How to Create Momentum in Your Life
2002 Boaz Rauchwerger
As we all work toward a brighter future, with financial and personal rewards, there come times when we have to move to the next level. Times when we need to stop talking about something and start acting. Times when we need to turn on the after-burner and move at a different pace. Times when we must create momentum.
If your life is perfect, that's fine. If it is not, and you wonder what it will take to get to the next level, you've come to the right place. Perhaps you want to earn more money, to improve a relationship, to launch an important project, to start a business of your own, to lose weight or to start exercising. Any of these changes take some initiative. Then, once you've started, it's important to keep momentum going.
For many years, beginning in the early 80's, I was a professional speaker, conducting hundreds of seminars nationwide. It was in 1994 that I was recruited to run a sizeable company in San Diego. After six years, I realized that that was not what I really wanted to do. We all get distracted throughout life. The important thing is that we get back on track.
When I realized that teaching people and sharing simple, productive, life-changing ideas (as I aim to do in this newsletter) was what I really wanted to do, the challenge was getting started again. How would I do that and how would I create momentum? I believe that there are some valuable lessons in what happened next.
I thought back to how I got started the first time, back in the early 80's. I had booked myself as the guest speaker at Rotary and Kiwanis Club meetings. So that's what I did again in the spring of 2000. I spoke at 30 civic clubs in the San Diego area in a period of seven months. A few of them were larger groups. Some were smaller groups, where the majority of people present were retired. One speech was a sit-down discussion about goals in the basement of a church with the three people who showed up.
There were times when I wondered what I was doing and whether it was leading to anything. Those are moments when we need to stop questioning and just "keep on keeping on." It's easy to quit when things don't seem to be going well. So, no matter whether the group was large or small, each presentation was my very best effort.
It was after the 29th civic club speech that year that I was asked if I'd be interested in being the guest speaker at the San Diego Escrow Association monthly dinner meeting. (What if I had quit after speech #28?) I accepted the invitation and that speech was a huge success.
The day after that association dinner, I received an e-mail from one of the largest escrow companies in the city. Some of their employees had attended the dinner and they liked my speech. Within a few weeks, that escrow company became my first corporate client as a high performance coach.
Other client companies followed in 2001 as I continued to promote. Once something begins rolling, it's time to throw gasoline on the fire. I booked myself to do more civic club speeches. I offered my services as a speaker, at no charge, to any organization that needed one. I didn't focus on results from any one speech. I simply focused on doing my best and doing it often.
By 2002, my work as a high performance coach to corporations and CEOs was going very well. Was that a time to slow down? Not at all. Once you have some momentum, it's time to keep doing what got that momentum going in the first place. I routinely continue to speak before civic clubs, non-profit organizations, business groups, and anyone else who is willing to listen.
As a result, the harder I work, the more opportunities come my way. In the past, I used to create one or two opportunities and count on them. When none of them would materialize, I would be greatly disappointed and quite upset. Now I create many opportunities and count on none of them. As a result, great things are happening on a regular basis.
Thus, with massive action, I was able to turn my professional life around. If that is your goal, I'm here to tell you that you can do it. Here are the steps:
1. Decide what you really want to do - identify a burning desire.
2. Create a plan for doing it.
3. Get started in small increments.
4. Keep taking those steps, even if, at some points, you don't see any progress.
Momentum Affirmations
The following are action affirmations dealing with this message. If you know that you want a change, but don't know what you want to do, affirmation (a) was written for you.
a. It's _______ (a date three months from now). I have discovered my burning desire and I'm excited.
(If you don't discover that burning desire by that date, re-set for three months later.)
b. It's easy and important for me to follow my plan on a regular basis.
c. My small daily steps are leading to large achievements.
d. It's easy and fun for me to create momentum!
A Daily Momentum Affirmation
I'm 'keeping on keeping on' and know that great results are coming!
Article reproduced with permission from Boaz Rauchwerger. You may reprint any of these articles in any publication or Web site so long as you credit Boaz Rauchwerger as the author and include this Web site address, www.Boazpower.com.