How To Regain Your Momentum

Moits

Momentum is when motivation is at its highest, and continuing to take action requires little to no effort at all. Results are positive, everything is good.

We all know what experiencing momentum is like, and that’s why losing it is something everyone should try to avoid.

If avoiding the loss of your momentum was something we could always achieve, no matter what, we wouldn’t need to discuss regaining it. However, this isn’t a perfect world, and life can back us into a corner, causing our momentum to come to a screeching halt.

From someone who has currently navigated the frustration of losing and having to regain his momentum, and definitely not for the first time, here’s what I’ve learned.

Understanding Momentum

The literal definition of momentum is: “the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity.”

But another way to describe it is “How much force is needed to stop something”

So think of your momentum in the same way, the more momentum you have, the more it’ll take to stop you.

But momentum never happens straight away, and there’s a reason for it. Just like a ball will slowly roll first, and eventually pick up speed and momentum, you’ll also need your version of that slow roll, which always feels like an uphill battle.

Momentum comes as a result of continuous work, and when the law of delayed gratification starts to kick in.

See, momentum creates the feeling of effortlessness for a reason, and it’s because when positive reinforcement is at its highest, the action threshold is at its lowest.

Just like a ball only needing a slight touch every now and again to keep motion, you’ll also only need a slight nudge, because your momentum is doing most of the work for you.

How To Get It Back

Okay, momentum is great. But how do we get it back once it’s gone?

This might seem obvious to you, but there’s a problem, which is the feelings you get once momentum is lost.

During momentum, you’ll love taking whatever action is required to do your thing, but once it’s lost, you’ll also lose that joy.

With this lack of enjoyment comes questions as to whether you want to even bother getting that momentum back to begin with, and this is why it can be so difficult.

Getting the ball rolling again is one problem, but not even wanting that ball to move is another, and that can be the effect of losing it.

So, regaining it is as much of a battle of navigating your mind as it is just doing whatever it is you had momentum with to begin with.

Unfortunately, there is no magic trick that I can give you that’s going to get your momentum back, it’s going to be a struggle.

However, considering a lot of the challenge is the mental blow, that’s something you can greatly improve.

As I said with the ball, you’ll need to struggle at first until the delayed gratification kicks in, so you need to keep that in mind and keep reminding yourself of it.

Knowing what you’re currently feeling is only temporary, and that the good feelings will return can make regaining that momentum so much easier.

Remind yourself of delayed gratification, remind yourself of what it felt like when enjoyment was high and friction was low, and keep going until it returns, because it will return.

Besides that, you just need to put in the work.