About The Importance Of Building Momentum

We all have big goals we want to achieve. Most of the time we lack motivation though. One of the biggest success factors is to build so-called momentum.

What is momentum? Let’s take a look at the Wikipedia definition:

In classical mechanics, […] momentum […] is the product of the mass and velocity of an object, quantified in kilogram-meters per second. […] For example, a heavy truck moving rapidly has a large momentum, and it takes a large or prolonged force to get the truck up to this speed, and would take a similarly large or prolonged force to bring it to a stop. If the truck were lighter, or moving more slowly, then it would have less momentum and therefore require less impulse to start or stop.

What holds true for the truck, holds true for anything else as well:

It’s always very difficult to start out and to put time and work into something. But after some time, you have gained some momentum and you don’t think any longer about putting in the effort – you just do it. The same holds true for problems that arises. Before you have gained some momentum, these problems can prevent you from doing the work  because they appear unsolvable. But if you’ve put a lot of energy into something, you won’t be stopped by a single problem. Instead, you just solve the problem and keep going.

I really do believe that this is one of the most important success factors. It doesn’t matter how much talent you have. If you don’t have the work ethic to establish momentum, you won’t have any success at all. In fact, there is a lot to the phrase “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”.

Habits

This also has a lot to do with habits. If you are used to do something every single day, it’s not a problem at all to keep up that habit. But for building this habit, you have to put a lot of work into it.

Here’s a small example:

For over a year I published two blog posts every single week – without any exception. I builded a massive momentum in order to make this possible. Then I missed a single blog post. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, does it? However, it was a big deal! All of my momentum was lost and all of the sudden I also missed the next blog post and the one afterwards. It then became almost impossible and extremely difficult to publish just one single blog post! Now I have regained some momentum and it becomes easier and easier.

How to build momentum?

So how can you build momentum? It requires some work and effort, but there are a few thing that can help you:

• Create a plan. Do you want to write a book, create an app or learn iOS development? Make the commitment to work just 30 minutes on that project every single day. After some days has passed, it will become very natural for you to do this and you will work much longer on it than just 30 minutes.
• Eliminate distractions. One of the major reasons for procrastination are distractions. So turn of your cell phone, close your browser and throw away your television.
• Start out by creating a very small momentum. If a task feels to big, make the commitment to work just five minutes on that task. This doesn’t require a lot of effort, but you will see that after five minutes you feel much more motivated to keep going because you have created a small momentum.

[thrive_text_block color=”blue” headline=”Conclusion”]It doesn’t matter how much talent you have! Building a momentum on the other hand is much more important! And for building that momentum you just need motivation and work ethic – so just do it![/thrive_text_block]

References

Title Image: @ IM_photo / shutterstock.com