Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Momentum

Momentum = a quantity that expresses the motion of a body and its resistance to slowing down. It is equal to the product of the body's mass and velocity.

Keeping our positive momentum going is not always an easy thing to do. Although strangely enough, it seems as though negative momentum requires less effort and in addition is harder to control. We have all been in the zone. It’s the feeling that everything is going right and it seems as though we will never get knocked down again. Then something happens, distracts us and suddenly a shift occurs. We find that we have lost all of our positive momentum. As desperate as we may try to stop the shift from happening, it just takes on a mind of its own and starts building momentum in the opposite direction. Before long we can’t even remember how to get back to where we once were.

Since momentum has a compounding effect, it becomes like a snowball that rolls down hill out of control with us standing in front of it. As it continues to roll it grows in size and speed. Soon we find ourselves overwhelmed and it engulfs us. It would have been best to stop the snowball before it made it too far down hill. Unfortunately, as we feel the shift coming on, many of us will only focus on the immediate snow that is being added to the ball, when in fact it would be better to focus on the bigger picture. To stop the momentum from building we would need to recognize the overall effects of allowing momentum to build in the first place. If we could stop the ball the second we saw the slightest of movements.

Example:
A person goes to the gym on a strict schedule of 3 days out of every week, for several months. During the third month, he or she has a day where they are finding it difficult to go to the gym (slightest of movements). They decide to not go that day.

1. Deciding not to go by rationalizing that this one day will not change their body and or the hard work they have done over the last several months would be focusing on “the immediate snow” mentioned above.
2. Recognizing that not going is the beginning of a momentum shift that may lead to eventually not going to the gym and then deciding to go at any cost is the “bigger picture”.

The momentum can build in either direction but once you stop pushing the snowball up the hill, it will roll back down twice as quick and take you with it along the way.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so true! It's happened to me lately with Weight Watchers. First the wedding, then Steve's b-day, then Valentine's day, then a long weekend -- they have all contributed to me getting off course and I can't seem to get that positive momentum built up again. Every time I start, something else comes along. Any suggestions?

Alex said...

See The latest post Setting Goals Bad and let me know if it helps.