How To Build Momentum In Everything You Do
Without burning yourself out
Momentum. It’s a crucial concept that I strive to incorporate into every aspect of my life. If you're not moving forward you risk getting stuck.
Momentum isn’t about hustle culture or pushing yourself to breaking point. It’s about setting achievable goals and moving forward. And even on the days you stumble, at least you’re falling in the right direction.
Here's how I try and maintain momentum in everything I do:
🏭 Business: Whether I’m working on a client project or promoting my own activities, as a content marketing professional, maintaining momentum means setting a daily minimum word count of 1,000 words and a daily revenue target. If I fall short, the deficit rolls over to the next day—and so on.
📚 Side Projects: If I’m working on a book (I’m currently 35,000 words into a new draft), I commit to writing at least 500 words each night—often on my smartphone. At this stage, getting words on the page is more important than perfecting them. The real refinement happens in the rewrites and edits.
🚲 Leisure: Every man (of a certain age) needs a hobby. Mine is cycling. I aim for a minimum of 100 miles a week—half covered in my daily commute, the rest on a big weekend ride. The hardest part of a 50+ mile ride? The first five miles. After that, momentum takes over.
💑 Relationships: Friendships and family connections require effort to keep them moving in the right direction. How many friendships have you seen fade due to a lack of momentum? In my (small) friendship groups, I try to keep the wheels turning by organising get-togethers and events. That’s the glue that holds us together.
You don’t realise how vital momentum is until you lose it. In recent years, I’ve lost momentum due to two major events:
🇪🇺 Brexit (I know, don’t go there) wiped out a particularly enjoyable and lucrative part of my business. Before the UK left the EU, I regularly delivered training and consultancy across Europe. Since Brexit, nobody—either here in the UK or on the continent—has been able to explain how I can legally continue this work without incurring significant extra costs.
😷 Covid (I know, don’t go there) stopped so many of us in our tracks. Like countless small businesses, mine suffered during the lockdowns and the uncertainty that followed. Five years on from the first UK lockdown, I’m still gradually rebuilding momentum after that catastrophic disruption.
Looking back on these challenges, I realise I should have pivoted sooner to maintain momentum and avoid the trap of nostalgia (the enemy of momentum).
What strategies do you use to maintain momentum? Share your thoughts below.