A large part of motivation is to figure out how to push your own buttons to keep yourself motivated to take a specific action consistently. What I want to talk about is understanding what goes on in your brain on a psychological level once you start taking massive amounts of action towards your goal. When you start taking action, you start gaining Momentum.

There are several different ways to describe Momentum, so for this post I’ll be going with this definition:

“Momentum is the driving force gained by taking massive amounts of action towards a goal you’ve set.”

It really doesn’t matter what it is – whether it’s going to the gym 4-5 times a week, eating healthy, completing 20 sales calls a day – the idea here is to have a goal that you want to achieve, and building a habit of taking action towards it…and never stopping. Ever.

If you do stop, getting back that amount of Momentum can be difficult.

When you start taking massive amounts of action towards your goal, what happens is you start gaining Momentum. Once you pick-up some momentum, the next step is to make taking that particular action part of your comfort zone. Make it part of your routine. Turn that action into a long-term habit.

You want to do it often enough that NOT doing it isn’t an option; it actually becomes more difficult to not do it then to do it. Keep in mind that everyone is different – it takes longer for some people to build a habit than others – which is why I won’t talk about the length of time it takes to gain momentum.

Ideally, you want to ingrain this action as part of your lifestyle. This is why if you’ve noticed a friend of yours that rarely misses a day in the gym (or any similar goal), it’s actually more difficult for them to miss a day than not to.

NOT doing it causes a disruption in their routine. NOT doing it is actually out of their comfort zone.

Once you start gaining Momentum, you’re on your way to making it a habit. But the more often you interrupt your Momentum, the more difficult it will be to get back into it.

If in the past you’ve given up on your goals after spending a few weeks/months on it, you’ve either not put enough effort to continue challenging yourself (like changing your workout routine), or haven’t trained your mind to stick with your goals. As soon as any disruption comes into your life – whether it’s a girl, a new show, a new job, or a big project – you lack the discipline to adapt, and end up giving up almost immediately.

And suddenly…the classic excuse “I just don’t have the time for this” comes up.

Once you gain momentum, recognize it, and don’t stop!

Follow me @Marwanalshafei where I spark rainbows within people’s subconscious and make the world go round n’ round.