Creating and Sustaining Life Changing Momentum – A Series

Do you remember, as a kid, riding your bike down a hill with the wind blowing through your hair?  Not a care in the world–feeling freedom and total invincibility.

Looking ahead you see “the hill” — the dreaded hill that’s necessary to climb in order to arrive at your desired destination.

You know what you need to do next…PEDAL! FASTER and HARDER!

With each revolution, you build on the momentum that will help you get up that hill.  Your primary focus for the next few minutes is to get up the hill without having to stop and get off your bike and push.

The momentum you’ve built gets you halfway up the hill.  Now, it’s time to stand up, and with all the strength your legs can muster, push to get to the top.  Your face is beet red and your burning lungs feel like they’re going to explode, but you PUSH!

PUSH!  PUSH!  PUSH!

Sometimes you succeed and make it to the top without getting off the bike, and other times, despite your valiant efforts, you’re forced to get off and push your bike to the top.

Isn’t this just like life?

If we could look down on our lives like a topographical map, we would see the ups and downs, the plateaus, the forked roads, the winding roads, the lush green meadows and the harsh dry deserts.  The landscape of our lives is not always predictable from our earthly vantage point, so it’s wise to prepare for a variety of experiences in order to weather the journey.

The key is to understand how to create and sustain momentum in our lives.

Over the next four weeks, I’ll break down each of the four components of momentum:  movement, strength building, coasting, and maintenance.  We’ll drill down to specifics and give actionable steps to create and sustain life changing momentum in your life.

Following is a preview of what you can expect in this series:

Movement:  In order to create momentum, you must move.  We all go through stagnant periods in our lives, but just like with water, when stagnancy sets in, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria.  No one wants a bacteria filled life!  The good news is that creating momentum does not require big, huge, bold steps.  Any step, in the right direction, can create momentum.  In next week’s post, we’ll talk about taking intentional and focused steps, in the key areas of your life, needed to achieve momentum.

Strength Building:  If you want to build up your biceps, what do you do?  You do strength training exercises–you pump iron!  Dictionary.com defines momentum as driving power or strength.  Not only is it important to practice strength training in order to make our bodies strong, but it’s also important to build strength in other areas of our lives, such as building and developing specific life or business skills.  The key to success at the gym and in life is repetition and consistency.  In this post, we’ll discuss “workout” tools, discipline, training exercises, and accountability.

Coasting: This is the easy part for most of us.  When you enter a coasting phase, you get to sit back and enjoy the ride.  Some people actually struggle with this part, but regardless of what camp you fall into, this post will help you to gain perspective and discover the importance of rest, recalibration, reflection, and planning.

Maintenance:  I don’t know about you, but I don’t get super excited when I have to take my car to get an oil change.  Maintaining our vehicles is necessary, and although not always obvious to us, the benefits are worth the effort.  Maintenance is also a critical part in the momentum process, but often neglected.  In the last post of this series, we’ll discuss the four key areas of momentum maintenance.

As with most of my posts, I like you to take a small action immediately after reading.  Today, in preparation for the coming weeks, I’d like you to jot down in your journal or a notebook ONE specific project, task, or goal that you’re either currently working on, but are having a difficult time building momentum, or that you plan on working on, but the thought of starting it overwhelms you.

That’s it.  Just write that down and set aside until you read next week’s post.

If you’ve not already subscribed to my blog, do so now, so you don’t miss any part of this series.

I’m looking forward to building momentum through this series and I hope you are too!

Have an awesome day!

Jill xx

Click here to read Week 2 in this series.
Click here to read Week 3 in the series.
Click here to read Week 4 in the series.
Click here to read Week 5 in the series.