3 Proven Strategies to Build Momentum Back in Your Life

If you've ever struggled to keep up your momentum and motivation on your quest towards reaching your most important goals and New Year’s resolutions, listen, you’re not alone!

You’re likely already familiar with the adage “slow and steady wins the race”, and that’s because it’s actually sometimes true. You know the story: the tortoise wins a race with the faster hare, not because he was the smartest or the fastest. Rather, he won the race with his laser-focus and methodical determination to reach the result: the goal line.

So, if you’ve ever felt like you’ve lost some motivation - maybe you were challenged by an unforeseen obstacle that showed up unexpectedly in a work project or in a relationship and you struggled with resilience to get back on track - maybe you’re struggling right now to reach a goal or New Year’s resolution. 

Even though summiting peaks and sliding downhill with setbacks are completely normal when it comes to life-changing goals, there are many things you can do to stoke the fire and build a strong sense of momentum to your journey. 

That’s why in this week’s Performance and  Productivity message, I will be highlighting 3 simple strategies to give you the edge and build momentum back into your life. 

(1) Take Action Daily. The first step in building momentum back in your life is to choose one activity or habit and to practice it daily. This is the single best step you can take in order to further your momentum. And notice that it’s taking action on one thing - not multiple things. Especially as it relates to big. Life-changing goals, incremental steps will help to ensure that you’re making progress, no matter how small it is. 

So if it’s reading for 10 minutes every morning about building your small business or writing in your life journal for greater clarity, that effort helps to guide your focus and sustain the momentum you will get from the results. 

And here’s the thing: Sometimes people get stuck, you know? They get overwhelmed with everything going on in daily life out there. They become paralyzed and do nothing at all. But, even if that’s you, and you don’t know exactly what action to take, just doing something to further the plan is more desirable than taking no action at all; you can't succeed if you don't do anything. 

(2) Find Motivational Nuggets. When you have momentum on your side, it’s really easy to find the motivation to get you out of bed and moving first thing in the morning. But when you’re feeling like the world is against you, and it’s difficult to generate that kind of inspiration, here’s what I suggest you do to create some motivation and momentum. 

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Find a motivational nugget. And by that, I mean sparking motivation from something you’re already doing by dedicating yourself to continuous improvement in that area. 

Listen, when you don’t know where to start, setting your sights on a 1% to 3% improvement boost is a great source to build some motivation. Now, understand that the exact number doesn’t really matter - it’s more of a starting place for you to spark the action, whether it’s daily or weekly - whatever makes sense. But the point is to dedicate yourself to incremental and continuous growth.

For instance, if you’re already writing 300 words a day in your personal or daily life journal, then a 1% improvement is only 3 words. By the end of the month, those small daily increments could add up to be more than 100 words!

Just that singular action alone can bring about a sense of accomplishment and help to sustain your momentum over the long run. So, by taking and sustaining regular action, you’re setting yourself up for a greater chance of hitting your goals.

(3) Check Your Progress. If you’re feeling stuck or like you’re not moving forward, make it a priority to consistently check in and review your progress towards the goal that you’re trying to accomplish. Simply put, if you are trying to achieve a goal, the more often that you monitor your progress, the greater the likelihood that you will succeed, according to research. In fact, your chances of success are even more likely if you report your progress publicly or physically record it.

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Accountability eliminates the time and effort you spend on distracting activities and other unproductive behavior, and it empowers you to be in control of your actions, both personally and professionally. When you invest in your own accountability, you’ll not only be more aware of and intentional with your actions and in creating your own opportunities rather than passively allowing life to happen around you, but you'll also feel more confidence and momentum in reaching your goals.

Summary

These are just a few of the things that we can do on a regular basis to keep motivation and ensure that we’re continually making progress. But the key word is “progress.” If we’re taking some action or doing even just one thing on a daily basis that furthers us along in our goals, we’ll feel better about ourselves and be able to keep that momentum.

The more alive that we can make our goals, the more inspired and motivated we’ll be to take action and achieve them.

Damien Vanderburg is a small business consultant and a certified high performance coach with a focus on personal development, high price-point sales and serial entrepreneurship. With more than 20 years experience teaching, training and developing high performers, Damien helps those who want to transform effectiveness, maximize potential and accelerate results. He is also the co-founder of Counterpoint Test Prep, a test prep and college app consulting company. 

Go to www.damienvanderburg.com and learn more. 

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By the way, in case you missed it, I recently hosted a 2021 Year in Review Workshop designed to help people look back at the last 12 months and reflect so that you can step into the New Year with confidence and a plan. 

Watch the replay for FREE by clicking here to check it out!

Look, we’re both serious about accomplishing your most important goals in life. Let’s make it official and work together.

If you want to focus more on achieving your life's most important goals this year, both personally and professionally, without sacrificing your happiness, joy or sanity, let's connect and achieve them together. Click here to start a short questionnaire and let's see if it might make sense to explore your options in working with me.