You Are Allowed to Outgrow Yourself

There comes a season when growth looks less like achieving and more like surrendering

#MindsetMonday • 6:50 a.m. Aug. 31, 2026

For most of my adult life, I knew exactly who I was. I was a real estate guy – owning rentals, doing flips, building houses, and running a brokerage. A businessman. A provider. A competitor. A guy who could take something ugly and make it valuable again.

I knew how to work. I knew how to make it happen, and if I’m completely transparent – what I accomplished became tangled up with who I believed I was. Achievement served me well. It fed my family, created opportunities, built businesses, and taught me discipline, resilience, and grit. Truthfully, it also fed my ego, which spent way too much time at the front of the bus. Maybe you can relate.

Lately, the lesson God has been teaching me has been a little uncomfortable:

You are allowed to outgrow the version of yourself that got you here.

Growth sometimes requires letting go of an identity that once served us well. There is an odd sadness in realizing you no longer need to be who you've always been. I’m learning not to get so attached to my story that I don’t leave room for God to write the next chapter.

Clearly, that ushers in the obvious internal question: If I’m not that guy anymore ... who am I?

Scripture tells us, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17). I'm beginning to understand that. Following Christ isn't about becoming a better version of the man I built. It's about surrendering more of that man to Him. Maybe God isn’t asking me to protect the identity that got me here. He's asking me to trust Him enough to loosen my grip on it and become more of the man He created me to be.

Maybe the next season of your life isn't about achieving more. Maybe it’s about becoming more. More present. More generous. More surrendered. More available to God.

Don’t get me wrong – there is still work to do. Still mountains to climb. Still people to serve. Grit doesn't disappear when your ambition changes – it just gets redirected toward a different target, dare I say, a better target.

So this week, honor the person you were who got you here. Be grateful for what that season taught you. Keep the grit, keep the discipline, and keep the lessons. Don’t hold so tightly to who you’ve been that you don’t leave room for who God is calling you to become.

Sometimes growth isn’t adding another accomplishment; it’s finally surrendering the need to be the guy I spent my whole life creating.