What’s Moving You? Momentum or Intention
”The Only Thing You Need to Succeed is – Momentum! When you are successful, everything has a momentum, and then comes a point where you can not define whether you have created the momentum or it’s creating you.
I was a very outgoing girl when in school. As a sports enthusiast, I always wanted to try out all adventurous sports and climb Everest as a mountaineer. But as life went by, I got so engrossed with studies and then a job that I forgot all my dreams that I carried throughout my school days. Gradually, as life passed by, I almost had given up dreams as I got busier with my job responsibilities, family, and social obligations. There came a time when I almost felt liked a programmed robot with all works and had no time for myself.
Sometimes, when I met my few old friends who had accomplished a lot and were living lives that they always wanted, I felt the ache in my heart. I wouldn’t sleep those nights and think about my unfulfilled dreams. I noticed I had been so busy for all these years but never actually accomplished anything. I was moving with the momentum of the life which was motivated by emotions, expectations, family and social obligations, my own inhibitions and time mismanagement.
It was then that I got a coach for myself to help me achieve my long cherished dreams of becoming a mountaineer. My coach helped me to clarify my intentions and the forces that were creating momentum that had kept me away from my dreams. With her help, I was able to have an awareness and make choices and create a momentum to move forward towards my becoming a mountaineer.
Momentum
The literal meaning of Momentum as defined in the dictionary is, “a property of a moving body that determines the length of time required to bring it to rest when under the action of a constant force or moment”, or “the strength or force gained by motion or by a series of events.”
Though the definition is in terms of physics which involves mass and motion of a physical object, however, the principal can be applied to the action or movement of an individual /organization even.
The momentum in our lives is created by external and internal forces which exert pressures on lives of an individual or organization. And this makes us get in action mode. These forces include commitments, habits, emotions, routines, beliefs and obligations. Many times, these forces may not be chosen intentionally but then over time, we may adopt them and become so accustomed and surrounded by them that we get carried by the momentum created by these forces. These forces continue to exert pressure and make us work according to them even it may not be in the manner as we want or intend to.
Intention
On the other hand, Intention, as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary is “determination to act in a certain way, or what one intends to do or bring about.”
Intention always involves the purpose of one’s action. One may act in a certain way with an intention to reach specific goals.
As mentioned in above scenario, the lady was carried by the momentum of her life. The momentum was caused by her job responsibilities, family commitments, her own habits and routines that she continued irrespective of the point if she was happy or ever intended to do the same. The momentum so got developed surrounded her by the sense of social obligation so, she could fulfill her and family needs, support people emotionally and financially. She got so used to following the same routine and thought the process that people too became so associated with her in same terms that it became insignificant to know whether her engagements were still relevant or not.
This is what happens in the life of an organization too. The same process can be repeated to generate same profit and no difference might have been made in years. No new process, products/services are introduced, no new challenges are set and this makes the organization just going by the momentum of the time and previous results. This scenario could be frustrating for the employees as their growth and development would come to standstill.
From a coach point of view, if this organization is analyzed, he can probably point out the fact that initial commitment to stability, consistency, and profit was so focussed that they overlooked everything and didn’t consider their work was pure momentum. The work was done based on the intentions but the later organization did not realize if the same intentions were still relevant or not. A coach is an important person who can make us realize the intentions which are relevant and the course of momentum which should be followed. An efficient coach can help the organization to maintain good health by pointing if the previous intentions were losing relevance with time and changing demands of the clients. Setting new intentions and working accordingly to create the momentum to achieve new goals can be done with the help of the coach.
Hence, we get to understand that we need to create momentum to achieve our goals rather than letting the momentum of different factors propel us to work. We need to move with intentions to accomplish the goals and not just get carried by the momentum of life, situation taking us along. Thus, momentum, when created intentionally, is very powerful and can help to achieve desired results.
In contrary, if our intentions are not set, any momentum by its nature is hard to stop. We might get propelled by different factors which would consume our time, energy and attention towards things which never interested us and will keep us away from our goals that we intent to achieve.
Self Application
In modern times, most of us are very busy. Yet we do not know what we are doing and where we are going in life. Hence, this causes frustration and dissatisfaction. We ourselves don’t understand who is controlling us and yet we are running and moving in life’s race without meaningful accomplishments.