On Momentum

This blog is a good metaphor for how momentum works in our personal lives. If I write well every day, my readership continues to grow. As soon as I miss posting even one day, the number of readers drops off, and takes a few days to get back to where it used to be.

If I don't write for several days, it takes even longer to get back into the swing of things.

I realized that I'm almost an expert at killing my own momentum in my personal life. I put stuff off for so long that when I actually do something, it feels like such an accomplishment that I use it as an excuse to reward myself. This "reward" usually comes in the form of some time killer that is designed to last 30 minutes to an hour, but inevitably seems to kill my momentum for the rest of the day.

I don't feel too bad because I checked off that nasty item that had been hounding me for weeks. I'd be so much better off if I just immediately moved onto the next item. The weight of all these little things can easily add up to a subtle unhappiness that is hard to pinpoint.

The time is now for me to start learning how to make friends with momentum...

I'm still here

With the approaching holidays, I've been super busy this last week or so. I will be writing as much as I can, but please continue stopping by to check for new material.

Ever have something you do religiously for a while, and then, for whatever reason, you take a few days off? It's very hard to get back into. All of the sudden you "don't have time". You make excuses, "I didn't write anything yesterday, so it's okay to put of today's entry."

It really says something for motivation, consistency, and momentum. Once you get going, it's easy to keep it going. Stop for a few days, and you lose the momentum. Now, it's easier to procrastinate than to start building up momentum again.

That probably applies to most things in life. It's easy to keep things rolling. If you aren't where you want to be, the hard part is making all those small pushes to get there. Once you're there though, it's smooth sailing...

Doing the little things

A recent post from the great blog Signal vs. Noise reminds us that big change happens when we change all the little things. This ties in nicely with the book Good to Great, which I read recently. Great companies rarely have done anything spectacular to become so, they've merely done all the small things correctly. The "flywheel" builds momentum with each little push, and then eventually the momentum itself is enough to power the wheel. And it's hard to stop.

It makes sense that these concepts would be applicable on a personal level. Successful people do all the little things right: they're organized, don't procrastinate, and make decisive decisions. They may not always be correct, but it's impossible to make the right move all the time anyway.

A speaker I saw recently was preaching that the first step was to get rid of all the "messes" in your life. He meant physical messes (like that pile of papers on your desk), but also emotional messes.

Once you do all the little things right, he mused, the big things all just fall into place.

The wisdom of Jerry Seinfeld

Sorry I have been absent for a while (I was on a technology free vacation, yay!). Have no fear, back on track now.

I just read an interesting article that describes a motivation/momentum technique used by a man more often revered for his mastery of nothing, Jerry Seinfeld. I've wrote about momentum before, but I like this simple approach (you get a big yearly calendar, and put a big red X on each day that you accomplish one of your tasks. The goal is to keep it going as a chain...don't miss a day!).

Like everything else in life, there's no time like the present to start, and by god, the list of important things I've been putting off is getting pretty long. It's very subtle, but I'm pretty sure it's always there, in the back of my mind, endlessly nagging me.

Losing momentum

Often, this is a sign of something not being right for you anymore. Or it's just evidence that you tend to be a starter, and not a finisher.

I'm not sure which one of those categories this blog falls into, but I intend to find out.

Productivity = Happiness?

I just wrote this for my company's blog:

Let's face it, sometimes it's not easy to stay focused at work. There are so many distractions, especially if you're at a computer all day long like I am. Although it's tempting to spend the day goofing off and not getting much done, I find that at the end of a day like that, I am always unhappy. And I'm pretty sure I know why: not only do I feel guilty about being unproductive, but the work didn't go away! I've only made the next few days more hectic and stressful.

Last night I read an article called 18 Ways to Stay Focused at Work and have implemented a few of the suggestions so far today, including:

• #1: Creating a task list for the day
• #3: Time "Boxing" - alot yourself a specific amount of time for a task, then move on, even if you haven't finished it
• #5: Don't check personal email first thing in the morning...build momentum instead!
• #8: Use headphones without music

There are some other great tips in there that I'm going to work on incorporating into my daily routine as well.

Well, my time box gave me 20 minutes to write this post, and I have 1 left, so I'd better move on to the next box. It's a personal call that should only take 5 minutes (shhh....don't tell anyone), but I don't have to feel bad about it because I've already gotten so much done this morning!

Try some of these out yourself, and post your results below in the comments.

I hadn't realized it until I wrote it down. Being unproductive makes me unhappy. So, I suppose it would stand to reason that being productive will make me happy! (or at least happier)

Plan/do

You can sit there forever waiting and planning, or you can just do it. Today's entry is the perfect example. I've had the computer open for 35 minutes, trying to think about what I should write (and procrastinating along the way). Now that I have to leave for work in 5 minutes, I just have to put something down.

Planning and thinking is good, but not at the expense of momentum.

Consistency is hard

Just for kicks, I went back and read some of my very first posts (read the first, and then keep clicking "newer post" to keep going). Reading them made me smile, and many of them I don't even remember writing. I even felt like I learned something.

Deep down, most of us know what is right, and how we should be living. Following through is the hard part. How long can you keep something up? A week? A month? 5 years?

It's extremely hard to be motivated and enthusiastic about any one thing for that length of time. The people who do it well rise to the top and are often rewarded for their perseverance.

Those older posts were more introspective (or emo, as my friend Burt would accuse), and somewhere along the way I lost momentum. Sadly, that's probably a good synopsis of my entire life: start strong, lose steam, and then end up chasing the first colorful butterfly that comes along.

I admire people who can stick to one thing for years at a time. Unfortunately I haven't figured out if that is something I am capable of. Maybe the right thing hasn't come along just yet?