It’s been a long time since I’ve written one of these blogs. Sorry about that. I wish there was some significant reason why, but the truth is that I just forgot. I mean, sure, there were probably a couple times where I was busy and ran out of time, but for the most part, I just lost the momentum. It’s crazy how much harder it is to get back on track than it is to maintain a habit.
There are so many things I’ve done for long stretches in my 40 years, largely because of momentum. I had a multi-year streak on Duolingo learning Spanish. I was going for three mile walks for months a few years ago. I was spending hours a week reading just for fun. I wrote a bi-weekly blog for more than five years. If the pattern wasn’t obvious, all of these are past tense statements. It was so easy to keep the streaks going at the time. The bigger the streak was, the more exciting and important it seemed to try and extend it. On the flip side, once the streak was broken, it felt like a colossal let down. After all, not only had I blown it, look at how long I’d have to work to get back to that same streak.
Relying on momentum is a double edged sword, to be certain. One of the problems I’ve noticed is that relying on momentum makes it way harder for me to stay in the present moment. It either puts my focus in the past, on what I’ve already been doing, or in the future, looking at what I’ll have to do going forward. What I want to start doing instead is doing things because they are good, enjoyable, or productive at the time. Momentum sure isn’t the problem, but the mindset that relies on it causes some to be sure.
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