The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth

By John Maxwell

Are there tried and true principles that are always certain to help a person grow? John Maxwell says the answer is yes. He has been passionate about personal development for over fifty years, and for the first time, he teaches everything he has gleaned about what it takes to reach our potential.

This book is a great introduction to the topics that make up the keys to success, growth, and happiness. But it’s also just that: an introduction. Each chapter on each of the fifteen principles is really no more than 30 pages at the most.

The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth are as follows:

1. The Law of Intentionality: Growth Doesn’t Just Happen
2. The Law of Awareness: You Must Know Yourself to Grow Yourself
3. The Law of the Mirror: You Must See Value in Yourself to Add Value to Yourself
4. The Law of Reflection: Learning to Pause Allows Growth to Catch Up With You
5. The Law of Consistency: Motivation Gets You Going–Discipline Keeps You Growing
6. The Law of Environment: Growth Thrives in Conducive Surroundings
7. The Law of Design: To Maximize Growth, Develop Strategies
8. The Law of Pain: Good Management of Bad Experiences Leads to Great Growth
9. The Law of the Ladder: Character Growth Determines the Height of Your Personal Growth
10. The Law of the Rubber Band: Growth Stops When You Lose the Tension Between Where You Are and Where You Could Be
11. The Law of Trade-Offs: You Have to Give Up to Grow Up
12. The Law of Curiosity: Growth is Stimulated By Asking Why?
13. The Law of Modeling: It’s Hard to Improve When You Have No One, But Yourself to Follow
14. The Law of Expansion: Growth Always Increases Your Capacity
15. The Law of Contribution: Growing Yourself Enables You to Grow Others

Maxwell recommends that you tackle the book a chapter at a time, giving yourself time to process, reflect, and implement. I would take that a little further and say that these fifteen laws provide fifteen separate topics for further reading and research.  There are many other great books that deal with one or a few of these topics at greater depth like Presence, Drive, Rejection Proof, and Good to Great.