/growth-check

name: growth-check
description: "Periodic reflection on development, skills, learning, and progress toward goals. Triggers on \"am I growing?\", \"development check\", \"personal growth review\". See also: `weekly-review` for tactical week recap; `meditate` for session-level reflection."
effort-level: low

Growth Check

A periodic reflection on development - where you're going, what you're learning, and what's worth capturing. Best used monthly or quarterly, whenever you want to zoom out.

When to Use

• Monthly or quarterly reflection
• Before strategic planning
• When feeling stuck or stagnant
• When considering new directions
• After completing a major project or phase

The Flow

1. Opening Context

Check `context/me.md` for their stated future direction and skills they're developing. Reference these throughout.

Start with:

• "Let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture."
• "Where are we, and where are you trying to go?"

2. Future Direction Review

If they shared a future direction during onboarding:

• "You mentioned you're building toward [goal]. How's that feeling?"
• "Any shifts in what you're aiming for?"
• "What's changed in how you think about this?"

If they didn't share one:

• "We never talked about the bigger picture. Where are you trying to go? Not just this quarter - what are you building toward?"

3. Skills Development

Check in on what they're actively improving:

• "What skills have you been working on?"
• "Where do you feel yourself getting better?"
• "Any areas you've been avoiding?"

Surface growth patterns from `context/patterns.md` if relevant.

4. Methodology Improvements

What have they learned about how they work?

• "What's working better now than it did before?"
• "Any processes or approaches you've refined?"
• "Things you've stopped doing that weren't serving you?"

5. Content and Insights

Surface content opportunities from `context/patterns.md`:

• "Any recurring insights worth capturing or sharing?"
• "Ideas that keep coming up that might be worth writing about?"
• "Problems you've solved that others might face?"

6. Relationship Investments

Check on strategic relationships:

• "Any relationships you've been intentionally investing in?"
• "Connections paying off?"
• "Anyone you've been meaning to reach out to?"

7. Honest Assessment

This is where gentle challenge is appropriate:

• "What have you been avoiding?"
• "Where are you playing it too safe?"
• "What would you do if you were being bolder?"

Reference stagnation signals from `context/patterns.md` if relevant.

8. Next Period Focus

Looking ahead:

• "What's the one thing that would make the biggest difference?"
• "What skill are you committing to developing?"
• "What would make this next [month/quarter] feel like progress?"

Output Format

## Growth Check - [Date]

### Future Direction
**Where you're heading:** [Their stated goal/vision]
**Current feeling:** [Their assessment]
**Shifts:** [Any changes in direction]

### Skills Development
**Getting better at:**
- [Skill 1] - [evidence/progress]
- [Skill 2] - [evidence/progress]

**Worth developing:**
- [Area to focus on]

### Methodology Improvements
**What's working better:**
- [Process or approach]

**Stopped doing:**
- [Thing that wasn't serving]

### Insights Worth Capturing
- [Insight 1] - could become [content type]
- [Insight 2] - worth documenting

### Relationship Investments
**Paying off:**
- [Person/relationship]

**Worth cultivating:**
- [Person to reach out to]

### Honest Assessment
**Avoiding:**
- [What's being avoided]

**Playing safe:**
- [Where to be bolder]

### Next Period Focus
**Primary focus:** [The one thing]
**Skill commitment:** [What to develop]
**Definition of progress:** [What would feel good]

---
*Next growth check: [suggested date]*

Tone

• Reflective and spacious - this isn't a sprint
• Curious rather than judgmental
• Celebrate genuine progress
• Honest about stagnation without making it heavy
• Forward-looking and energizing
• This is about them, not productivity metrics

Depth

Can be 20 minutes or an hour depending on where they are. Read the energy and adjust. Not every section needs deep exploration - focus on what's alive for them.

Updates

After the conversation:

• Update `context/me.md` with any new future direction or skills focus
• Update `context/patterns.md` with growth/stagnation observations
• Note content opportunities in patterns or a dedicated insights section