Get Momentum

Picture yourself staring at that blank page, that unfinished project, or that dream you've been putting off for months. You know exactly what needs to happen, but somehow you just can't seem to take that first step. Sound familiar? You're not alone. Millions of people worldwide find themselves trapped in this frustrating cycle of wanting to move forward but feeling paralyzed by the enormity of what lies ahead.

The gap between intention and action isn't about lacking motivation or willpower. It's about understanding the specific mechanics of momentum and learning how to create forward movement even when everything inside you feels stuck. When you master these principles, you transform from someone who dreams about change into someone who consistently creates it. The five-stage framework you're about to discover has helped thousands of professionals, entrepreneurs, and dreamers break through their barriers and achieve goals they once thought impossible.

True motivation isn't the temporary rush you get from an inspirational speech or motivational poster. It runs much deeper than that fleeting excitement. Real motivation emerges when you connect your daily actions to something larger than yourself, when you can clearly answer the fundamental question that drives all meaningful progress: "What do I want to be known for?" This isn't about career achievements or external recognition, but about the legacy you're building through your choices and contributions.

Consider Stephen, a senior manager at a prestigious advisory firm in New York City. On the surface, he had everything together: the corner office, the designer ties, the impressive salary. But when his coach asked him that pivotal question about what he wanted to be known for, Stephen fell silent for three full minutes. Despite years of climbing the corporate ladder, he'd never stopped to examine whether his achievements aligned with his deeper purpose. The promotion he'd been pursuing would require constant travel, missing his children's milestones, and sacrificing his health. That moment of reflection changed everything.

The most powerful motivator isn't external pressure or financial incentives. It's the internal conflict between where you are and where you know you belong. When you identify what frustrates you about the current state of things, you've found your emotional fuel. Maybe it's the inefficient processes at work that waste everyone's time, or the way your industry treats its customers, or the gap between your current skills and your potential impact. This frustration becomes your compass, pointing toward the changes only you can make.

Start by writing down everything that bothers you about your current situation. Don't edit yourself or worry about sounding professional. Once you've captured these frustrations, look for patterns. What themes emerge? What changes would address multiple pain points simultaneously? Your motivation lives in the intersection between what needs to change and what you're uniquely positioned to influence.

The journey from frustration to action requires one crucial element: commitment. Not just to the end result, but to the daily process of becoming the person capable of creating that result. When you align your daily choices with your deeper purpose, motivation becomes as natural as breathing. You stop relying on external encouragement and start generating your own forward momentum.

Success is never a solo journey, despite what our culture of rugged individualism might suggest. Behind every breakthrough achievement, you'll find a network of mentors, advisors, and guides who provided crucial wisdom at pivotal moments. The question isn't whether you need mentors, but how quickly you can identify and connect with the right ones for your specific goals.

A mentor isn't just someone with impressive credentials or years of experience. The most valuable mentors are those who have faced challenges similar to yours and found ways to navigate them successfully. They've made the mistakes you're about to make and learned lessons that can save you months or years of trial and error. More importantly, they can help you see possibilities you might never discover on your own.

Jason discovered this power early in his teaching career when he decided to flip the traditional parent-school relationship. Instead of only calling parents when students misbehaved, he spent time after school each day making positive calls home. He shared specific examples of students' good behavior, creating a cycle of recognition and improvement. The results were remarkable: students began competing for acknowledgment, classroom behavior improved dramatically, and parents became partners in the educational process. This insight came from observing mentors who understood that acknowledgment shapes behavior more powerfully than criticism.

Finding mentors requires strategic thinking and genuine relationship building. Start with your existing network and identify people whose careers or achievements you admire. Don't limit yourself to your immediate industry; sometimes the most valuable insights come from adjacent fields. Before reaching out, do your homework. Read their work, understand their philosophy, and identify specific questions that demonstrate you've invested time in learning about their expertise.

Remember that mentorship often flows in multiple directions. While you're learning from their experience, you bring fresh perspectives, energy, and questions that can spark new insights for them. The key is approaching these relationships with genuine curiosity rather than transactional expectations. When you focus on learning rather than taking, you create the foundation for relationships that can transform both your trajectory and theirs.

The primary reason ambitious projects stall isn't lack of vision or commitment, it's the overwhelming gap between current reality and desired outcome. When your goal feels impossibly large, your brain defaults to avoidance rather than action. The antidote is breaking down your grand vision into specific, achievable milestones that create momentum through consistent completion.

Think of milestones as checkpoints on a journey rather than arbitrary deadlines. Each milestone should represent a meaningful accomplishment that moves you closer to your ultimate goal while being small enough to complete within 30 to 90 days. This timeframe is crucial because it's long enough to achieve something significant but short enough to maintain focus and urgency.

Jason learned this lesson while building his speaking business. Instead of simply hoping for more bookings, he implemented what he called the 30/30 rule: spending 30 minutes each day working on projects that weren't due for at least 30 days. This simple discipline allowed him to build relationships, develop content, and create systems during calm periods rather than scrambling during busy ones. Over time, this approach transformed his business from reactive to proactive, creating the sustainable growth he'd always wanted.

The magic number for effective milestone planning is three. Identify three major subprojects you can complete over the next 90 days, spaced roughly 30 days apart. This creates a rhythm of completion that maintains momentum without overwhelming your schedule. Each milestone should be specific enough that you'll know definitively when it's complete, and connected enough to your larger goal that completion feels meaningful.

Your milestones become even more powerful when you apply the 90/90 rule: once per month, spend 90 minutes working on something that won't be due for at least 90 days. This practice transforms you from someone who merely responds to immediate demands into someone who shapes future possibilities. When you consistently work ahead of deadlines, you create space for creativity, quality, and strategic thinking that sets your work apart from the urgency-driven masses.

What gets measured gets managed, but what gets acknowledged gets repeated. Most people focus so intensely on what needs to be fixed or improved that they overlook the progress they're already making. This oversight isn't just demoralizing; it's strategically counterproductive. When you fail to acknowledge progress, you miss opportunities to reinforce successful behaviors and build the confidence necessary for sustained effort.

Creating an effective monitoring system requires identifying specific, quantifiable indicators that reveal whether you're on track to achieve your milestones. These indicators should be measurable and frequent enough to provide early warning when you're drifting off course. The goal isn't to create elaborate tracking systems that consume more time than the work itself, but to establish simple dashboards that provide essential information at a glance.

Consider Anne-Marie, who managed a library-based leadership program for teenagers. When asked about her goals, she spoke vaguely about "making a positive difference" and "having a big impact." Working with Jason, she learned to translate these worthy but unmeasurable aspirations into specific metrics: number of participating libraries, student retention rates, completion percentages, and documented skill improvements. This shift from hoping for impact to measuring it transformed both her program's effectiveness and her confidence in its value.

The most powerful aspect of monitoring isn't identifying problems, it's recognizing success. Human psychology responds more strongly to acknowledgment than criticism, yet most people are far better at spotting what's wrong than celebrating what's right. Make it a daily practice to identify at least one thing you completed, one person whose contribution deserves recognition, and one circumstance for which you're genuinely grateful.

This practice of systematic acknowledgment creates a compound effect. When people feel recognized for their contributions, they naturally seek opportunities to make additional contributions. When you regularly celebrate small wins, you build the emotional reserves necessary to persist through inevitable challenges. The key is timing: acknowledge positive behavior as close as possible to when it occurs, making the connection between action and recognition crystal clear.

The path from stuck to successful is rarely a straight line. Circumstances change, new information emerges, and what seemed like a perfect plan reveals unexpected flaws or opportunities. The difference between those who achieve their goals and those who abandon them isn't the absence of obstacles, but the willingness to adapt their approach while maintaining their ultimate direction.

Modification isn't failure; it's intelligence in action. When you monitor your progress consistently, you gain the data necessary to make informed adjustments rather than emotional reactions. Sometimes you need to change your timeline, sometimes your methods, and occasionally your specific objectives. The key is making these changes consciously and strategically rather than abandoning ship at the first sign of difficulty.

Jodi experienced this when her Women's Business Social events, which had been successful for nearly five years, began feeling routine rather than energizing. Instead of continuing out of habit or abandoning the concept entirely, she recognized that her interests had evolved. She wanted to move beyond networking toward actual business coaching and skill development. Rather than viewing this as failure, she saw it as growth and redirected her energy toward building the Get Momentum Leadership Academy.

When considering modifications, focus on one change at a time rather than overhauling everything simultaneously. Ask yourself whether you need to adjust your goal, gather new information, or change your process. Often, small modifications in how you work can produce dramatically different results. Look for opportunities to automate repetitive tasks, delegate work that others can do better or cheaper, and eliminate activities that consume time without advancing your objectives.

The most sustainable approach to productivity isn't working more hours but working more intelligently. Instead of adding another hour to your already packed day, invest time in learning systems that can save you multiple hours per week. This shift from addition to multiplication creates lasting change rather than temporary relief. Remember that what got you to your current level won't necessarily take you to the next level, and be willing to abandon familiar methods that no longer serve your evolving goals.

The journey from stuck to unstuck isn't about finding perfect conditions or waiting for inspiration to strike. It's about developing a systematic approach to creating momentum through deliberate action, strategic relationships, and consistent progress toward meaningful goals. As the authors remind us, "Everything begins with some inciting incident, what you could call a motive for action." Your frustration with the status quo isn't a problem to be solved, it's fuel to be channeled.

The five stages work together as an integrated system: your motivation provides direction, mentors offer wisdom and perspective, milestones create achievable progress, monitoring ensures you stay on course, and modification allows for intelligent adaptation. This isn't a one-time process but a repeatable framework you can apply to any goal or challenge throughout your life. When you master these principles, you transform from someone who occasionally gets lucky breaks into someone who consistently creates breakthroughs.

Start today by answering one simple question: "What do I want to be known for?" Let your answer guide you toward identifying one mentor who can offer perspective, one milestone you can achieve in the next 30 days, one metric you can track to measure progress, and one small change you can make to work more effectively. The momentum you create today becomes the foundation for the impact you'll make tomorrow.