a reading network!

Responsibility: your choice to take charge of your life

Character: your choices based on good values

Abundance: your choice to believe there is more than enough

Discipline: your choice to focus on now and follow through

Intentionality: your choice to deliberately pursue significance

Attitude: your choice to be positive regardless of circumstances

Risk: your choice to get out of your comfort zone

Spiritual: your choice to strengthen your faith

Growth: your choice to focus on how far you can go

Energy Capacity: your ability to push on physically

Emotional Capacity: your ability to manage your emotions

Thinking Capacity: your ability to think effectively

People Capacity: your ability to build relationships

Creative Capacity:your ability to see options and find answers

Production Capacity:your ability to accomplish results

In the first part of Chapter 1, John talks about learning how to become aware. You don’t know what you don’t know, so if you have no self-awareness, you will never be aware. Sort of like a catch-22. He goes on to talk about Awareness Assets:

1. Your capacity isn’t set

A lot of us have been put into a box most of our lives, been told that we are a certain way-- and we take this internally and accept it as a limitation. “If you don’t know what’s limiting you, how will you know to remove it?” We hear the word capacity and think of it as a limitation and we never really consider that it is something we can grow. Realize your capacity does not define who you are and you aren’t meant to settle with whatever capacity you believe you have.

2. You can become aware of the possibilities that can make you better

“All lasting growth requires awareness.” -- this is where John talks a lot about self-awareness. You have to be continually check yourself, so to speak but how do you know what you’re looking for? The answer is in others. You need help from those who can see farther than you, those who can see things that you can’t see. 

He goes into a four step process:

1. Attention: Looking for what I need to know 2. Awareness: Discovering what I need to know 3. Discernment: Focusing on what I need to do 4. Intention: Acting on what I need to do.

more on 1-4 in a separate post!

3. You can remove the caps from your capacity

John addresses that in order to increase your capacity, you have to remove the caps that are holding you back. In order for you to remove these caps, you have to be aware that they exist and realize that those “limitations” are artificial, and that you can overcome them. In short, you need to have awareness of what it is that is restricting you so that you can work on it.

4. You can develop the capacities you already possess

Another way to increase capacity is to work on the ones you already have from energy, emotional, thinking, people, creative, production, and leadership capacity. We will go into these in a separate post. 

5. You can make choices that maximize your possibilities

John breaks this book up into three parts: Awareness, Ability, and Choices. These three parts are what creates and expands a person’s capacity. He talks about the Capacity Challenge being that “if you grow your awareness, develop your abilities, and make the right choices, you can reach your capacity.”

He ends the introduction to the Awareness part with two things:

A reading network that grows you.

Folks and friends! Around October of last year I attempted to make a personal growth reading network which garnered a handful of members but has since dissolved because of my lack of consistency and effort put into it. I now present to you the new & improved book club renamed Project Growth.

Same concept. A few different technicalities.

All are free and welcome to follow the network blog! Anyone interested in becoming a member will have access to a Discussions blog and support system– because a rising tide raises all ships. I would absolutely love to have a solid number of members by the end of July so we can start reading our first book beginning August!