Issue 99: Building Inner Strength
THE LEAP
BY QUANTUM ORANGE
GROW, EXPAND & EVOLVE
ISSUE 99 | BUILDING INNER STRENGTH
Each week The (Quantum) Leap summarises a key aspect of success into what you need to Think, Feel and Do to create a personal shift.
By now you’re probably familiar with me saying…
Either the world impacts on you - or you impact on the world.
My experience tells me that setting goals for the new year is only going to get you more of the same - running faster on the achievement treadmill, chasing the next ‘thing’ and wondering how you got so busy.
There’s a better option - five key concepts that, when mastered, form an unshakeable foundation for you to operate from. Get this right and you’ll have the type of inner strength that supports you while you go out and create massive impact in the areas you want to.
The concepts are: physical, mental, emotional, time and money. If you can create positive habits in each of these areas, your 2025 will be remarkable. The payoff for the hard work of setting up new habits is ease and grace in all you do.
Below, we work through what gets us stuck and how to create a win with each of the five keys.
If you'd like to work through them live with me join me for a free 5 day series here.
THINK
MINDSET
Our thinking, and the resulting mindset, are the key to all achievement. When we are mentally in balance, we feel capable, relaxed and like we can handle whatever comes our way. Difficulty in this area results in stress, anxiety, procrastination and acceptance of bad habits as, ‘I just can’t help it’.
We get stuck with our mindset when we lack the necessary brain training (commitment) to ensure the machine between our ears is operating as we direct it to. To succeed, we must commit to continuous learning.
Trouble with mindset is driven by feeling lost and alone, like we can’t win.
To create a win with mindset:
DO MORE:
- Meditation/mindfulness
- Books, courses, training
- Seek inspirational people and stories (even books)
- Learn new things
- Goal setting
- Positive habit building
- Time on hobbies
- Deep connection with loved ones
- Time in nature
DO LESS:
- Negative conversations and thinking
- Ruminating
- Worrying and catastrophising
- Watching junk
- Justifying bad habits
- Social media/phone time
Ask yourself:
- What changes do you need to make to succeed with your mindset?
- What would mastery of your mindset look like in 2025?
- Which negative habit do you most need to change?
- How will you do that?
- How can you set yourself up for success building new habits with your mindset?
TIME
Most people live their lives as though they have forever - but we do not. Time is a very precious resource. Most of us are burning the candle at both ends, trying to handle too many responsibilities and are running on empty due to a lack of personal time.
We get stuck with the time key when we are unwilling to make the difficult decisions, lack the courage to say no, or mistakenly perceive we have plenty of time to do it all.
Trouble in the time realm is driven by fear. To create a win with time:
DO MORE:
- Find private time each day
- ‘Disappear’ for important projects
- ‘Me time’ in your diary
- Create stillness, solitude and silence
- Push yourself to meet deadlines you set
- Become ruthlessly effective with your diary
- Meditate - mindfulness - inspirational reading
DO LESS:
- Go overtime on projects
- Allow perfectionism to rule your diary
- Overpromise (and underdeliver)
- Say ‘yes’ when you should say ‘no’
- Running late
- Attend events you don’t want to
Ask yourself:
- What changes do you need to make to succeed with time?
- What would mastery of your time look like in 2025?
- Which negative habit do you most need to change?
- How will you do that?
- How can you set yourself up for success building new habits with your time?
NB: You absolutely need a personal success routine. For info on how to set one up, see the blog post linked below.
MONEY
Either you work for your money, or your money works for you. It’s that simple.
We get stuck so easily with money, because it’s effortless to decide we’ll create an investment plan later. That refusal to deal with long term reality keeps us exactly where we are. Watch out for the belief that you can buy happiness - it never works.
Trouble with money is almost always driven by fear.
DO MORE:
- Save a % of all earnings
- Build an investment account
- Study a money creation method
- Invest in what you are passionate about
- Pay extra on your mortgage
- Put your money to work
- Treat yourself just enough to feel wealth
DO LESS:
- Buy ‘stuff’
- Spend on depreciating assets
- Invest on friends advice
- Use credit cards
- Borrow to buy toys
- Spend windfalls on ‘stuff’
Ask yourself:
- What changes do you need to make to succeed with money?
- What would mastery of your money look like in 2025?
- Which negative habit do you most need to change?
- How will you do that?
- How can you set yourself up for success building new habits with your finances?
FEEL
EMOTIONS
A balanced emotional world is a thing of beauty. Imagine having unfettered access to the full breadth of the human experience. Emotional intelligence and agility will set you free.
What holds most people back is fear created by a lack of experience in managing emotions, coupled with a perception that emotions are scary and damaging. Many of us also get hung up by an inability (or lack of courage) to have difficult conversations.
To create a win with emotions:
DO MORE:
- Express yourself authentically
- Express gratitude
- Acts of service
- Express your spirit
- Feeling (all emotions)
- Anger work (punching bag/pillow/lounge)
- Expressing bottled up feelings
- Meditation
- Expressing love
DO LESS:
- Bottle your emotions up
- Running on automatic
- Self-centred thinking/actions
- Putting off difficult conversations
- Derogatory comments in arguments
- Blame
- Rationalisation and justification
- Waiting for the right time to follow
Ask yourself:
- What changes do you need to make to succeed with your emotions?
- What would mastery of your emotional world look like in 2025?
- Which negative habit do you most need to change?
- How will you do that?
- How can you set yourself up for success building new habits with your emotions?
DO
PHYSICAL
When we have our physical world in balance, our body provides energy and health in abundance. If we’re leaning too hard on our coping mechanisms, we’re likely to experience negative behaviours like binge eating, too much drinking, lack of exercise and fad diets.
More often than not, we get stuck with the physical when are are unwilling to make the difficult decisions. When tiredness rules, we allow cravings to determine what fuel we consume and we stop exercising, it all goes pear shaped. We sit up late attempting to create ‘me time’, which doesn’t actually serve us since we’re already mentally checked out.
All of this is driven by a deeply emotional sense of ‘What about me?’
To create a win with the physical:
DO MORE:
- Cooking from scratch
- Eating small portions
- Increase how much is fresh and natural
- Fast occasionally
- Cardiovascular exercise
- Weight lifting
- Walking
- Go to bed early
DO LESS:
- Eating out of packets
- Eating when not hungry
- Sitting down
- Staying up late
- Eating after 8pm
Ask yourself:
- What changes do you need to make to succeed in the physical realm?
- What would mastery of your physical world look like in 2025?
- Which coping mechanisms are you going to need to let go of?
- Which negative habit do you most need to change?
- How will you do that?
- How can you set yourself up for success building new physical habits?
