by Tommy Baker
What did you feel as you made this leap, and what happened after?
Unbelievably terrified, but it led to freedom, truth, ownership, and peace. It was a “knowing” I was unable to deny. Honestly, I didn’t know that it was for me in that I had no idea how it would work out. As a fan of structure and knowing what comes next, it was the scariest decision I’ve ever made. But the peace I felt in that one instant on the side of the road was enough to carry me through it.
What did you feel as you stared into the abyss and what happened after?
These are the decisions you have to make 100% on your own. You don’t ask someone else if it will be okay. You don’t ask anyone else what you “should” do. You have to go into the deepest part of yourself and make the decision from that point. And then hold onto that from that point forward through the bumps and roadblock.
I Don’t Have Time for This Stuff
In working with high performers who are used to the old model of do more to be more, they’re often the last to consider a spiritual leap. Why? Well, going to a seven-day meditation retreat doesn’t seem to correlate with shattering profit goals. Often, they’re deep in the hustle and grind mentality, and have no time to waste. A 37-minute meditation? Come on, Tommy! I’ve got sales to make, deals to close, and mouths to feed at home. Take your law of attraction crap and shove it you-know-where.
Unless there’s a specific output to the input, they place this entire topic under the label of woo-woo hacks and one big pyramid scheme where Deepak Chopra is laughing his way to riches.
What you believe is up to you (and it will dictate your results with any practice), but what if a spiritual leap led to more results, not less? What if disconnecting from the nonstop noise of the world created the necessary space leading to a big business breakthrough? What if what got you here, won’t get you there? These are the questions I want you to consider if you experience resistance.
One of my clients, Jeff, founded a successful marketing agency. He’d worked for years to build it, and the sweat equity he poured into it was real. And yet, he came to me because he was stuck and so was the business. Twenty-three months of record-breaking revenue followed by nine of plateaus. What he thought he needed when he joined the Mastermind group was more business, strategy, and clarity around client acquisition. Except he had tried all that, and it didn’t work.
What did we start with? Space and a spiritual leap. He committed to 90 days of 15 minutes of meditation, followed by one sensory deprivation (often called floating) session a week, culminating in a three-day intensive meditation excursion.
“ . . . but Tommy, when are we going to get to the real stuff?” he would ask me. I continued to remind him how he came to me and sought me out. To his credit, his level of trust in the process was amazing, and he knew a breakthrough would require a new level of thinking.
Without implementing any new strategy, the month after his spiritual leap was his best in a year-and-a-half. He shattered the previous months revenue, and then made the key hire he was missing all along: chief financial officer. He was able to increase his salary out of the business by 25%, reduce his personal stress, and find himself re-invigorated with the process. And, oh yeah, his marriage of 11 years was on fire again.
You can choose to believe it was a stroke of luck and a coincidence. Or you can see what happened: he shifted, and since he was the heart of the business—that followed suit.
Types of Spiritual Leaps
Spiritual leaps come in all shapes and sizes. It’s important to remember: it’s not about the size of the leap, it’s about the alignment and ability to integrate into your life. If you’ve never meditated, I’d say heading to Peru for a planet medicine experience may be a little much. Although, for the right person at the right time, a radical, immersive leap may be the exact thing they need.
Before we explore the types of spiritual leaps available, I want you to take creative ownership, too. Although I’ll outline some common ones with relative examples, feel free to expand and create your own. Remember, taking ownership of your leap is everything and will determine the long-term impact it has on your life. And impact is exactly what we’re here for.
Spiritual Leap 1: Explore the Unknown
In this place, you’re shifting your experience of life by releasing what you’ve known and embracing something new. If you’re feeling the most resistance, this one’s for you. Exploring the unknown will open your curiosity and give you enough of a taste to hopefully come back for more and dig deeper.
This can be anything from a half-day meditation experience to committing to the study of a deep spiritual text. This is a starting point to deepen your exploration and begin the process of your quest.
The key with his leap is to get comfortable in the uncomfortable of silence and quiet. If you’ve been running on fumes and never get a moment, this will nourish and challenge you. This is your starting point of your experience, and the moment you truly embrace the power of the inner quest.
Spiritual Leap 2: Deepen Your Practice
You’re already on your path, and you’re ready to deepen it. You’ve experienced some leaps and have practices rituals centered around space and reflection. But you’re barely scratching the surface, and you know it. You want more.
The initial leaps only intensified your desire to shift, and it’s time for something bold and exciting. This type of leap involves an experience in which you break the pattern of your daily life. It could look like a three-, five-, or seven-day retreat or excursion. You’ve wanted to do this before but gave in to the common excuses of time and responsibilities. Dig in, because you’re going deep and will come out a changed person.
Spiritual Leap 3: The Radical Leap
Sometimes in life, we need to rip the Band-Aid off and go all in. The radical leap is exactly as it sounds, a complete shift in perspective, and not for the faint of heart. This leap could look like a whole host of options, including: immersive experiences, long retreats, and intense journeys designed to go inward. The key ingredients here are radical disconnection and for your reality to be ripped wide open.
During your radical leap, you will unquestionably come back as a different person, and you know it. You’re constantly searching for new ways to grow, and this type of spiritual leap will take you there. You’re ready, and you can’t wait to experience it.
Spiritual Leap 4: Micro Leaps
Although all types of spiritual leaps have benefits and are a great starting point to get you emotionally anchored to the feeling, you’ll also have micro leaps along the way in the form of practices.
Most often, the most transformative benefit you’ll experience during your leap won’t happen during it, it’ll happen after. This is the integration process when you come back to daily life. Shane Stott, CEO of Float Tank Company, develops cost-effective floating devices for those who want to tune in to a deeper part of themselves, cure past trauma, and find balance in their lives.
Floating, or sensory deprivation is lying in a zero-gravity tank with thousands of pounds of Epsom salt keeping you buoyant. You close the door, you’re in total darkness, and you lose the ability to use your senses. In speaking with Shane, he expands:4
Just going floating gets your analytical mind out of the way. You feel a sense of peace and calm unlike anything else. And the best part: the biggest benefits come the moment you step outside of the tank.
Think of micro leaps or practices to fuel you between the bigger leaps along your path. Each one acts as a bridge to deepen your experience and share your new gifts with the world.
What’s (Always) in the Way
Undoubtedly, there will be some resistance towards taking your spiritual leap. That’s normal, and I encourage you to lean in. My clients who resist meditation and rituals of space the most are always the ones who need it the most.
Let’s examine some of the common roadblocks with your spiritual leap that can easily stop you in your tracks:
Labeling. A common
roadblock to taking a spiritual leap is projecting our beliefs by labeling. This is extremely common. From a statement as simple as “that’s not for me” to “all those people are crazy,” labeling lets you off the hook. It lets you to avoid taking the leap and missing out on what’s found during the (sometimes) uncomfortable journey inside.
Fear. Tim Ferris was sitting at a 10-day, Vipassana meditation and wanted to quit. His body ached, and the thoughts going through his head would have disturbed Stephen King. He couldn’t take it anymore, and his darkest demons were brimming to the surface. He was ready to leave but stayed with it to find a new level of clarity.5 Most won’t take the spiritual leap due to an immense fear of discovering who they really are.
FOMO (fear of missing out.) The fear of missing out will be a common roadblock to taking your leap. Missing out on the rest of life—the logical and rational parts of your identity, including your business, career, your tasks, bills, responsibilities, and the countless roles we play. Stack on breaking news, sports updates, and missing the endless rolodex of social media status updates, and fear of missing out stops us cold. Most of us are addicted, and breaking the addiction proves to be a challenge.
Avoidance. What was she looking for? I kept asking myself. I was deep in a spiritual retreat in Sedona, Arizona and I questioned why the hell I even came. We were going through a forceful breathwork experience designed to release emotional build up. I felt resistance, and I didn’t want to let go. I remember telling myself: Dude, can’t you be normal and fall in line without always trying to grow? And that’s when I knew I was being overwhelmed by resistance.
Ultimately, I had a life-changing experience where I achieved massive clarity on deep issues such as death, emotional scars, and self-acceptance. But getting there wasn’t easy. Going within is a journey of deep exploration and uncomfortable questions. You’re going to want to quit. You’re going to want to bow out. Stay with it, and let the magic unfold.
Practical Tools for Your Spiritual Leap
Your spiritual leap and practice will have a powerful set of tools, habits, rituals, and practical ways of deepening your experience. There are countless ways to do this, so I’ll highlight some favorites and essentials.
Meditation. No need to go deep here, because the research is obvious: meditation is a must-have tool in your arsenal. If you’re looking to achieve more inner peace, clarity, and go within, you can’t go without this practice. There are countless ways to do it, and all types of formats. Pick one and stick with it. Remember: if you struggle with it, it’s because you’re human.
Breathwork. One of the greatest tools we have is one we rarely think about, yet we already perform over 23,000 times a day: breathing. This forgotten tool is a gateway to turn stress into peace, and chaos into calm. There are countless types of breathing, which I’ll add to the resources section. But don’t ignore the power of your breathing, I’ve had life changing experiences only using intense breathing.
Sensory deprivation. Imagine floating in space. Now you can, thanks to zero-gravity sensory deprivation, or floating. We already discussed floating previously but it simply means being in an isolated capsule full of thousands of pounds of Epsom salt. This is my favorite of all the tools, because you’ve got nowhere to go, nowhere to be, and nothing to do.
Cold-water therapy. There is nothing like stepping into a 40-degree cold tank to find out what you’re about. But cold-water therapy isn’t limited to the mental benefits; the physical benefits include a powerful release of endorphins designed to make you feel better and fight inflammation at a moment’s notice.
Advanced techniques. There are countless techniques designed to help you deepen your spiritual leap and practices. This is not about religion or believing in anything if you don’t want to. It’s simply about creating space in a hectic world. In this space you’ll find powerful insights you won’t find anywhere else. Get started, release expectation, and let the advanced practices come to you.
Your Spiritual Leap
If there was one leap designed to help you navigate the rest of your life, your spiritual leap is the one. But often, we wait until a challenging crisis occurs to remember what matters. By taking matters into your own hands, you’ll be able to move through the seasons of your life with more depth and inner peace.
Furthermore, your connection to others (and to yourself) will improve. You’ll rest a little easier at night, knowing you’ve cultivated a strong connection to something much bigger and bolder than our day-to-day responsibilities.
And best of all, you’d have built a powerful foundation to lean on when you’re in need of answers.
Chapter 12 Key Takeaways
The most powerful insights happen when there is space. Stress, anxiety, and an endless to-do list aren’t where you will find the deep insights for life and business.
Spending time in quiet solitude is crucial to growth. This works on several levels and is a key marker to how fulfilled you are with yourself, and your life. Be intentional with creating the space and loving it.
Our spiritual foundation must be met. Otherwise, we will feel empty and disconnected. Create a practice or set of rituals designed to deepen this connection daily and quiet the noise from the external world.
CHAPTER 12 LEAP POWER STEP
What is the one decision you’ve been putting off in your spiritual connection?
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What’s been holding you back from making this decision and why?
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What are you committed to doing now?
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Notes
1 https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-does-vipassana-meditation-2018-1.
2 Email and phone interview, September 2018.
3 Private interview, September 2018.
4 https://resistaverageacademy.com/shanestott/.
5 https://www.goodlifeproject.com/podcast/tim-ferriss-tribe-mentors/.
CHAPTER 13
The Connection Leap (Love Out Loud)
Rachel Hollis knew it was time. She’d been married to her husband for 12 years and the future looked bleak. She knew if she continued this path, they were destined for divorce. With four kids, and managing the day to day of her business, she needed to have the conversation. She had been growing personally and professionally, and he’d long been stagnant.
She was scared shitless. So, she put it off, and kept telling herself it would happen when the time was right. Days passed. Weeks passed. And months passed—and still she said nothing. The feelings only grew fiercer every time she didn’t listen and avoided what she knew she must do.
Then, she reached her breaking point. Explaining the dire circumstance in her own words: “I knew if things didn’t change, we wouldn’t be married in two years. We were growing apart.”1
After an especially trying family vacation when her husband spent most of the time disconnected, she couldn’t wait any longer. The kids went to bed that night, and she psyched herself up; it was happening, and it was (likely) going to hurt. But she leaned in anyway.
It was messy. It was emotional. But it was the wakeup call they both needed. That night, everything changed for them as individuals and as partners. Today, they consider this one conversation to be the breakthrough they needed to get to where they are now: connected, on fire, and thriving. Rachel Hollis shook the world with her book, Girl, Wash Your Face, selling over a million copies, launched two podcasts in the top 10 (one with her husband, who quit his corporate gig at Disney and now is CEO of her company) and, most importantly, rekindled the most important part of her life.
I know what you’re thinking: how could one conversation be considered a leap
? I get it. I’m here to remind you the leaps of our lives don’t always come in the ways we’d expect. But the result is the same: a radically different life, and in Rachel’s case – saving her marriage, family, and connection because she had the audacity to speak up.
She stepped into the unknown while in the (seemingly) most known place: her closest relationship.
And your connection leap will be similar.
Not All Sunshine and Rainbows
I could have started this part of the connection leap with a feel-good story about someone taking a chance on love, moving cross-country to meet their soul mate, or proposing after only 11 days to live a lifetime of bliss. But this isn’t a Hollywood romcom (I do love them, though). And although those stories can all be leaps, they don’t always happen from a comfortable place.
There is no doubt we tend to grow comfortable in relationships and take them for granted as time passes. Often, this happens as a result of a more pressing pursuit: our careers, the business launch, or simply managing the day to day of life.
And yet, what gets lost is often the most important: our core relationships. Enter the Grant Study, the 80-year (and counting) comprehensive study on what drives happiness and fulfillment. Number one on the list: meaningful relationships. Obvious, right? Not always. Not only were core relationships the most important pillar, they led to success across all other areas of life. The study expands:
