regardless of the result of your effort. Second, effort doesn’t necessarily lead to success—uncontrollable life circumstances and social structures also play a role in what you’re able to achieve. If you’re sure you did what you could to pursue your goals, you’ll more easily avoid unnecessary self-blame, guilt, or shame when things don’t go your way for reasons you can’t control.)

Taking Thoughtful Action Builds Resilience

Beyond productivity and concrete effort, thoughtful action—and the continual challenges it requires you to face—yields resilience, or the ability to bounce back from failures. In The Obstacle Is the Way, Ryan Holiday argues that resilience is necessary to success in life, because things inevitably get hard. You must be able to persevere through tough times and failures.

According to Holiday, you build resilience by dealing with life’s challenges head-on—resolving to accomplish whatever you’ve set out to accomplish, no matter what life throws your way. When you persist in the face of adversity, you teach yourself that you’re capable of doing hard things and boost your confidence in your ability to withstand, and move on from, even the most daunting challenges.

How to Take Consistent Thoughtful Action

Now that we’ve explained how thoughtful action can help you make progress toward your goals, we’ll share some of Maxwell’s tips for ensuring that your thoughtful action is both maximally productive and consistent.

Method #1: Make Short-Term Sacrifices

Maxwell argues that when you take thoughtful action, you must be willing to make short-term sacrifices to achieve long-term goals. He says that every decision you make has an opportunity cost—to succeed, you have to make smart choices about what you’re willing to lose now in order to win later. For example, if you want to become more physically fit, you might have to exchange convenient, frozen foods for healthier, fresh foods and spend money on a gym membership.

(Shortform note: Here, Maxwell’s talking about the importance of delayed gratification—your ability to deny yourself satisfaction now so that you can reap a better reward later on. Delaying gratification can be hard—it requires both impulse control and faith that you’ll eventually receive the promised reward. You can bolster this sense of faith, and therefore your ability to delay gratification, by setting up regular reward intervals alongside your thoughtful actions. For example, if your goal is to go to the gym every weekday, planning to reward yourself every Saturday may help motivate you to follow through.)

Method #2: Set Yourself Up for Success

When you’re thinking about how to reach a given goal, Maxwell recommends that you allow yourself twice the time, energy, and resources you think you’ll need. This practice gives you extra room for any challenges you may encounter on your way to the goal, so you’ll be more able to overcome them and, therefore, more likely to succeed.

Additionally, by allowing extra time, energy, and resources, you create two possible outcomes: Either you avoid running out of these things before reaching your goal, or you “beat your estimate.” Either way, you bolster your commitment: either by preventing feelings of discouragement and frustration that would make you give up or by boosting your morale with a “win.”

(Shortform note: What should you do with these extra resources if you beat your estimate? You might be tempted to reinvest those resources into another project, but remember that rest is productive, too—you need time to recharge your body and your brain so that you can perform optimally when you’re actively pursuing your goals. When you find yourself with extra time, money, or energy on your hands after a job well done, sometimes the best thing to do is relax and enjoy your success.)

Method #3: Stay Motivated

Maxwell says that if you keep yourself consistently motivated to accomplish your goals, you’ll find it easier to take steady, thoughtful action. He suggests two ways to increase your motivation:

1) Come up with as many “whys” as you can—your reasons for pursuing personal growth, which should be based on your values, passions, and aspirations. Keeping these in mind can motivate you to keep going, even when it’s hard. And the more reasons you have to keep going, the more motivated you’ll be.

(Shortform note: While keeping your “whys” in mind is a good motivator, that’s often easier said than done—as you go about your day, you’ll likely be so busy that you won’t be able to keep them top of mind. Instead of keeping them in mind, try writing them down. Neuroscientific research suggests that writing down your goals can help you remember them for two reasons: First, having your goals in plain sight serves as a visual reminder of what’s important to you. Second, the very act of writing helps your brain process and more easily recall what you’re writing about.)

2) Be accountable to yourself and others. Concretely, this could mean keeping written track of the progress you make toward your goals or recruiting people in your life to check on your progress. According to Maxwell, this will motivate you because it makes your actions more consequential. If you don’t perform as you said you would, you’ll risk disappointing yourself and others—and since disappointment is uncomfortable, you’ll be incentivized to perform well.

(Shortform note: In some cases, you may be more motivated by extrinsic factors (such as accountability to others) than intrinsic factors (such as how personally rewarding an activity is for you). Extrinsic motivation is helpful because it gives you a good reason to do something you don’t really want to do. You may not feel like cleaning the house, for example, but you may feel a sudden burst of inspiration if you invite someone over and realize they’ll see what a mess it is if you don’t clean. But it’s also worthwhile to increase the effect of intrinsic motivators by searching for or creating personally meaningful reasons for your actions—for example, you might tell yourself, “I’m cleaning because I like having a clean house, and I’ll feel satisfied and cozy once it’s clean.”)

Method #4: Practice Self-Discipline

According to Maxwell, if you want to take thoughtful action consistently, you’ll have to practice self-discipline: following through on your intentions, no matter how tempted you are to do otherwise. This can help you be more consistent by enabling you to overcome the occasional bout of low motivation—you’ll keep moving forward even when you don’t particularly feel like it.

To develop your self-discipline, Maxwell says you should train yourself to pursue growth habitually. For example, if you want to learn Portuguese, you might develop the habit of listening to audio lessons every time you cook. According to him, making a habit of your thoughtful actions takes the guesswork out of how to pursue your goals because you have an automatic process.

Practical Steps for Improving Self-Discipline

Self-discipline isn’t easy for most people since, according to psychologists, it requires you to prioritize logical decision-making over emotional decision-making. In other words, you have to be able to do what you know is best for you in the long term, even if you don’t feel like doing it right now. To improve your self-discipline, experts recommend these methods:

• Practice mindfulness. Studies show that mindfulness—the practice of paying attention to what you’re experiencing without trying to change it—can train you to endure uncomfortable feelings. This makes it easier to exercise willpower because it helps you de-prioritize your emotions: Even if you don’t enjoy doing what you need to do, you’ll know that you can get through it.

• Identify and remove temptations. Temptations are things that feel emotionally satisfying in the moment but run counter to your long-term goals. By removing them, you decrease the risk that they’ll distract you—and appeal to your emotional side—when you’re deciding on the right thing to do. For example, if you’re working on your health, you might eat less junk food if you stop buying it.

Principle 5: Become a Lifelong Learner

At this point, you’ve learned the skills and strategies you’ll need to move toward your highest self. But according to Maxwell, no matter how successful you become, it’s vital to never stop growing—which requires a lifelong commitment to learning from your experiences. Ideally, throughout your entire life, you’ll continue to approach each new challenge and experience as a learning opportunity—gaining new tools, skills, and insights along the way.

(Shortform note: Maxwell focuses on how lifelong learning supports you in achieving your goals, but experts note that it has a number of other benefits. It can improve your cognitive health by strengthening your brain, which guards against dementia. It can also bolster your social life, as formal classes and other kinds of communal learning bring learners together. Lastly, it can support your self-esteem: People who continue to learn throughout their lives feel more confident in themselves, especially when they can put their knowledge to good use.)

In this section, we’ll explain why continual learning optimizes personal growth. Then, we’ll end with a few strategies to help you maximize learning and growth throughout your life.

Why Continual Learning Optimizes Growth

Maxwell says that learning contributes to growth in two ways: Learning from the past helps you achieve future success and helps you feel more fulfilled in life.

Learning From the Past Contributes to Future Success

Maxwell argues that you’ll be more successful if you learn from past failures and successes. If you internalize the lessons you learn from the challenges you’ve faced, you can apply them when you take your next steps forward—so instead of making the same old mistakes, you’ll be better prepared to do things right. As a result, you’ll be more likely to achieve each of your goals and, in the long run, become your highest self.

(Shortform note: One interesting way that learning from experience can contribute to your success is that it can improve your chances of being hired. Companies are showing increasing interest in candidates who demonstrate “grit” in their personal lives—the ability to persevere through difficult life circumstances and work hard to accomplish what needs to be done. Often, this asset comes from experiences such as unpaid care work, military service, travel, and so on.)

Learning Increases Your Sense of Fulfillment

Maxwell also argues that since it increases your chances of success, learning also maximizes your overall life satisfaction. If you continue to learn and grow for the rest of your life, you’ll set, and reach, increasingly loftier goals, which will help you feel like you’re making the most of your life. According to Maxwell, giving up on learning and the growth that comes with it means settling for a mediocre life.

(Shortform note: In his encouragement to never stop learning and growing, Maxwell is cautioning against “the arrival fallacy:” the erroneous idea that once you achieve success—in this case, your highest self as you envision it now—you’ll feel satisfied for good. While reaching goals can be fulfilling, they don’t create happiness forever. Researchers agree that happiness is more tightly linked to simply enjoying life in the moment. Committing to learning throughout your life means you’ll continue discovering things you enjoy—helping you maintain happiness, regardless of goal achievement.)

How to Become a Lifelong Learner

Now that you understand how lifelong learning can help you become your highest self, how exactly should you approach learning in the context of growth? Maxwell has a few recommendations:

Method #1: Practice Curiosity

Maxwell argues that curiosity enables you to learn valuable information and opens you up to innovative ways of thinking. He offers several strategies for practicing curiosity:

1) Always ask, “Why?” Practically, this means you should be open to, aware of, and inquisitive about the world around you. Viewing every experience you have as a learning opportunity will help you amass a wealth of knowledge over time.

(Shortform note: Asking why can help you figure out the root cause of problems—which means that you can address the actual issues causing the problem, not just the most evident symptoms of the problem. It’s like retracing your steps: If you can figure out how you got to Point Z from Point A, you’ll know exactly how to avoid arriving at Point Z again. It’s important to note that you can use this process to identify the root of success as well—figuring out the precise tactics that helped you so that you can emulate them and replicate your success.)

2) Seek out opportunities that are new and unusual to you and be open to diverse perspectives. If you’re open-minded and innovative, you’ll maximize your chances of success because you’ll be able to overcome barriers that would otherwise hold you back. For example, say your goal is to learn Chinese but you can’t afford to take traditional classes. If you come up with a creative solution, like finding free lessons on Youtube, you’ll still be able to achieve that goal.

(Shortform note: To improve your open-mindedness, consciously practice intellectual humility and welcome challenges to your beliefs. It’s important to recognize that no matter how much you know about a topic, it’s likely that you don’t know everything—you always have opportunities to learn more. Also, keep in mind that nobody’s life experience is universal, so there’s something to learn from everyone you meet. When someone challenges your beliefs, make an effort to listen to their perspective and consider the possibility that you could be wrong.)

Method #2: Choose Good Mentors

Good mentors can teach you what you need to know to succeed in your personal and professional life. According to Maxwell, you should choose mentors who have good, strong character, who have experience in what you’re trying to achieve, and who are willing and able to spend time working with you.

(Shortform note: When you’re looking for a mentor, first consider people you’re already in community with—the better your mentor knows you and your circumstances, the more personalized and helpful their advice will be. If you can’t find a mentor you already know, it’s okay to reach out to people you admire and ask them to meet with you. In these meetings, demonstrate that you’re someone worth mentoring: Be respectful of their time, expertise, and boundaries, and show them that you’re truly interested in learning from them.)

Method #3: Reflect

Maxwell argues that you should take time regularly to reflect on your successes and failures. This helps you extract lessons from these experiences, which you can then apply to future opportunities.

To reflect, first write down questions that prompt you to think about challenges you’ve faced, rewarding experiences, opportunities for improvement, and what gives your life meaning. Then, write your responses to these questions. Finally, take time to think deeply about your responses, paying special attention to challenges that were painful for you. Pain is an excellent teacher—since humans are naturally averse to pain, you won’t be inclined to repeat decisions that have hurt you before.

In pinpointing your painful experiences, make an effort to reframe them as valuable life lessons: This will give you the necessary perspective to learn from your mistakes and implement any necessary changes.

(Shortform note: Reflection helps you overcome adversity because it gives you an opportunity to make sense of what happened, deal with negative emotions, and figure out how to grow from your experiences. In other words, going through the process of reflection can help you slow down, think about a situation clearly, and respond to a painful experience rationally rather than emotionally. It’s best to write your reflections down—studies show that reflective writing helps you think more clearly about situations and doesn’t lend itself to rumination or overthinking the way mental reflection might.)