Building Momentum
First things first: This week was practice; it was the trial run; it was just the beginning. This week was for familiarizing yourself with the program setup, the tools, and the technologies. It was for meeting and greeting, for smiling and acknowledging each other. This week was for you so that you might acclimate. But this is just the beginning. It’s only onwards and upwards from here and all while maintaining a FORWARD TILT.
In review, we learned quite a bit. We learned to use at least one tool for tracking our productivity, my tool of choice was Trello (and I have to say, damn do I love it). If you were not familiar with time management, or self-discipline, then you learned to block out time for projects, primarily Praxis, and that you must hold yourself accountable to the schedule that you set up in advance. These past seven days, we also became well acquainted with the roles of a CSR: the ins-and-outs of the job, the qualities one might possess to pursue it, and a tool used by CSRs. And finally, although this was not in the curriculum, throughout this week, we all should have discovered and acquired an invaluable resource: momentum.
Momentum, as defined by our dear friend Webster, is “the strength or force that something has when it is moving. : the strength or force that allows something to continue or to grow stronger or faster as time passes. [And in] physics: the property that a moving object has due to its mass and its motion.” Over the course of these last 168 hours, we all should have acquired momentum. If you have not yet, then don’t worry and don’t stress. Instead, take a step back. Take a deep breath. Reassess. Make a call. AND GET AFTER IT. The easiest way for you to acquire momentum is by successfully setting up your schedule, adhering to it, and by ensuring every day is a non-zero day. That’s it. The consistency of your actions will inevitably build momentum. And with this force, all of your deliverables will become easier. You will become more productive, more efficient, and a learning machine.
I felt the rising current this morning.
Today’s my day off, and I usually start the morning off a little slower, as it is the only day that I have the full 24 hours for myself. But not today. Instead, I awoke in the wee dark hours of the morning, after the first full nights’ sleep in days, alive, rejuvenated, and ready to get some. I rolled out of bed, tossed some gym clothes on, and went down to the garage to move some heavy weights. Then I cleaned up by taking a cold and continued to get after it — Jocko style. And all of this is due to momentum. I felt it in my blood, like the swelling tides of the ocean, slowly building up, gaining traction, mass, volume, and velocity.
Thank God I did, too. Otherwise, I would not have accomplished all that I have. Otherwise, I would be groggily moving around — slow, disorganized, and resentful that I had let myself have such a mediocre and weak start to my day.
Now, this is I, Michael Simonton, and this is how I go about my life. You might have a completely different approach or reaction, and that’s fine. Everyone is unique. However, if you have not yet noticed the accumulating energy and drive that is momentum, then I would urge you to take a closer look at your daily habits. I would advise you to incentivize this result. And that if you do feel it, you listen to the call and get to work instead of taking it easy. Ultimately, we are all here to be the best versions of ourselves, and if you don’t make use of this phenomenon, you are missing out. Remember, the only person you are hurting is yourself.
Aristotle said it best, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” And habits build momentum.
Let’s make these next 10,080 minutes better than the last ones.
