Thanks

the topic described by you was my vertical growth, as i want to gain knowledge as i am pursuing MBA, if i am right i did this understand the topic.

I think that vertical and lateral growth extend beyond a personal preference. While I think our intuitive natures may have us lean more to one side than another, I believe that too large an imbalance is suboptimal, regardless of whether you are comfortable with it.

Interesting thoughts on emotional mastery being the third dimension. Earlier I would have said emotional mastery is more of a lateral growth concept, but now that I think about it, the concept is equally valid to both vertical and lateral growth.

I suppose if you really wanted to make the distinction clear you could split lateral growth into internal and external forms. External forms would involve seeking outside experiences to expand your viewpoint while internal forms would involve using introspection to expand your viewpoint.

The concepts of vertical and lateral growth are generalized enough that I think everyone should have a balance. Being ‘happy’ with a one-spiked graph I think is cutting you off from a lot of growth and experiences. Those experiences could arguably make your life a lot richer and happier.

I think one of the major points of my post was to validate lateral growth. Too many uber-successful people seem to think that lateral growth doesn’t really count because it doesn’t require a lot of pain and sacrifice. Unfortunately it is this mindset that cuts you off from a lot of room to expand.

Great thoughts, feel free to share them again.

-Scott

Great work on personal development. I like your passion, commitment and drive to put the work out on your blog, congratulations.

Indeed, I find the vertical/lateral model interesting. Some time ago, during a stroll, I noticed myself missing an essential ingredient in my own happiness, something I call “broad horizons”. I specialize in financial trading and for the last 9-10 years I am completely obsessed with it. The time and energy I spent on this left me with little to pursue anything else in the meantime.

At that point, I didn’t define or have in mind something that would categorize or model this insight. All I knew was that I might be heading in the wrong, burnout direction altogether.

Regarding your V/L model, some people, especially in today’s competitve world stay mostly on the vertical curve neglecting the nourishment derived from lateral growth. I think that a lot of people need a point in time, some accomplishment to “allow” themsleves for lateral experiences, like “when I get rich I’ll travel around the world”, or “when I build the house I’ll get married” or “as soon as I get the diploma I’ll start socializing with interesting and intelligent people”.

This attitude reminds me of some form of procrastination where the person might be avoiding some curious, deep rooted fears. Futhermore, accomplishment of the vertical growth goals carries the risk of reinforcing those fears as probably nothing is due to change in the lateral sense – so now we additionally have subconscious fears of success, and the spiral seems to take it’s course.

In short, lateral growth can be a very interesting area for self-development if tackled appropriately and seems essential for overall success. The V/L model is quite simple and straightforward and adding a third dimension might complicate it unnessesarily, but, I do have a proposition.

It looks as if my example above is just a case study. The high strung vertical attitude does not nessesarily have to be an escape from fears, one can easily imagine people finding genuine pleasure in the process. I also suppose a lot of people don’t bother making an astonishing career and are quite content with sitting back and truely appreciate visiting the countryside from time to time or clubbing daily.
So the question is, what makes the difference?

Now, I intentionally split your concept into smaller pieces so to speak so we can differenciate between the “I want to” and ”I do” attitudes. Let’s also introduce the third dimension: the quality of experince, or the ability to appreciate the moment of whatever course you take.

Capturing the quality of experience and quantifing it is indeed a very dynamic or maybe an impossible task but think of it this way: on the graph we have the x (lateral )and y (vertical) axis. Let’s sat that the “spikeness” of each is defined as the conscious energy devoted to each. The more we daily think about these aspects the more stretched their spikes are. So, we skillfully add up all the thoughts and sketch the graph, then we join the two spikes and calculate the area. Let’s call this the 2D “thinking” area.
However, we all know that thinking and doing are whole different scenarios. Just because we think about getting that new date doesn’t mean we walk up to the woman and ask her out. Just because we think we are good tennis players doesn’t mean we get to win the match or even get close. Some people fantasize all their lives, where do they have their place on the graph? Let’s say they get their fair share of spikes, but the depth of their experience is adequate to the results they get.

So the third dimension is actually living up to your dreams and overcoming troublesome emotions, like fear of rejection or disappointment..etc. The ability to embrace emotions evolving throughout the process of either vertical or lateral growth defines the quality of those experiences. The better the ability to handle emotions the more profound the experience (like finally learning how to get the date or winning) the more fulfilled our lives and the more confidence there is to handle the next set of emotions. The third dimension is therefore a proxy for one’s willingness to experience emotions and life in general.

Having this said, we can imagine a truly happy computer geek who has learned to manage his feelings of say, loneliness. Or a priest living in celibacy, who has accepted his feelings just to realize that not having sex is just another sexual preference. Some people have one way spikes but their depth of experience makes them happy and fulfilled.

Their views can change, since life in general is highly dynamic, but then again people with high a willingness to experience emotions can far more easily adapt to changing conditions.

If you are a “one-spiked” happy person then good for you, since this is possible. However, if you feel that you should be doing something else instead of working late hours (like finding a date) then you might have your life out of balance and it’s probably time to review your priorities. This does not mean quiting! I’ve seen this over and over again, people keep going from one spike to the other – something like a “all or nothing attitude”.

Most of us however, need both of the two worlds. So we see, balance is important and that it is usually found somewhere in the middle. This brings us back to your simple model which is BTW much easier to visualize than my 3D proposition. So I guess you’re better off sticking with it – I just wanted to give out some food for thought.

best.