Step Change
noun [C, usually singular]
A sudden (almost instant) positive change in output as a result of a specific input.
"Paying off the car early created a step change in our savings each month."
A sudden (almost instant) positive change in output as a result of a specific input.
"Paying off the car early created a step change in our savings each month."
Finding Your Step Change
The first time I heard the term “step change” was in my high school electronics class. If you have ever looked at waveforms on an oscilloscope, you may be familiar with this concept. Applying a certain voltage to a signal could generate a step change where the level of the signal would immediately jump in height and then continue at that new height forever until a new input caused it to change again.
Years later while working for a big software company, one of the more technical guys on my team made a comment about the fix to a problem needing to be a step change in improvement. I immediately thought back to my high school electronics class and how it was the perfect analogy for how real progress, and ultimately success, is achieved in life.
Step changes are all around us; today my son and his gamer friends would call it “leveling up”. Here are a few of my favorite examples:
Step changes are big deals and are really what drives progress in life. We are often told to be patient and grind it out to be successful. But super successful people, super wealthy people, tend to have step changes in their life that put them into another category. That’s what this blog is about. Helping you find more of those step changes, and find them more quickly. In some cases, creating your own step change. While this blog focuses on financial wealth building, the philosophy can apply to almost anything in life. There will be periods in life where it is very much “two steps forward, and one step back,” but the more we can ride the step changes and get bigger step changes, the easier it will be to deal with setbacks when they come.
Years later while working for a big software company, one of the more technical guys on my team made a comment about the fix to a problem needing to be a step change in improvement. I immediately thought back to my high school electronics class and how it was the perfect analogy for how real progress, and ultimately success, is achieved in life.
Step changes are all around us; today my son and his gamer friends would call it “leveling up”. Here are a few of my favorite examples:
- Working a minimum wage job for 10 years at $10/hour then hitting the PowerBall Lottery for $10 million. That is a massive step change in income.
- Going back to school part-time at night for several years, grinding through courses. Finally getting your degree and getting an instant pay raise or a new job. That’s a step change in career.
- Your son only being able to go on the kiddie rides at your favorite amusement park. Then one day he makes the height requirement and can ride everything in the park. That’s a step change in his experience.
Step changes are big deals and are really what drives progress in life. We are often told to be patient and grind it out to be successful. But super successful people, super wealthy people, tend to have step changes in their life that put them into another category. That’s what this blog is about. Helping you find more of those step changes, and find them more quickly. In some cases, creating your own step change. While this blog focuses on financial wealth building, the philosophy can apply to almost anything in life. There will be periods in life where it is very much “two steps forward, and one step back,” but the more we can ride the step changes and get bigger step changes, the easier it will be to deal with setbacks when they come.