You know what momentum is, right? In basketball and hockey it is easy to see when a team has it working in their favor.
Everything clicks for them.
The shots are on goal, nothing but net and you knock out more teeth than the other guy.
Everyone has heard or said that a team on a hot streak has momentum, but how many of you realized that the teams on the losing streaks ALSO HAVE MOMENTUM? It's just in the wrong direction! Momentum is simply what seems to be an irresistible pull and inevitability of some act or conclusion.
Hmmmmn.
Irresistible.
Inevitable.
What do these words conjure in your mind's eye? Are they images of positive things or negative? Both imply that you cannot do anything to change the outcome.
That, of course, is totally wrong.
It is your actions that make those outcomes irresistible and inevitable, whether it is impending success or failure.
You are always moving in a direction, good or bad.
There is no one alive that is not.
Anyone not moving in a direction is no longer alive.
As with so many things that affect us, we can control that affect to a certain extent.
We first have to know which direction our momentum is going.
Is it pushing us forward or pulling us backward? Are you going back and forth between the two, essentially making us run around in circles instead? This requires a certain amount of self-awareness on our parts.
We must be aware of what we are doing, when and how we are doing it and what the results are.
If not, we can't know what is working and what is not.
Additionally we need to have a certain amount of willingness to act and make changes.
Picture your own momentum as if it were driving a car.
When you are on the expressway going 65 miles an hour, you have great momentum and are getting somewhere pretty fast.
But what if you were in St.
Louis and you wanted to go to Washington DC? What if you got on a west bound road? Would your momentum get you to DC? Well, only if your car can float across the Pacific and you have the fortitude to drive in the wrong direction until you hit DC from the other side! If you have that self-awareness and willingness to act and make changes, you likely notice you got on the road going in the wrong direction and did a U-turn.
You saw your situation wasn't right and made a course correction immediately.
Then you stayed on the right road until you got where you intended to go.
When you do certain, consistent actions, you get certain, consistent results.
Those results over a period of time (short or long depending on their power) create those feelings of irresistibility and inevitability.
You decide what your actions will be.
You decide how to represent those results.
You decide what kind of momentum you will have.
Choose wisely.