In business and in life, momentum is felt by all of us, but seemingly harnessed only by a few.
Momentum is defined as the "impetus gained by a moving object" or the "quantity of motion of a moving body measured by its mass and velocity". In business and in life, momentum is felt by all of us, but seemingly harnessed only by a few. Like many others I struggle with momentum in life, but by deconstructing what momentum is, and how to build it, maybe we can all build positive momentum.
The first step in the process is situational awareness. It is vital to begin your journey by thinking about where you are currently, and where you want to go. Every NASA mission's calculations begin with the point of origin, knowing where your are, as well as the personal skills and resources you possess is your launch point. The next is figuring out your destination. Your end point must be realistically achievable and should include realistic thoughts of what success looks like. One thing to keep in mind when setting your destination is something Bill Gates once said, "Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years". I would take that one step further and say, most people underestimate what they can do in three years. With your start point and end points in mind, rough out a plan of how you might achieve your goals. You don't have to be "correct", but if the start and end points are realistic, your plan should be roughly what you need to achieve some momentum. A general rule for formulating the plan, mentally put yourself in a frame of mind that creates an emergency situation either right now, or some coming calamity, and that situation necessitates a call to make some fast decisions. This will get your plan more than 80% there, the remainder can be thought out once you are implementing. Also keep in mind that your plan should be objective, and measurable. Vague goals are impossible to track because you will never know when you have succeeded. If you make your goals objective, there is no question whether you achieved your goal or you need to keep working. An example would be, "I would like to be healthy", vs "I would like to be able to complete an olympic triathlon" or "I would like to lose 40 pounds". The first one is not well defined, the other two are objective goals which you either can hit or must keep working.
Never get stuck in planning or analysis mode. Indecision and a lack of action will mire you and completely stymie your progress before you even start. Keep one thought always in the back of your mind, no matter the plan, you will need to course correct and adjust while you are moving towards your goal. No plan is perfect, and the more time we spend on the "perfect" plan, the harder it is to set all that planning aside once you get better information from your journey. If your spend all of your time and energy just poking holes in your plan and showing yourself how hard it will be, is the same thing as poking holes in the boat you are sitting in, you will sink your ship before you ever get going.
The next step is action. Simply put action is a step or some steps in the direction of your plan. Just like planning, don’t get wrapped up in making your action steps perfect, the most important thing to do is START. “Perfect is the enemy of good” according to Voltare, and this saying should be taken to heart. Many of us get so wrapped up on the idea that we have to be perfect that we never begin because it’s not right. This idea is like a child getting mad that they aren’t a concert pianist at their first lesson. The only way for any of us to get to our goals is trial and error. Artists aim for perfect is an ideal, but they work with the notion that we will never get to it. The more we learn the more you know how far away from perfect we really are. No matter your journey, or which destination you have picked for yourself or your career, the most important part is taking action. Take a step, or take a few, but take your “plan” and start putting it into action. The easiest way to do this is to take your objective goal and chunk it into smaller parts so you can set up daily, weekly, or monthly objectives to keep you moving. No matter what, make yourself daily or weekly goals so you can be accountable to yourself to keep it going. There are even apps like Streaks to keep you motivated and moving.
Jim Collins described the concept of a flywheel in business. This like many other things in life are about adding momentum to a spinning wheel which will get you to your destination. No single step will be dispositive for getting you to your destination...except the first one to set the wheel in motion. Each additional action only adds to the motion of the flywheel, the faster it spins, the more momentum you will have to carry you through any setbacks you will have. The more good work you put into your flywheel, the heavier it gets and the faster it spins. The momentum of your flywheel once it gathers steam will pull you when you aren’t able to add energy on your own and will push you when you need a bit of motivation.
Knowing that no road is smooth, is essential. We ALL have setbacks. We ALL have moments where the wind will go out of our sails. Nobody is immune to this reality. Almost every entrepreneur has had one or two catastrophic business failures. Everyone has been blindsided by something in life, from a lawsuit, to an illness to something like missing the train to the one meeting which would have made or broken your business. This adversity is the reason we need to build, and maintain our flywheel of momentum. All too often we hear about people who have given up when life hands them the proverbial wheelbarrow full of lemons. With the focus on taking steps, even small ones, anyone can take the lemons in stride. Mentally we all want to be the people who would take the lemons and open up a lemonade stand, but in reality, even taking a small step past them and letting the momentum of the flywheel push you to keep going is all you really need.
For larger setback events, it is completely understandable to be off your plan for a while. For these events like the death of a loved one, a poor health diagnosis, or a catastrophic business failure it's very important to take the time you need. Your action plan might be a fantastic diversion to keep you going or to take a break from your current situation. But, if that is not the case you have so much momentum built in the flywheel, treat this as a time to review your goals, and pivot as needed. You have built momentum you have steam, you have a turning flywheel, use that to keep you going. From someone who has lived this, I can attest its far too easy to get stuck if you aren't consciously aware of what is going on. We often "stare" into the void and lose track of the world around us. If part of your daily routine is to go over your goals and your progress, you can unstick yourself. One way to break you out of being stuck is using your plan, if you have been making steps and progress you will know if actions you are doing are on or off goal. For those who have been on plan we all feel a little guilt for doing things off goal, use this feeling to kickstart yourself to being back on plan.
As an over-thinker who routinely gets stuck in the "analysis paralysis", it became obvious that one thing about momentum really needs to be explained. Once you are moving and your flywheel is spinning is much easier to change course than it is to start all over again. As with martial arts, redirection of energy is a lot easier than creating energy. Even if you need to make a complete 180, the momentum you have built will help you turn around faster than stopping and starting again.
GRIT as described in many articles recently is the ability to keep going through adversity. Keeping going isn’t hard if you consistently think about taking steps and building your flywheel. This thinking will get you through so many setbacks and obstacles by rolling over or through them. Knowing that you aren't where you want to be, but you are on your way there provides a lot of comfort and motivation to keep going. There are no shortcuts for most things in life, but you can get addicted to the process of achievement. This process is GRIT, and this process is your personal momentum.
Comments