Your Quantum Breakthrough
Why I am starting a mastermind group now
“Make your move before you’re ready.”
- Price Pritchett, Ph.D.
“I’m not ready to do this, and I’m not going to let that stop me.”
- Me, right now.
Trying vs. Allowing
Oftentimes, the harder you try to make something happen, the harder you make it for yourself. A great example of this is strength training. (Note: I am not a fitness or medical expert.) How often do people get a gym membership, and get fired up to really transform their lives! This time it’ll be different! I’m going to go to the gym every day! Eye of the Tiger!
They hit the ground running, push themselves beyond their comfort zones day after day, because when working out, you know you do need to push beyond your comfort zone. But there is a certain danger that comes with that overenthusiastic approach. To strengthen muscle, you need to give your muscles time to rest and recover. When you are lifting weights, the process of damaging muscles and allowing them to rest and heal is how you gain muscle strength. And how often do we approach life with the same mania, and how often do we burn ourselves out on something, abandon it, and move on to the next thing?
Similarly, as a university professor, I would teach my students not to cram. It is important to cultivate healthy study habits, setting aside a little bit of time each day to work on assignments and review material, because trying too hard (spending every hour so intently focused on the material) does not give your mind time to process and assimilate the new information.
Think about a time a particularly stubborn problem was weighing heavily on you. You’ve focused on the problem from every angle, you’ve worried and agonized over it, and you can’t seem to find a solution. And when the frustration, worry, and anxiety haven’t brought you one step closer to a solution, you decide to give up and do something else. And, like a bolt out of the blue, a solution comes to you. So often when I was a student, I’d attempt to pull late nights working on assignments, only to have the answer come to me the following morning. So often I’d have to step away and return to the situation with fresh eyes. The Mind is always working on any problem you pose it, even when you are not actively focused on it. So often, the only way to find the solution is to let go of the problem altogether.
It may seem then like the first step to making anything happen is to stop trying to force it to happen. As counterintuitive as that may seem, the problem with trying to force something to happen is we often are prevented from allowing it to happen, because we become fixated on reaching our goal in a very particular way.
Creative Ways to Earn Money
Suppose you need to raise a large amount of money. First, we need to know how much money we need, and how much time we have to acquire it. Now we have a goal, we need to form a plan to achieve that goal. Now would be a good time to get out a pen and paper and brainstorm every way we can earn that money. We all have our own unique talents, and each person has something of value to offer their fellow human beings. We all have unique knowledge, life experience, skills, and abilities that can enrich the lives of others.
That which is new and unconventional, that which grabs people’s attention and offers them a use value of some sort, something they didn’t realize they needed (one might call it a manufactured need, but we might also call it creative expansion), and, once realizing it, their life is somehow enriched by the offering. It need not be a material thing. It can be an experience or a service. It could be offering Tarot readings at a dinner party. It could be a class or workshop sharing how to dive deeply into one of your hobbies or passion projects. It could be facilitating weekend retreats, teaching some artistic medium, organizational techniques, negotiation techniques, private tutoring and coaching, writing workshops, theatre workshops, therapeutic art exercises, organizing social clubs and events (such as through Meetup, Facebook, or Craigslist), any number of activities that bring you joy by virtue of feeding your creative passion, such activities may bring real value to the lives of others, if only you can find the right people who need what you are selling.
Framed that way, earning any amount of money should be the easiest thing in the world.
Hopefully, this activity of listing everything that you might do has you fired up. Now we need to find people with money who are interested in what you have to offer. We need to advertise, and in so doing, show we know what we’re talking about. And because we’ve grasped onto something that feeds our soul, we will bring with it an enthusiasm and energy that has turned our striving into flow state, and turned our “hard work” into serious play!
You’re never going to be ready to do this, so you might as well start now. That is exactly what I am doing here.
30 Day Challenge
Let’s resolve to make a demonstration in the next 30 days. Pick something as your goal. It should be something you can reasonably believe can be done within the next 30 days, but, like strength training, you should be open to stretch the limits of your belief a bit. Get as specific as possible regarding what the end goal looks and feels like. Don’t concern yourself with how you’ll get there, just focus on that end state, and the satisfied, relieved, and peaceful feelings accomplishing that goal will bring to you. No matter what’s going on in your life or in the world, you can remember what that feels like. Feel it. Write down, in detail, what that goal looks like, positively stated. Wake up your inner child, and use your imagination! Set aside 10 quiet minutes, every day, to think it, feel it, and see it. Go there, and see it in your mind’s eye. Commit to doing that every day for 30 days.
Now, you have a goal. You’ve committed to realizing it in 30 days. Write down as many actions as you can think up that will take you closer to your goal. Aim for about 30 things you can do, and resolve to take at least one action every day that will bring you closer to that goal. Keep a running list to track your progress. Write every day about the experience, about what steps you’ve taken towards your goal, and how it worked out. Keeping a planner and progress log will provide us with a record of how we’re doing and how we may need to adjust our strategy. Remain committed to the end goal, and be willing to change the plans (those actions we’ve listed) as needed.
If you are a millennial or older, it’s best to keep these notes using a physical notebook. Digital is fine in a pinch, but those of us who went to school taking notes long-hand have associated that action with learning and growing, and so we’re playing to our own psychology when we use pen and paper.
Remember, we are trying to cultivate habits and focus on a singular goal, and holding to that goal until it is realized. And so we should be willing to keep at it, and start again when necessary. In other words, by resolving to work this system for 30 days, we resolve to meditate, visualize, track, and take at least one action towards our goal every day. If we miss a day because we don’t feel like it, or we became too overwhelmed or too despairing, we must start again as if it is day 1. As long as the goal remains worthwhile for you, starting again isn’t quite “square one.” It’s a demonstration of your commitment to the cause, and you strengthen your resolve by committing to doing it again, knowing it will be easier this time. This is how we cultivate habits. When you reach day 21, this ritual activity will become a part of your routine, and you will be amazed how close and how quickly you realized that goal.
Even if you do not realize your goal in the given time, by the end of the month, you will be that much closer, because you will have taken direct action, and worked daily towards the realization of that goal.
Why a Mastermind?
There is power in numbers, and there are few things that can stop a small yet determined group of people with a shared mission and vision. A Mastermind group leverages this collective power. We realize this by gathering together people who are seriously committed to transforming their lives and achieving their goals, and by holding each other accountable to working the system, and to studying and sharing principles of success and self-mastery.
We realize our goals by not giving up on them, by not trying too hard to accomplish them (thus confirming that we don’t really believe we can achieve them), and by starting now to work towards them, because now is all we really have.
Your Quantum Breakthrough is a mastermind group committed to working this system, sharing their experiences, results, and insights in working the system, and supporting each other in practical ways. We will commit to meet twice a month, where we will check in, share our goals, actions, experiences and insights, and reflect on a topic to aid us in our quantum breakthrough.
It is an intentional network of professionals supporting each other in the realization of our individual and collective good. Such investments require real commitment and resolve in order to work. For this reason, Your Quantum Breakthrough will be initially capped at 12 members, and there is a monthly subscription fee. Your first session is free, and if you decide it’s not for you, you have no obligation to remain a part of the project. If you decide to work it, it will work, but there is a catch.
You must work the program as if your life depended on it. And yes, you can try to go it alone. You can read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, or listen to The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale, or pick up any of the modern personal self-development authors like Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Rhonda Byrne, Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, Esther Hicks, or any author that resonates with you.
I’m launching the mastermind group partly as my own demonstration and realization of a goal, and because I, too, need accountability. If I fail to deliver two sessions a month with original content, I’ve missed my mark and I will refund everyone their last month. As long as I am able to lead these workshops, I will keep the mastermind going.
I’m also launching this mastermind group to help raise funds for the Center for Spiritual Living of Greater Pittsburgh. I’ve pledged 40% of the monthly subscription cost to CSL Greater Pittsburgh.
Join the Movement
If you are ready to commit to achieving your goals, sign up now! Tomorrow, which is May 24, and Saturday, May 31, I will be leading a free info session at 2 pm on Zoom. If you are interested, RSVP today. There is no obligation if you decide it’s not for you.
✨ RSVP for the info session on my website.
The Cost
If you decide you want to join the mastermind, your first session will be free. After that, the cost is $97/month and your commitment to fully engage with the process and support the group. If you are among the first 5 people to sign up, you can lock in the cost of $77/month, guaranteed not to increase for as long as you remain an active participant. Membership will be capped at 12 participants.