Recently, as I sat near the ocean in Hawaii, watching the waves crest and then lap against the shore, I had a call with John Assaraf. Our call actually started out talking about the waves, and how they are like obstacles in our lives. A person unfamiliar with the sea might fight them in hopes of subduing them, but an experienced person would know how to "manage" them. This might mean pulling out the surfboard and gloriously riding them even if they presented considerable challenge, or it might mean making alternative plans for the day because the sea was too wild. This approach works well in life too. Some obstacles in our lives can be eliminated, and some can be smoothed out so our course is smooth, but some just require us to either overcome them or find a way around them.
Talking to John is always exciting for me. Known as the Spiritual Entrepreneur, he shares my belief in the concept of "Quantum Leap", which describes, in John's words, a "gigantic leap from where you are to where you want to be without having to go through the stair step process." The alphabet goes in sequence (A, B, C, D), we progress from Grade One to Two to Three, we start out at Square 1. But what if, John asks, "we could bypass some of those steps because a.) our brains are capable of handling it, and b.) the quantum universe doesn't work that way." The natural world is governed by physical laws discovered by the notion that things happen in sequence. At a certain level, when electrons and protons are brought together, something explosive happens!
The quantum leap
Sudden exponential growth is not just for physics labs and can occur in our business lives as well as our personal lives. John doesn't believe in the theory that "before you can do X, you need to do Y. That's usually based on people who are dealing only with the physical world and the understanding of Newtonian laws." Instead, he sees it as possible, through a quantum leap, "to go from zero to a million, or from a million to ten, or ten to a hundred million in business."
This can happen in your personal life too. Recently, it happened to me when I suddenly realized that I could have both a successful career and an intense personal relationship. When I changed my subconscious belief, I met someone and - WOW! Though that relationship hit a wall, I know that a better relationship is ahead.
When most of us start businesses (or develop relationships, for that matter) we start at out with anticipation that our efforts will pay off with some predictable growth. Now, "predictable" can be good and comfortable, or a bit frustrating and disappointing if you have bigger dreams. You know that in the classic race between the tortoise and the hare, the turtle made to the end, but the hare had a more exciting dash. (If he had been a bit more focused, he would have had a blast and won the race!) If you want to live an extraordinary life, not just a predictable and ordinary one, you need a jolt.
Most of the time, the jolt is from the inside. You want success, but you have internal roadblocks. Move them out of the way and you are free to grab success. This is what John Assaraf refers to as "winning the inner game." You may then be able to confront your obstacles differently that you did in the past, as an experienced surfer might approach a wave. If you need help to make this register, you are not alone. Many who have undergone this process before - other spiritual entrepreneurs, coaches -- have developed a blueprint that you can look to for guidance and follow. This all fits into another theory espoused by John, the Law of Attraction. You change your mindset, then you see possibilities all around you that you can maximize.
Taking the quantum leap is not uncharted territory
John, a coach like myself, recognizes the importance of proper guidance in the quantum leap process. Like a person who wants to win the lottery or crack a sale, having the numbers isn't enough. Lottery players lose ever day. And as he says, even with the numbers to the combination in hand, "if you don't know how to put it into the right order, you might be spending a million years trying to get into that safe."
He compares this to coaches: "You can have all the right information, but if you don't know how to put it into the right order, you might be spending a million years trying to get into that safe." Because they have made the quantum leap themselves, "... they know what to do, when to do it, why to do it, how to do it, and all we need do is follow it. So for every result that we want, the formula, the blueprint, the code already exists. If we just follow the process, we can achieve success way faster than trying to figure it out ourselves."
Again, if you are having trouble staying on the other side of the cliff after your leap, you are not the first person to be in this position. If you really want to integrate new thinking into life, there is plenty of help available to retrain your brain.
The "5 Must's" to making the leap
We are taught to believe that "Seeing is believing" -- after the fact. You are a millionaire only when the check is in your hand. In reality, as soon as you believe you are rich, you are, even while "the check is in the mail." Life is not about acquiring skills, but in believing you have the power to win. If you believe you are successful, the brain will look for things to match up your thoughts to reality.
After reading thus far, you may be wondering, "How can I make my own quantum leap?" John speaks of the "5 Must's."
- You must first find something that stirs your soul.
John often asks clients to consider this by asking them what they would trade for their life. Why? As he says "Well, every moment of every day when you go to work or don't go to work, you're trading that moment, that hour, that day for what you're doing or not doing. Is that trade worth it? And I want people to recognize that you should be trading your life everyday for what you love, what stirs your soul. I believe that every one of us was given certain abilities, and certain propensities, and certain things that are unique to us that when we do that, number one, we get the psychic income that our life has purpose and meaning because we're doing what we're supposed to be doing."
If have no talent, no charisma, and no love of performing, having all the "want to" in the world will not make you a rock star. That is not your unique talent. If you are a good songwriter, you can hone your craft to become excellent in that part of the music business.
Our old patterns often involve negative thinking : I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. I want to mouth too much. I'm too young. I'm too old. I'm black. I'm white. I'm Asian, whatever. This old programming our brain must be replaced. As John says, "we now know that it can be."
Fortunately, he says, "we're getting to the point in our understanding of how to remove or reduce any of the negative self talk, the negative behaviors, and we know how to input these new beliefs, and new habits allow much more compelling behavioral patterns and thought patterns that match up with whatever goals we want to achieve, that quantum leap goal. If you want to make a quantum leap, you have to have a change, a quantum change in your beliefs and habits, or you'll revert back to all of what the programming does, even your comfort zones."
Success may feel great, but you need to eat. Here is where coaches come in, as they can teach you to monetize your vision, so to speak. John himself has his PraxisNow.com, a business growth company that helps people grow their business. There are even free videos that you can download there.
If you want more personal development material, you can do what I have always done -- go to PraxisNow.com. And then if you want a dialogue with John on a daily basis, you can go to www.Facebook.com/JohnAssarafPage to chat on Facebook. John is on there 5 times, 6 times a day conversing with thousands of people from around the world.
Just do it! Once you have a goal, be it developing a successful business, losing weight, or finding your soulmate, "The next step would be to get absolute clarity on the specifics of that."
Here's where the Law of GOYA can kick in. As implied in John's movie The Secret, "You're only going to achieve though the things that you put into motion and the things that you move towards as well" Get off your butt, do the right things in the right order, and soon you will build momentum.
Once you realize what you would have to believe about yourself in order to achieve that, and then what would you have to do to move you forward, one or two steps forward towards that? Once the momentum builds, you are prepared for your quantum leap.
So, you have to want to change. Here I don't mean thinking, "It would be nice to have a successful business.' Or "It would be nice to be thinner." Your "want" must be so intense that you are committed to being in that place. You are engaged. You must, as John says, have "a daily ritual of focusing on the destination of where this quantum leap with take you," not just physically, but emotionally. How will success impact you, your family, your friend, your life, your mission?
Take a few minutes each day to get totally engaged and emotional. Your positive vibrations will signal the universe. When the universe has your number, watch out!