To grow, you must destroy

Metamorphosis is, of course, the sudden change of form of a creature. The abrupt change is totally disruptive to the previous form, as it's quite hard to see the butterfly in the caterpillar.

Outside of the biological sphere, other terms describe similarly non-linear change. "Paradigm shifts" describe changes in the way we perceive something. It is the perceptional analog to metamorphosis. Man's Weltanschauung changes constantly through changes in paradigm, but also changes of paradigm.

Industries do the same thing. Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian and Harvard economist, used the term "creative destruction" to describe how entrepreneurs disrupt and eventually destroy established product markets through the innovation of better products and services.

Personal change requires a similar term. Change can be linear for only so long; at some point, we must change, often totally, our beliefs, tactics, systems, and modes of execution to create such future growth.

A concrete example of how improvement and growth require a metamorphosis is in driving. Barring cost, environmental concerns, and legal considerations, the best way to achieve a speed of say 40 mph is in an Abrams tank. Very few things are going to stop 135,000 pounds going 40 mph. (Of course, the Abrams gets worse than 2 gallons to the mile, so that'll be an issue).

But suppose you wish to improve your speed, to say 70 mph. Alas, the $4 million Abrams is worthless. There's no reasonable way to get one up to that speed. What got you to 40mph can't get you to 70 mph. So, you may need to 'morph' the tank into a Hummer HMMWV (which incidendally get a far better 4 mpg). Again, however, one would need a different vehicle if one wanted to go say 1000 mph. In that case, you might need a F/A 18E Super Hornet.

The important point of this tortured analogy is that, the Abrams can't do 1000 mph, and the Super Hornet can't do 40 mph. What you needed at first, you can't use forever, and what you'll ultimately need later won't work at first.

Getting back to PD, remember that to get linear improvement, sometimes you need to create non-linear transformation. So, if you're at the "sticky 7", your next step might be to throw out what got you there. Spend some time building the systems you'll need to get to 8, which of course you'll tear down to get to the 9.