The Quantum Leap
Introduction
The quantum leap is a big step forward. It’s when you evolve beyond the confines of your current reality into something new and better. You’ll often see this term used in reference to technological advancements, but it applies to anything that changes your life for the better: A new job or career, finding love, moving to a new city — you get the idea.
The 1-Minute Rule
Let’s say you want to work out more and eat less junk food. You set a goal of working out for 30 minutes every day, but when you get home from work at 8 pm, it’s hard to find the energy to go for a run or do an hour-long yoga class. Your first step is probably going to be doing some kind of exercise for just 1 minute — even if that means just walking around the block. Once you’ve done this once or twice, increase your time by one minute each day until you reach your goal of 30 minutes per day.
The same principle can apply when trying other things: learning how to cook healthy meals with fresh ingredients; reading a new book every month; writing in your journal daily; meditating for 10 minutes before bedtime each night (or however long works best for you). Whatever it is that has been on your mind lately but hasn’t gotten done yet because there never seems like enough time in the day — give yourself permission now by starting small!
The 30-Day Rule
It’s been said that it takes about 30 days to form a habit, and you could use this as a guideline for making big changes in your life. If you want to make the switch from drinking soda to water, for example, try it for 30 days straight so that when those first few days are over with and you still haven’t caved into your craving (which is totally normal), then congratulations! You’ve formed a new habit! Now all it takes is keeping up with it consistently until it becomes second nature.
I’ll also say that I think 30 days is the minimum amount of time any change should wait before being implemented. There’s no point in trying something if we aren’t going to see results right away — that would just be confusing and discouraging!
The Emergency Fund Rule
When you’re striving to create a healthy financial life, there are many things to think about. How much money should you save? Should you buy a house or rent? What’s the best way to invest your money? These are all important questions, but first and foremost on your mind might be this: how do I make sure my emergency fund is safe?
Well, we’ve got good news for you — the answer is simple! The key is to choose an account with no fees or penalties for early withdrawals, and then only open that account at one bank. This way, if something happens where you need access to your funds without realizing it (like when they accidentally get swept away in the tide), it’ll be easy enough to find them later on down the line. If they end up being somewhere else entirely after that point (like when they accidentally get swept away during high tide), then we suggest trying again later with another bank just in case any more mishaps occur after opening another account rather than closing whatever accounts might still exist at this point.
The Minimalist Rule
In the book Minimalist Living: Declutter Your Home, Mind, and Schedule for a Simpler Life (Dey St., $14), Joshua Becker describes minimalism as “voluntary simplicity.” He writes that once you’ve gotten rid of all superfluous items in your life — and this includes physical objects as well as time commitments and relationships — you’ll discover that you have more time to spend doing what matters most.
The following steps will help you begin your minimalist journey:
- Decide how much stuff is too much stuff for you. For some people, it’s one jacket; for others, it’s ten pairs of shoes. The key is to find out what makes sense for you based on how often and under what circumstances those possessions will be used — in other words, if they’re going on vacation with me or just hanging out in my closet all year round?
- Once I’ve decided that something can stay or go based on this criteria (which is different from simply saying I like/don’t like it), then I decide whether or not its value outweighs its cost by asking myself whether or not I would pay someone else money if they offered me theirs instead of keeping mine. If yes then keep it; if no then let them go!
The Compounding Rule
Compounding is a powerful financial tool that allows you to exponentially grow your money. You can use compounding to:
- Start investing early and make the most of compound interest over time.
- Automatically save and invest regularly, so you don’t have to think about it or worry about saving up large sums of cash — your money will be taken care of for you!
- Pay yourself first by investing before paying any other bills or expenses, which ensures that your hard-earned money will work as hard as possible for you every day!
In order to truly take advantage of compounding’s power, there are seven essential steps that must be followed:
The Habit Change Cheatsheet: 29 Ways to Successfully Ingrain a Behavior
To successfully ingrain a behavior, have a plan. Choose one habit to work on at a time, and start small. It’s best to focus on something that will take less energy than you think, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming or difficult. Once you’ve mastered your first habit change, move on to another one — but don’t add more than three at once! To ensure your success rate is high and keep yourself accountable, set up weekly check-ins with yourself or with a friend or family member who can help keep you honest about your progress (and yes: it’s okay for them not to know about all the tricks!).
When you’re ready to go in for the kill, reward yourself with something small but meaningful; don’t overdo it — you want this new behavior to feel good! For instance: if I’m trying out meditation every day for 30 days straight without missing any days (which sounds like torture) then maybe after those 30 days are done I’ll splurge on tickets for my favorite concert next month… but only if I made it through all 30 days without skipping even ONE day because otherwise why would I have gotten myself excited about tickets when they weren’t worth anything? But maybe… probably not though since there are still other things going on that could cause me not getting the tickets (like needing money). And besides… WHY IS THIS SO INTENSE?!
How to optimize your life with some rules and a cheatsheet.
- Rule #1: always be changing. If you find yourself in a satisfying situation, don’t stick around for too long. Take the opportunity to move on and keep things fresh.
- Rule #2: don’t take things personally; it’s not about you. It can be easy to become defensive when something doesn’t go your way, but instead of reacting emotionally, try to see the other person’s side of things. They may not have been aware that their actions would bother you or hurt your feelings — and if they were aware, then they probably care enough about your happiness not to want to cause pain on purpose!
- Rule #3: remember that it’s okay if you’re still figuring out who you are and what’s right for your life right now — there’s no need to have everything figured out yet (you’ll probably never have everything figured out). The most important thing is just making sure that whatever decisions do come into play are made with intentionality rather than by defaulting into any old routine because it was easier than thinking critically about whether this route would actually serve us well going forward
Conclusion
So, now you know the quantum leap rules. The 1-Minute Rule, The 30-Day Rule, The Emergency Fund Rule and more. You’ve also got a cheat sheet of 29 ways to successfully ingrain a habit in your life. But honestly, they’re just cheats! If you want to truly get ahead in life by making your own quantum leaps, you need to follow these rules with discipline and purpose. And don’t forget: it all starts with today!
