How do you create momentum? Occasionally a day at work feels like riding a wave, but most days it’s a struggle just to tread water. Progress seems to die. The ‘forces of nature’ are somehow working against you. What’s behind this? Several laws seem to be constantly working against us.
The Anti-Momentum Laws:
Law #1: Second Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Entropy): The universe is winding down; the earth and everything in it is moving toward chaos.
Law #2: Law of Human Nature: We live in a ‘fallen’, imperfect world. People make mistakes; things happen outside of our control.
Law #3: Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong, usually will.
Along with Murphy’s Law is the 50/50/90 Rule: If there is a 50/50 chance to get it right, there is a 90% chance that you will get it wrong.
These laws seem to be constantly working against progress. Everything takes longer than you think, twice as long as it should, and 3 times as long if the thing seems really easy. The other line will always move faster. The printer will always break when you’re rushing to meet a deadline. And round and round in this broken world we go.
Life often feels like trying to run up an escalator the wrong way. You must be running fast to make any progress. To beat these laws of nature, there must be urgent steps taken over a compact period of time. There must be consistent activity.
Activity Breeds Activity…
Newton’s law of inertia states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Activity builds upon activity – this activity is what builds momentum. This seems to be the thinking common to neary all successful business men and women. It can be called the “Rule of Numbers”
Rule of Numbers: With enough of the right activity, the numbers will eventually work in your favor. The key? A dedication to urgency. “If it can be done today, let’s do it.” These business people say there is a huge difference between making 10 important calls and 12 important calls in a day’s time, between finalizing 5 reports and 6 reports in a week’s time. That marginal difference is what usually leads to a tipping point, a breakthrough point where momentum begins to build.
It means taking a defined number of steps over a specific period of time. And as activity breeds more activity, eventually momentum moves in our favor. We begin to feel we’re running with the escalator, we’re riding the wave.