How to Launch Your Quantum Leap to you²

A quantum leap — going from you to "you squared" — means rapid achievement of breakthrough results. And the rules are different for breakthroughs.

You're aiming for a bold, dramatic goal that has stolen your heart. At the outset your #1 enemy is inertia. So instead of merely nursing the idea in your head, give it legs. Here's the key rule: Fast growth shouldn't start slow.

"Get going" instead of bogging down in "getting ready." You won't get any great mileage out of careful planning, organizing, researching, and other time-consuming preparatory activities. They're mainly distractions, just ways to avoid taking hard-core action that can move you toward your goal.

"Getting ready" is actually a seductive and sneaky form of resistance-a delaying tactic. You can rationalize, "I don't want to go off half-cocked. I'm aiming high. I need to think this through, study the situation, make sure I do this right." But you'll be conning yourself. This is nothing but sly self­-deception, a tricky way of avoiding the real work by doing stuff that lets you remain in your comfort zone.

Want the unvarnished truth? "Getting ready" is where big ambitions go to die. It's a graveyard where hopes and dreams get buried. All because people feel they need a clear "how to" for achieving their goal before they begin to pursue it.

Look, you're aiming for the stars, shooting for an exciting, high-challenge target that represents a quantum leap beyond your present status. Such a big ambition will take you into new territory. You mostly have to draw the map as you go based on what you discover and what you learn.

At the outset, you can't know enough to craft a detailed plan. There are simply too many unknowns.

You can think, study, plan, and organize till the cows come home. But forward motion offers the fastest education you can find!

• It is by far the most productive way to do "research" and shape your go-forward plan.
• It puts you out into the world, showing you in real time what works and what doesn't.

Sure, you could hole up for months preparing for the actual pursuit of you2, but as the saying goes, "No plan survives contact with the enemy." That in-depth prework which feels so important would be wasted effort.

Your quantum leap should employ a fast-break offense and full court press. Proceed with a sense of urgency. A quantum leap is an entrepreneurial act, like a start-up venture. Your early steps may be shaky because you're journeying into the fog of uncertainty. That's okay. Just rely on your creativity, intuition, and imagination. And go. You know more than you think you know.

Be open to new risks, unfazed by mistakes or setbacks, and relentless in pursuit of your goal. The primary objective in this process is discovery. Learning is the key metric.

When you do something that doesn't work, simply study the situation, find the lesson, adjust, and move forward. Resume pursuit of your goal and regain momentum. Do what comes next. Do it now.

Progress, in and of itself, is motivating. It will energize you and build self-belief.

Advancing toward your goal silences your inner critic, the villain voice in your head that says you should slow down, lower your ambition, even abandon the idea of achieving you². The villain voice lies. It fights dirty. Your job is to outrun it, to prove it unworthy of your attention by virtue of your ongoing progress.

The secret is to move at speed and stay on the offensive.

How you begin says a lot about how you'll finish.