Last Updated on June 15, 2026 by
Common mistakes when taking growth courses
I’ve made most of these myself. So have hundreds of people I talked to during my research. Learn from our mistakes instead of repeating them.
- Buying too many courses at once. It feels productive. It’s not. You can’t do deep inner growth work while dividing your attention across five programs. Pick one. Finish it. Then move on.
- Confusing learning with doing. Watching videos feels like progress. It gives you that little dopamine hit. But real change happens when you apply the lessons — often in uncomfortable, messy ways. If you’re not doing the exercises, you’re just collecting information.
- Quitting during the messy middle. Every personal growth journey hits a wall around week three or four. The initial excitement fades. The work gets hard. This is where most people bail. Push through it. That’s often where the breakthrough lives.
- Choosing courses based on price alone. Expensive doesn’t always mean better. But dirt-cheap online courses often lack the depth and support you need. Value sits somewhere in the middle — and it depends more on the instructor and structure than the price tag.
- Not carving out dedicated time. You can’t squeeze inner growth into five-minute gaps between meetings. It requires focused, uninterrupted space. Block it on your calendar. Treat it like a non-negotiable appointment.
- Going it completely alone. Even the best growth courses can feel isolating if you never engage with other participants. Join the discussion forums. Attend the live calls. Share what you’re learning. Growth accelerates in community.
