Momentum is so important. It’s what carries us around, over, and through the obstacles in our lives. It can move us towards our goals, or away from them.
Have you ever taken inventory of your thoughts, people, and tools you surround yourself with? A simple walk in the park gave me a little wake-up call recently.
Every morning, I take a walk in the park near my home in Vegas to clear my mind and keep my health. A friend introduced me to a cool iPhone app that tracks my pace and the progress of my workouts. It’s been said many times by many experts, “what gets tracked, gets improved.” I thought it would be a good tool to help me make progress towards my goal of healthful living… and tracking the numbers is fun for me.
Most of the time, I use my walking time to return phone calls and catch up with friends. The other day, I decided to plug in my earphones and listen to the thump-thump dance playlist we often use at the beginning of our boot camps.
When I finished my walk and clicked on the “end workout” button, I heard Lance Armstrong’s voice say, “Congratulations, that is your personal best pace.” I laughed and realized I had walked faster because the music got me pumped up.
That may seem obvious, but it suddenly hit me that without tracking, how do we know if we’re gaining — or losing — momentum towards our goals?
Although it’s just a simple iPhone app, it was helping me keep track of my results, and the right music gave me momentum. It caused me to reflect.
I remember taking a tour of the Pentagon in Washington DC before speaking at a Toastmasters club there. The tour guide told us that the steps outside are built at varying heights, meaning some steps are taller than others. The purpose of this design was to assure that if hostile forces ever advanced on the building, they couldn’t gain momentum as they charged up the stairs.
Interesting.
Have you built your own steps like that anywhere in your life through the choices you make? I have.
I also realized that lately I’ve been choosing to spend time with some people who are momentum suckers. I can still help them without allowing them to take away my momentum. In fact, helping them and letting them learn some on their own, while not taking things personally, can actually help my own momentum.
Where in your life have you surrounded yourself with non-momentum-building thoughts, people, and tools? Take inventory and ask yourself with each one, “Are they helping me gain — or lose — momentum?”
I want you to hear a little voice in your head that says, “That was your personal best!”
We can’t blame others. Often we are our biggest obstacle. We all choose where we spend time, money, and effort.
Stage time,
Darren LaCroix
World Champion of Public Speaking
P.S. Hope to “see” you at the upcoming Virtual Storytelling Camp, beginning July 22nd! Click here for details!
WORLD CHAMPION SPEAKER
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STAGE TIME: Are You Losing or Gaining?
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Darren LaCroix,
Liked your article on momentum. Very true! Many Toastmasters help me keep my momentum. I attended a leadership conference this past weekend in San Jose and am always impressed by the enthusiam of the members.
I work out every day and never leave without my stop watch. Every mile I run or walk gets timed and logged. The reason I do it is to see if I am improving or slowing down. As we get older, we physically slow down and there is not much one can do about it. However, we should always strive to improve ourselves. The brain has infinite capacity. I am a student of Brian Tracy.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Chase Dickson
Area Governor
Great notice on gaining or losing momentum. There are three types of people Energy Generators, Energy Neutral and Energy Suckers. This post reminded me to take stock of the people in my life and do a little house cleaning.
Life is way more fun when you surround yourself with people making something happen in their lives.
Thanks for the wake up call. Also for the reminder that our everyday lives and turn into a really great lesson if I just pay attention.
Thanks Darren!
Time is money? Not so. Various situations in life may involve a decrease in money. Paying for coaching, paying for educational materials, or paying for conferences all require the expenditure of money. Focused, concentrated time invested in these resources can catapult your future. Money decreased but the result of the time invested is worth far more than the original money spent. Time and money are not equal. The value rests in the result. Track the time spent and the money spent against the forward progress toward the goal.
I took over $2,000 and 3 1/2 days away from my “day job” to travel to and from Las Vegas for the “Get Coached to Speak” camp. Those 3 days not only improved that speech but will assist me in all of my future speeches and shorten my time frame from “rookie” to “paid professional.” The value gained will exceed everything I spent plus what I could have earned at my “day job” in that period of time.
Time and money are not equal. Measure the value in the forward progress toward the goal.
Thanks for your wise words, Darren. This is very timely for me. I often have to remind myself that activity is not productivity!
Could you also tell us what the iphone app is called? Sounds like one I’d like to get!
cheers
Adele
Darren, this is a great reminder. Hey most of us try to remember to spend our time wisely by being around mentors and positive people. I have taken your advice on going to your local chapter of NSA for workshops. Even though I have a 4 hour drive to get to NSA- Heartland, the caliber of content is unbelievable. Plus the even more important benefit is the how positive and caring the NSA members are. Its like they carry Kryptonite for positive thinking and motivation. I think its up to us to keep the momentum going. Rock on man!
What a great blog Dazza! What you say is SO true!!
The company we keep is a good reflection of ourselves therefore one must be careful as to who we hang about with.. Also we will earn within 10% of the income of the people we spend the most time with… ooh ahh!
Most of the ‘momentum suckers’ you mention don’t realise they’re doing it so that is a great question that you pose – ‘are they helping me GAIN or LOSE momentum…?’ We must choose our company wisely ..
You hit the nail on the head not blaming others. By accepting responsibility and being accountable for our actions and ourselves we remove all drama and excuses. By doing this we are able to GAIN momentum by attracting only the positive in all who we encounter….. Have a great week!
Amberfy
Sydney, Oz 🙂
p.s. Our new Stage Time! Toasties chapter in Sydney is going off like a frog in a sock! Thank you for your inspiration!
Thank you all!
The app is: Nike + iPod
(Red with white Nike swoosh)
Surround yourself with gainers!
Stage time,
Darren
I agree with the premise of your posting, Darren. For the past year I’ve been wearing a pedometer to verify that I’m doing 10,000 steps per day. Although I don’t always get that many steps, the metric and goal work together to keep me on track. I’m reminded of a quote by that famous philosopher, Yogi Berra–“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.”