How to Gain and Maintain Momentum

Ep: 210

Has it been a while since you’ve felt the ease of being “in flow”? Do you feel like you’ve lost your momentum and don’t know how to get it back? 

If you’ve felt burned out, drained, or exhausted at the end of the day, then your momentum may not be moving in the direction you want. 

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake explains why the direction of your momentum is such an essential part of building the life and career that you want.

In this episode, you’ll hear about the risks of losing momentum and how to recognize your momentum rhythm. You’ll learn to identify the activities that give you momentum, and how to use that information to move in the direction you want to go. By determining where you are on the momentum spectrum, you can then make small changes that will actually move you toward the life and the career that you want.

If you feel like you’re stuck, operating in survival mode, or that your momentum has come to a halt, then this episode is for you. 

What You’ll Learn:

  • The risks of momentum that’s taking you in the wrong direction (1:27)
  • How to recognize your momentum rhythm (2:31)
    Determining where your momentum is taking you right now (5:00)
  • How the power of a little shift creates energy and shifts momentum (6:00)


Favorite Quotes:

  1. Most of us think that momentum isn’t something we have control over. But that just isn’t true. –Blake
  2. Learning your rhythms is critical. Understanding what causes you to gain momentum, and what causes you to lose it is key.  –Blake
  3. We want to learn how to be in momentum for longer and longer periods of time because that makes everything easier, more efficient, and more joyful. –Blake
  4. When you feel stuck, it is critical to make a change in what you’re doing. Because the longer you stay at rest, the harder it’s going to be to get back into motion.  –Blake

Additional Resources: 

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is. 
We can help you do just that.

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: https://thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

For other programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

Transcript

Blake Schofield 0:05
Hi, I’m Blake Schofield, founder, and CEO of The Bridge to Fulfillment®, mom to three, USA Today top 10 professional coach and former corporate executive who got tired of sacrificing my life for a comfortable paycheck. My mission is to expand women’s perspectives and empower them to achieve greater impact at home and work without sacrifice. This is The Bridge to Fulfillment®.

Blake Schofield 0:39
Momentum is the force that keeps an object moving. You likely probably haven’t thought about momentum since maybe the days of physics. But today we’re going to talk about momentum in terms of your momentum cycle, and how understanding that can really open up the doors to you for more energy, more productivity, and ultimately, more joy and ease in your life. We often talk about momentum, especially in physics, in terms of an object in motion stays in motion, there’s a huge benefit in ease when you’re already moving towards something. And on the flip side, an object at rest stays at rest. So one of the hardest things can be is when you feel stuck or trapped or you don’t have momentum, getting momentum and building momentum. But what you might not think about is that there are actually risks to momentum. There are risks to where we’re spending our time are the things that we’re spending our time on, actually gaining us momentum on the right things, or are we gaining momentum on things that either aren’t valuable aren’t adding to our lives or aren’t things that we really want, then there’s the risk of losing momentum, you had that ease and flow, and then all of a sudden, everything becomes hard, sticky, painful, takes a lot longer. And there’s also the risk of going so fast that you push too long on a momentum cycle, and you end up crashing and burning. You know, there’s a balance in art and science to understanding your own rhythms of momentum and the right pace for you to understanding when to push on the gas because you have a clear road ahead and when to slow down and look around so that you don’t crash. So why does this matter? Because most of us think that momentum isn’t something we have control over. But that just isn’t true.

Blake Schofield 2:31
I tend to find people fall into one of two camps, either the camp of feeling like their circumstances are really stopping them from doing what they want. And then boom, right now they’re an object at rest traps not moving. And now it takes so much more energy to get moving. Or the second camp, doing doing doing doing doing schedules. So overfilled, that there’s no space and time for any new ideas, new opportunities, or many times to actually take a 30,000 foot view and look at what’s really meaningful, and prioritize what really matters. And so there’s just all this activity going on. But it’s not really momentum in the right direction. It’s just a lot of momentum going in many different ways, but not actually moving you in building towards the life or the career that you want. And so like I said, learning your rhythms is critical. Understanding what causes you to gain momentum, and what causes you to lose it is key. So how do you know when you’re in momentum, I would describe it as being in flow, everything sort of comes easy. It almost feels like you have the wind at your back, you’re doing things without even really recognizing the amount of time that passes. And you feel like you’re just consistently accomplishing the things that you want, you feel clear, and the actions are pretty easy to take. That’s what momentum feels like. And we want to learn how to be in momentum for longer and longer periods of time. Because that makes everything easier, more efficient, more joyful.

Blake Schofield 4:07
What does it feel like when you don’t have momentum? Frustrating, sticky, hard things that should be simple arts, you struggle to feel like you want to take action, especially the more and more you lose momentum. Right, you might start feeling like you just don’t have any energy don’t have any interest in doing things you used to. That’s what happens on the flip side. And so I want to share this with you today because again, this has been one of the most impactful things to me to really began to understand is to begin to look at the patterns in my life and understand what actually puts me into momentum and flow. What am I doing during those time frames? And then what happens when I start to lose momentum and what does that teaching me? And how can I use that to make sure that I maybe slow down the pace a little bit to keep the momentum going without crashing and burning. So my challenge for you today, I want you to sit journal for a couple of minutes and just maybe journal for a couple of minutes every day for the next week or week and a half. And look at your day, where did I have energy? Where were things easy? And what was I doing during those time frames? And on the flip side, when did things feel hard or painful? Or just, I didn’t really want to do something, and then look at what were you doing then? Or what were those activities. And you can begin to see patterns that will help you understand what it is that you’re doing that works for you, and some areas that you may want to shift or change. So that again, you’re not losing momentum.

Blake Schofield 5:42
And then the very last thing I want to share with you, if you’re listening to this, and you’re like, ‘Gosh, I really would love to have momentum and flow. It’s been so long since I felt any of that I don’t even know what to do, I just am so burned out drained and exhausted, at the end of the day that I’m just really surviving.’ I want you to know, when you feel stuck like that it is critical to make a change in what you’re doing. Because again, the longer you stay at rest, the harder it’s going to be to get back into motion. So again, think then, if you’re in that situation, think about times in the past, or things that gave you energy that you really loved. And just add at least one of those activities to your life this week. If you loved to go take a run, go add that to what you’re going to do if going to the movies or going out with girlfriends, what we often don’t realize is it just takes a little shift, a little shift into something that gives us momentum to start to build. And that little shift will build and give you more energy to take another action and the more actions you start taking towards the things that give you momentum. The more energy you have, the more momentum you build, right, and then the more ease of everything else that you do. Again, thanks so much for joining me today on The Bridge to Fulfillment®, and I look forward to seeing you again next time.

Blake Schofield 7:11
Thanks for joining me today. Rather than hope the grass will be greener identify what the right next step is. We can help you do just that. Get clarity on where you are in your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optimal paths to get there, and the right next step to take. Start your complimentary personalized career fulfillment plan at www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan Again, you can get your personalized career fulfillment plan at www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan Thanks again for joining and have a great week ahead!