If I had to choose a theme for this week it would be MOMENTUM.

We are quickly approaching the halfway point of the quarter and if you are in one of my accountability groups that means that you have been working on your goals for 6 weeks in a row.

Most people have 1-3 goals they are working on and every week they make an average of 3-5 commitments. That’s 3-5 actions that they are committed to getting done between our meetings. So that means that they have cumulatively taken between 18 and 30 actions towards their goals. That adds up to some serious MOMENTUM.

Most people have learned these 3 things in the process:

1. To appreciate baby steps. If your goal is to work out 5 days a week, it’s okay to start with 1 day and build up your routine from there. Maybe you think that’s too small of a start. But if you aren’t exercising at all it’s an improvement. I’ve seen so many people get to their big goals, I’m talking major weight loss, huge turnarounds in health and quality of life, by starting small.
2. To be more organized. You learn to look at your calendar and see what you have going on. To plan your week and your commitments accordingly so you aren’t trying to cram everything in at the last minute. Scheduling and prioritizing are all part of being organized.
3. To have compassion. You start to see your own struggles in other people and you realize that it’s not about perfection it’s about positive steps in the right direction. You begin to experience less self reproach as “failures” shift to learning opportunities.

What happens when you don’t have MOMENTUM? Normally, when you aren’t following through you give yourself more to do in order to catch up. The list keeps growing until enough stress and pressure is created that you have to take action or give up.

I have certainly been there and so have my clients. You have an off week. You fall into a funk. Something happens in your life that you weren’t expecting that knocks the wind out of you.

My belief is that when that happens you take your foot off the gas and you focus on building your MOMENTUM by applying what you’ve already learned.

1. Start with baby steps. If you are in a place where everything seems hard or overwhelming allow yourself to take it slow. What’s one small step you can take towards your goal? Progress is cumulative.
2. Get organized. Set yourself up to be successful by deciding when you are going to get things done. Put your action items in your calendar right away. It gives you an awareness of the other things you have going on in your week and it ensures that you’ve carved out time to do whatever you’ve committed to.
3. Practice self-compassion. Resist the urge to be hard on yourself or to compare yourself to others. It doesn’t help. You can be kind to yourself and kick ass.

Let’s not turn ourselves into pressure cookers, instead lets enjoy being in the flow.