The Mindset of Momentum
Learn how to build momentum through action. Do you find yourself with great ideas that don’t seem to ever get off the ground? Do you find yourself stopping and starting projects?
Last week I came up with a list of things I needed to do for my websites. It was not a huge list, but definitely more on it than I would normally have for a week of work. I told myself I would commit to fully completing this list by the end of the week. I had a lot of energy for it in the beginning, but started to encounter resistance the second day as all these other obligations seemed to creep in.
Finishing something is where I usually go fall down. I start off strong, then allow myself to get distracted and don’t end up actually finishing what I wanted to and then the idea just fades away and I find myself moving on to the next thing. I have come to realize that this is really dishonoring myself and then I end up beating myself up. I may tell myself that its okay not to have finished something, but what it really says is that I was not 100% committed to the outcome.
Creating Momentum
How do you create momentum when starting a new project? Once you have an new idea for a project, you have many fresh plans to implement. It is something, fresh, alive, and new. You pour your energy into it and much thinking. The problem comes when you do not move past this part.
This is energy without any direction. The energy needs to be channeled into specific actions that will propel the movement of your thoughts into physical actions. What does this mean in real life? It is making a list and completing it. It is doing something that can be shown to someone else, like writing a blog post or cleaning a closet.
What is Momentum?
It is inertia, or action. How can you use this to create what you desire in your life? It is like a snowball effect. Momentum may feel like you are almost going backwards at first and it can be so hard to get something moving off center. It starts with pushing at the object, real or imagined and at first, it doesn’t even seem like its moving. After a bit of pushing though, something finally seems to give and the snowball slowly starts turning.
What does the snowball equate to? Persistence and hard work. Each time you push forward, you gain momentum. After a while longer, you find yourself not having to push as hard. You take a deep breath and continue to keep pushing. The snowball gets easier to move.
Keep Going
If you just stop and start, stop and start, you will never get past the first initial hard push to get a project, website, or business off the ground. The mindset of momentum is to keep going and keep pushing a little more each and every day. Don’t ever give up.
Coasting
Once the ball is rolling smoothly, we all have a tendency to start relaxing and taking it easy as you get tired from all the pushing. Where the problem comes in is coasting for too long. There is still management and upkeep that needs to happen or the snowball will start going off course. If you let that happen, you are back to the starting line, and that is when you get dismayed, depressed, and disillusioned.
What about You?
Are you ready to start a new project or move on to another phase? Are you willing to commit the time and action necessary to get there? Are you going to keep pushing?
I pushed through this week and by finishing this blog post, I am happy to say I completed every single item on my list this week by Friday afternoon. Now its time for a bit of coasting ( just a little bit though).
