Build Momentum with Tiny Wins
Setting good habits set you up for success. The more that you practice those habits the more momentum you start to build.
I absolutely love how Darren Hardy refers to momentum in The Compound Effect,
I’d like to introduce you to Mo, or “Big Mo,” as I like to call it. Big Mo is, without doubt, one of the most powerful and enigmatic forces of success. You can’t see or feel Mo, but you know when you’ve got it. You can’t count on Mo showing up to every occasion, but when it does—WOW! Big Mo can catapult you into the stratosphere of success. And once you’ve got Mo on your side, there’s almost no way anyone can catch you.
[…]
It takes time and energy to get Big Mo, but with it, success and results compound rapidly.
There are times though, that it feels that no matter what you do, it’s not enough. All that time and energy but where are the results? Why hasn’t Big Mo shown up yet?
That means it is time to adjust your focus and your mindset. Step back, breathe, relax, and look at what is possible.
Motivation When You’re Stuck
It may be tempting once you’ve stepped back and are assessing the situation, being mindful, to just stand still. You may not even realize that is what is happening, however, when you’re stuck, the only thing that will get you unstuck is movement.
Author Shane Snow in the book Smartcuts offers a glimpse into research that has been done supporting this,
Consistency Over Perfection
The phrase “Consistency Over Perfection” is now my mantra.
This post outlines how I went from discouraged about my fitness progress to pushing through and making real progress in many areas of my life.
Fitness Goals
Last year, in December, I maxed out at a weight of 198 lbs. This is the most that I’ve ever weighed. Ever.
Per my usual habit, I set my Fitness Goals and posted them on my underutilized fitness blog, Get Gary Fit.
The problem is that I only looked at setting goals to get back in shape. I know what I have to do and I know that I gained a bunch of weight back. Frankly, this felt overwhelming. Year after year, it felt like I was reporting on what I didn’t accomplish the year before and what I wanted to do going forward to “do better.”
Then I just let it sit for a bit. At first was a bit discouraged as this was my ninth year of “trying to get fit.”
Fitness Values
What are values anyway?
In The Confidence Gap, Russ Harris defines values as
Values are “desired qualities of ongoing action.” In other words, your values describe how you want to behave as a human being: how you want to act on an ongoing basis, what you want to stand for in life, the principles you want to live by, the personal qualities and character strengths you want to cultivate.
Values can’t be completed. And as he puts it, “Goals are ‘desired outcomes.’
What changed my perspective was knowing that you can live by your values even if you don’t hit your goals 100% of the time. We aren’t looking for perfection. Consistency is what we strive for.
No matter what your circumstances, living by your values brings fulfillment. That builds momentum, which in turn will fuel achieving your measurable goals. Without defined values, goals are just a to-do list with zero motivation.
My overall fitness value is well-being, which I define as:
To look after one’s own well being, maintain or improve fitness, and mental health.
Instead of focusing on the pounds that I was losing, I decided to focus on my well being. I’m doing this to feel better, live longer, and be able to support those that are in my life for years to come.
When my mood is low and motivation is lacking, I use my fitness value as my North Star. It’s what fuels consistency.
The Results
I started out with a small change, eating Paleo / Keto consistently for 21 days, then a month, and week after week since then.
How am I doing so far? In the last 72 days, I’ve lost 28 lbs.
Once I realigned and focused on my fitness value, I was able to push through and make progress that I haven’t experienced in a long time. The awesome thing is that by setting new habits for myself, it’s affecting other areas of my life for the better. Clear values plus tiny wins have kept the momentum going.
I’m excited to keep pushing, creating my Art, and being consistent. It’s something to strive for, and now my values explain why.
Get the Shirt
Pictured below is Mike Vacanti. He’s a great guy, an on-point fitness coach, and you should definitely buy one of his shirts. Both he and the shirt inspired this blog post.
How Do You See?
I’ve always disliked the phrase, “Fake it until you make it!”. It just feels so disingenuous.
Dealing with conflict shouldn’t be about denying reality, it should be more about accepting it, for what it is. Then instead of approaching conflict with a position of defense, you open up and look at it from the perspective of finding solutions — discovering opportunities hidden in plain sight.
In The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, the author gives a great example on perception via the “The Add-In Principle”. Montel Williams has multiple sclerosis, which causes him to always be mindful of his diet. He describes the principle as such:
“It’s not so much what you attempt to take out of your diet,” he explained to me. “It’s what you put in instead.” This has become his analogy for life.
Hardy goes on to say,
Instead of focusing on what he has to sacrifice, Montel thinks about what he gets to “add in.” The result is a lot more powerful.
I distilled it into this one phrase that I can repeat to myself:
Focus on what you can add, not what you don’t have.
When challenges come your way, what do you focus on? Resistance? Or embracing yet another opportunity to learn, grow, and perhaps even discover your strengths.
Plan for Everything, Including Spontaneity
Are you getting comfortable?
Due to your brain loving efficiency, you are creating and relying on habits all the time. The Habit Loop. They can be good or bad. It’s great when you are building positive habits, and your brain goes on autopilot. This frees mental resources up to tackle deep work…except for when complacency sets in.
Give Me That Inspiration
What are you doing to feed your soul? When making our Art, we live off of inspiration. It’s what drives our work and keeps us improving.
A red flag when getting older is to let yourself get stuck, complacent and comfortable. Again, we must be mindful.
I loved this excerpt from Debbie Harry on punk, refusing to retire and sex at 69, in the Telegraph,
‘But there is also a mental element to aging, she says. If you stay creative, interested and open to new things, you won’t stagnate. “You have to look around, keep new influences coming in. A lot of people sort of pick a world to live in, and they’re comfortable in that – which can be disastrous.”‘
You have to keep pushing yourself. To make a ruckus. Shake things up. Break the routine every once and awhile.
Plan for Spontaneity
I have a journal that I keep for my “life experiences”. It’s a bullet list of moments that I want to remember, new experiences that I’ve had, and a great place to express gratitude. However, this documents events in the past.
Not having enough adventures? It’s time to make a second list. Be detailed!
Plan your adventures out.
While great to have, routines can often lead to being stuck in autopilot mode. It’s time to get those creative juices flowing and think of new ways to stretch yourself.
Example of an adventure list:
- Visit MoMa in NYC
- Make pickles for the first time
- Visit a new state park and go hiking
- Read a book from a genre you normally don’t read
- Start a picture journal
- Turn poetry into artwork
Let your mind go wild. Lean towards the unexpected, outside of your comfort zone, and ask friends for ideas. It’s time to shine a light on those blind spots and get inspired!
Scratch Pad
I keep three journals now.
- I have one for my day job. I use it to keep quick notes to myself and making quick sketches of wireframes in.
- I have another for a formal personal journal. This is where I condense all my scraps of information into a narrative that makes sense… mostly.
- I have a small red journal that I use as my scratch pad.
From the Creative Learning Spiral by Austin Kleon ( it’s like a quote, but an image… ),
Thinking more and more about the spiral, I remembered a drawing I drew for someone who asked me a question about how I balanced creating and consuming.
Documenting those quick “aha moments”, writing down notes from a book you’ve read, or even just jotting down ideas for later exploration is the perfect use for this little red notebook.
It gives you a quick, tangible, place to store ideas before they fly away.
By consistently reviewing your captured thoughts, you can turn those concepts into your Art.