Seek Momentum Not Motivation

With any new pursuit, passion, or goal, you start with motivation. You start with motivation because you are eager to start your journey. You are eager to start working towards something that you are excited about and want to make into part of your life. The motivation is the blazing match stick that you use to spark the kindling in your internal fire pit. But like that match stick, your motivation will ultimately burn out. Motivation gets you started and gets your actions, thoughts, and life aligned with what you want to do but motivation alone will not sustain what you want to do. Motivation is the spark that inspires but in the grand scheme of your life, that spark of motivation is still just a spark. You need fuel to keep your internal flame going. With that internal flame still ignited you can keep moving forward. You need momentum to keep the flames ablaze.

Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion referred to as the Law of Inertia, states that an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Treat your life like an object in motion. Treat yourself like an object in motion. By establishing a routine that you follow daily, it will feel different and weird for you to stop that routine. It will feel weird to stop your motion. Instead, you will remain in motion and you will remain filled with momentum as you continue attacking your goals. If you want to become a reader, read at the same time every day. Your body will recognize when it’s time for you to read and you will continue to read. You will have built up momentum with this habit. Momentum and stacking wins can be used with any habit, pursuit, goal, or passion.

But momentum isn’t found, momentum is created. That object at rest will remain at rest unless another force acts upon it. If you are someone lacking motivation and find yourself stuck, you may be the object at rest. You may need to act upon yourself to get some momentum. Shake things up, get up off of the couch, and stack daily wins. As the daily wins occur you are reprograming your brain to not need motivation but to instead continue using the momentum you are receiving from your daily actions.

Motivation may get you started but it will not keep you going. Motivation may take you from an object at rest to an object in motion but it will not prevent waves of discomfort, pain, tiredness, or negative feelings from stopping your motion. When motivation fails, your momentum will carry you through. Don’t just seek momentum, create it, and ride the wave it brings you.