The work you put in toward your personal and professional growth and well-being is incredibly important in both the short- and long-term. Your determination to continue investing in your growth is truly inspirational! So let’s continue pushing your efforts into new territories by exploring a specific force together: the power of momentum and the role of investing time, energy and resources into building it.
There are so many great visuals and examples of momentum taking place in our lives. I want you to picture a line of dominoes. It takes a lot of effort—great effort—to line them all up. But once you set the first one in motion, they keep falling, one leading to the next and so on. This is the power of momentum. Creating momentum in our own lives can be hard, but once you get started, it can quickly become a habit that you benefit from for a very long time.
The power of momentum
Just like that line of dominoes, consistent and purposeful efforts create a similar momentum in our personal and professional lives. It’s not always about taking massive actions either but making smaller, steady moves that bring you closer to your goals. In fact, taking smaller actions helps to ensure that whatever you may be working toward, be that a professional promotion, building a new skill or even taking up a new hobby, remains manageable.
Smaller actions, sometimes called microactions, often help to support those larger actions that we all have in life. Whether we’re looking to start a business, go back to school or save to buy a house, these microactions help to break down bigger goals that can often be overwhelming on their own.
Think of the last time you had a big shift or action you wanted to take. Did you feel stuck in place because of how large and looming it felt? You’re definitely not alone in feeling this way. But by taking smaller actions that help support your ultimate goal, you’re harnessing the power of momentum to your benefit.
Each step you take, every hour you invest in your life, contributes to building up that momentum, setting you up for progress and propelling you forward toward your goals.
Three ways to help build your momentum
Now that we’ve talked a little about the actual power of momentum, I want you to remember the importance of focusing on areas that align with your values and aspirations, because that’s where your investment of time, energy and resources will yield the most satisfaction and progress.
Building momentum takes patience. Sometimes it takes time to see the tangible results of your labor, but rest assured that every effort, including your labor, is a piece of the puzzle. Even if its impact isn’t immediately apparent, it’s still contributing to your overall progress forward.
With that in mind, let’s discuss three ways you can start building momentum. These strategies will help you in your goal setting and your efforts to achieve those goals, personally and professionally.
Determine where you’re going
Similar to the concept of this before that, in which you focus on achieving smaller, preliminary conditions to prepare for a larger goal, taking the time to determine where you’re going and where you’d like to be can help set the foundation on which to start building your momentum.
Take time to brainstorm where you see yourself in the future—be that a day, a week, a year or even a decade from now. Write down these thoughts about where you see yourself in a journal or talk about them out loud, whatever works best for you. Having a general idea of where you’re going and what steps you need to take to get there will help establish a strong foundation for momentum.
Start small to build the power of momentum
Remember, taking smaller actions to help break down bigger goals can make them less overwhelming. I want you to take that idea to heart as you begin to build your momentum. Starting small makes it so much easier to build momentum, especially when you have large goals that can benefit from being broken down into more manageable actions.
Start by breaking down big goals into smaller actions. For example, say you want to start saving for an upcoming vacation. You can break this large goal down into a few different actions, like figuring out what your budget is and how much money you need to set aside each month, devising a saving plan that works with your finances and scheduling the desired amount to be taken out of your account accordingly.
It’s all about looking at the bigger picture and determining what smaller steps will help you achieve those large goals.
Track your progress
Life gets busy, making it all too easy to lose track of where our personal and professional goals are. This can make building momentum even more challenging, especially if we can’t remember what we’ve completed and how far along we are in reaching our desired goals.
This is where steadily tracking your progress can help. Determine a tracking process that feels manageable and works for you. You can write out completed tasks or compile a checklist in your weekly planner, use a whiteboard next to your desk or even set up a quick phone call with a friend at the end of each week to discuss what you’ve each done to work toward your goals—think of that call as having an accountability buddy!
You can think of these strategies like a series of dominoes. And much like a series of dominoes, each action you take triggers a chain reaction of progress. Each effort builds upon the last, creating a force that continues to push you forward.
So now, I challenge you to focus on building and harnessing the power of momentum. Consider where you can best invest your time, your energy and your resources. How can each action, each investment, contribute to your overall momentum?
Remember, each small step you take in your journey isn’t solitary; they’re all a part of your larger journey, contributing to the forceful momentum moving you toward your goals. Take care, stay committed and let’s keep moving forward together.
Photo by ©Mike D’Avello.
