By Kris Germain
Momentum: the impetus and driving force gained by the development of a process or course of events.
There is an imaginary speed at which you would like to have things move in your life. You have desires, ambitions and goals that you imagine would take this or that amount of time. Every January, people run headlong into the real-time speed of life with this imagined speed, and real-time usually obliterates the dream.
The good news is, that real-time has a couple of gears and it’s possible for you to change speeds. The way we all shift gears and change speed is through momentum. Over the years, I’ve tried to understand and develop some expertise on the subject, and here’s a quick breakdown of what I’ve learned:
Emotion is part of momentum, but it doesn’t define it. When you start something and you feel good, and that good leads to euphoric, enjoy it, but don’t let that define your success. No deep, lasting change comes without struggle. You must choose to drive your momentum on the days you don’t feel it.
Find someone or something that has momentum already, and go stand next to them. Momentum is such a powerful thing, that you CAN get caught up in someone else's momentum and it can turn into your own momentum. In leadership and coaching circles when you want to Level Up, you get yourself next to people who are already where you want to go.
Momentum starts with you. It doesn’t matter how much momentum is around you if there is no action taken on your part. The good news is, I have seen meteoric life change born out of miniscule beginnings. Because I own a gym, the most frequent life changer I see is scheduling the appointment to come in. Pick up the phone or walk through the door, or call the friend, or avoid the drive-through. These are all beginnings of significant revolutions.
True success is defined by a life changed. Otherwise you’re just on another roller coaster and you’ll end up back where you started.
Don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t taken the first step yet. Keep trying. Dare yourself to be brave. You might be thinking, I’m in the gym all the time, my body looks great, but you know there’s another thing out there that you just can’t get yourself going on.
Either way, be brave and go stand next to some momentum.
