One of my clients told me they chose momentum
For their word of the year.
Great choice.
So I asked us.
What creates momentum?
Because if you want something
Enough to speak it
How are you going to conjure it?
What’s the math?
What’s the method?
What’s the magic?
And I mean
Who doesn’t want momentum?
More speed
With less effort.
It feels like
Steady - or even diminished - cause
With increased effect.
But hooooow?
Momentum is that giddy experience
Of things moving along at an increasing velocity
And mysteriously with increasing ease.
Momentum has a downhill feel.
A feeling of racing towards something.
Without all the effort.
But momentum - the word
Comes from a word meaning push away.
When it so feels we are pushing towards.
Towards the book, the show, fame, fortune, etc
But sure.
Because that push towards the thing
Only happens by pushing the other things away.
Clear boundaries.
Boundaries are one corner
Of the Triangle of Momentum Creation
Boundaries create momentum.
I’ve heard - and practiced - and yakked on about…
Boundaries create freedom.
(Thank you to my yoga teacher Anthony Benanati for that one.)
And since boundaries also create momentum
Maybe one of the magical things about momentum
Is that there is a sense of freedom.
We aren’t necessarily aware that freedom
Is what we are wanting when we long for momentum.
But maybe that’s the undertow.
Momentum is attractive.
When we feel something has momentum
We get curious about it.
We are drawn to it.
Maybe we will catch it.
So the desire for momentum
Is also the desire
To attract people to your wild ride.
Your wave.
The other thing about the word momentum.
Is that it is really about a sequence of moments.
Moments - from the word for to move.
Almost counter-intuitive.
Because moment feels so still.
In this moment.
In this now.
Shhh.
But the other OED - Online Etymology Dictionary - says
Moment has a sense of duration that instant does not.
Love that.
I think of moments like beads.
And momentum like the string
That turns them into a necklace.
There’s this one home reno show called Windy City Rehab.
I started watching it
Because I thought it was about
Addiction and recovery.
Ha ha.
And then I got addicted to it.
After I’d quit home reno shows for years.
I mean it’s so much easier
To watch other people fix up their houses
In TV speed - so much momentum.
Than it is to fix up your own life
Slowly.
One day at a time.
Quietly chipping away at building the momentum.
My own life needs less fixing now though.
And I do have momentum.
And I actually sometimes could use a break.
So watching things improve in the course of half an hour
Can sometimes give me a little adrenaline bump.
The point here is
The host of Windy City Rehab
Is completely obsessed with moments.
It’ll be a moment!
She keeps saying as she designs.
This hallway.
It’ll be a moment!
That mirror.
It’ll be a moment!
The canopy over the bed.
It’ll be a moment!
She means a dramatic moment
That will both stop you
And cause you joy
And a part of the story.
Home designers do design
So that you are pulled through a space.
One thing connected to another.
One moment to the next.
The space tells a story.
It has momentum.
Good stories have momentum.
And especially storytellers
Love to feel like our lives have a story.
How can you write and tell stories
If you aren’t living one.
Understand your own story is so essential.
And momentum
Is that string holding the beads together.
It’s Your Own Personal Sutra.
The suture.
The string that heals the wound.
Momentum is healing.
So, boundaries create momentum.
And so does persistent action.
If you google momentum
There are all sorts of suggested actions.
Calendars. etc.
But it will be different for everyone.
Knowing the right action for you now.
And persistently doing it.
Except sometimes, and counterintuitively
The way to gain momentum
Is by slowing the actions down.
This piece has taken longer than usual.
Maybe I have the Januaries -
But maybe it’s that the topic required extra thought.
So I posted:
I’m writing about momentum.
It’s going slowly.
And Gary Rudoren suggested the word slomentum.
Which I love.
And totally nails the idea
That’s slowing down can contribute to momentum.
Slowing down helps you clarify (boundaries).
And it can also help you notice
Your team.
Sometimes you have one
Or are so close to having one.
And you don’t even quite realize it.
So you don’t treat your team like a team.
Teams is the third corner
In the Triangle of Momentum Creation.
Teams move things along while you take a nap.
Give you a new angle.
Amplify your efforts.
Ask you questions.
Have skills you don’t, won’t, can’t.
Require you to create boundaries.
Maybe they’re management.
Agent, lawyer, manager.
Maybe they’re a production team.
Maybe it’s a coach, a therapist and a trainer.
Maybe you have the Team Family.
In some ways your readers/audience/listeners
Are the most important and amazing part of your team.
Maybe all the above and more.
So.
The Triangle of Momentum?
Boundaries
Actions
Teams
BAT!
And for sure the way to increase momentum?
More ‘at bats’.
That’s my one sports metaphor for the year;)
And if you are looking to expand your team
Schedule a free discovery call with me.
My Infinite Creator Program has a few more spots
At each level.
And it’s definitely a place
That helps create momentum.
And thanks for being part of the community here.
Especially to the paid subscribers.
That support helps keep this part of The Infinite Creator happening
And available for everyone.
If you’re a free subscriber - appreciate you too - if you have it in you to become a paid subscriber you get momentum when you give momentum! #action
Let me know if you have q’s insights etc.
Loving hearing from you in comments, emails and seeing you at shows!
Infinitely Yours,
Beth
This!!!
" I think of moments like beads.
And momentum like the string
That turns them into a necklace."