989. MOMENTUM Only Works If You Do

Momentum is one of the most powerful forces in your life — and one of the most dangerous. In this episode, I break down the power of momentum, the path it takes from unknown to sought-after, and why most people lose it right when it starts working. 

We’ll talk about how to build it silently, how to protect it once it’s visible, and why momentum only works if you do. 

If you’ve ever felt stuck, invisible, or on the verge of complacency, this episode will show you exactly where you are — and what to do next.

Transcript

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Alright, 3, 2, 1. Let's get it. This is take two. The first time I recorded this episode, it did not record at all, and so hopefully this time it, it happens again. Welcome back to What's Your Problem, the podcast. Today we are going to talk about momentum, and momentum is super, super important. It's a, it's a big thing like I've, I've talked about over many, many episodes over the last, what are we on nine years? I've talked a lot about momentum because it is the key to success, but it is also what will take you to new heights, will also destroy you if you're not careful. And so the inspiration for today's episode comes from a random reading. I do this every single day. I pick a random book I read for 15 to 20 minutes, and then I write about it. And this comes from one of my favorite chapters I've visited before, but I came back to it. It's from chapter seven called Big Mo. And it comes from think big and kick ass in business in life by Donald Trump and Bill Zanker because I truly believe that momentum is one of the most misunderstood forces in success. And if it's misunderstood, then what could be a success for you could also be a form of sabotage. See, momentum is both a tool. A weapon because if you don't respect it and treat it like a tool, momentum will become that weapon so for context, Trump opens up the chapter talking about. William Levitt, and if you don't know who that is, I certainly didn't. William Levitt. Revolutionized home building. It became like an assembly line. This was post World War ii. There was a, a big housing shortage, and so William Levitt found a way, developed his own process to really systematize home building and built like 140,000 houses, and he was so successful in fact, that he ended up. Owning his own forest so he could supply his own company. The, the lumber. He manufactured his own nails and he obsessed over the details so much that he would go out to, to job sites and personally pick up nails, and then he would sweep up the sawdust and resell it because it could be reused. So, I mean, this guy had it down pat. He was wildly successful. And so a company took notice, saw how successful he was, and bought him out. Gave him like two, $3 billion in today's dollars in stock. But see ITT. Who bought the company from William Levitt. They didn't obsess over the details like he did. They mismanaged it. They cut corners. And they frivolously bought land in areas that couldn't be zoned for neighborhoods. So they ignored all the signs, everything that William Levitt built, they tore down 'cause they didn't have the skin in the game. They just bought the result. They didn't buy the process that went into it. And so the business ended up collapsing. Well, William Levitt's wealth was tied. To the success of that business. So when the business failed, he failed too. Later on in life, Trump went to a party and saw a defeated William Levitt sitting in the corner by himself. And now imagine, you know, this ain't no house party, I'm sure this is a New York who's who event high powered people, and there's William Levitt. Brilliant. The same brilliant guy who revolutionized home building, sitting in the corner, defeated 82 years old, and Trump, who had studied real estate, recognized him and went over there to introduce himself and said, Mr. Levitt, what happened? And he said, Donald, I lost my momentum. Same brain, same brilliance, same ability, lost momentum, and he lost everything. And bro, that's a cautionary tale for me and you. I'll never forget that story. I've heard that story before and it just always rings in my head. I lost moment. My momentum. Momentum will build you. But momentum will also break you as well. Momentum is never neutral. It doesn't sit still. When you stop, momentum stops too. And if you don't keep it growing, it doesn't plateau. It reverses. That's why I say it's both. Momentum is both a tool and a weapon. Now here's the truth. There's a path to momentum. There is, and we can all relate to it because when you have no momentum, that's like the most defeating stage you can be in life.'cause like no matter what you do, nothing positive seems to happen. As a matter of fact, sometimes it's like it gets worse, right? So we can all relate to lost momentum. So when you're trying to build momentum back, here's what happens. First, you have a first stage of being unknown. No one knows you. You're doing a hundred things and getting a blip of a result. If anything, no one sees you. No one hears you. No one cares. You just keep working. You're working, you're posting, you're lifting, you're selling, you're studying crickets, nothing. This is where most people quit because they don't understand the a hundred to one ratio. Everything counts. It's counting, it's being stored. It's not wasted. Nothing's for nothing. It's not wasted. It's just being stored. Sometimes you gotta get past that negative inertia 'cause you've been in the deficit deficit for so long. So you do all this work, but that's just gets you back to zero. Then you gotta do the laborious task and silently build that momentum. To start inching it, and that's exactly what it is. Inching it in your direction. So you go from stage one of unfamiliar to stage two because you're consistent to familiar. Familiar is just that people see you, but they're not hearing you yet. They're not fully listening. They're not paying attention. They recognize you. You're like, oh, you're that guy. I've seen you around. I've heard of that guy before. But you're still not getting the results that you want, but something is happening underneath the surface. Remember, just because you can't see change doesn't mean change isn't happening. See, you're proving to the world that you ain't going away. That's exactly like I said, most people have already peeled out and you're one of those few people that pushes past the unfamiliar, that becomes familiar. And because you're persistent, these things begin to compound. This is where you get to stage three. People begin to notice you. Now people are starting to pay attention. Now they start to kind of know you by name and they're starting to listen and they're paying attention more closely because your reps are compounding. The ratios begin to shrink, and now what was a hundred to one is now like 20 to one. Maybe even 10 to one some days, but you're not fully there yet because the bridge has been crossed, unfamiliar, familiar notice. But now you get to stage four and that's where you're known now. People look at you now. They know who you are. They reference you. They expect you. They come to you. This is where the momentum becomes visible. Then there's another stage, stage five. This is where you become sought out. This is where everything flips, flips for you. This is the land of milk and honey. Stage four, you. Because instead of you chasing. Now everything and every one is chasing you. Instead of a hundred actions for a microscopic blip of a result, you do one action and get multiples of results. One action. Three deals. Three clients. Three opportunities. Three invitations. But this, this, this is where momentum gets super dangerous because when the ratios flip, you get deceived. See, you cannot base your effort on your results. You can't, you just have to feed Big Mo every day. Regardless, the results are gonna be what the results are, so you have to feed it every single day, because remember, when you stop, momentum stops and it doesn't stagnate. It actually goes backwards. It reverses. Sometimes you don't, but because you're deceived by the results because you don't see the results yet, you think you're good. You think you're cool, you think you got it figured out. You've, you figured out how to cheat the system. No momentum can't be cheated. It does what you do. It moves how you move. You move, it'll eventually move. You don't move. It stops instantly. And begins inching backwards. See, when you get into that sought out stage, this is where you begin to believe your own headlines. You believe your own bullshit. You believe your own story. You think that you're untouchable. That's not the stage where most people get destroyed, it's complacency. Why did I name this podcast? What's your problem? Adversity, uncertainty and complacency. Two of them, when you handle the adversity and embrace uncertainty can take you to new levels, but when you embrace complacency. You're out. See that very momentum that took you to new heights, that elevated you to new levels is the same momentum that will destroy you because you stopped feeding it. You have to develop a practice of momentum. No one, no one is off limits here, man, I don't care how much wealth you have. I just told you this guy was worth billions. Had a 237 foot yacht, had a 30 room mansion, and was sitting in the corner completely broke, lost everything. Including his dignity. Momentum is always working with or without you. And since momentum's working every moment, every day. I might as well, I might as well work it instead of momentum working against me. I might as well work momentum by feeding at the effort. It's the consistency over the intensity. So let me give you a practice of feeding the momentum every single day. Number one, you gotta, you gotta have a focus. You gotta go for something. And so whether it's in your fitness, in your finances, in your faith, in your fulfillment, professional, creative, look, you wanna start a podcast, you wanna get in better shape, you wanna make a ass load of money at work, like whatever it is that you wanna, you wanna get into real estate, you wanna start your own business, whatever it is, man, you gotta have that focus. And it's gotta be a dog on a bone. With a focus I'm reading right now The Laws of Success by Napoleon Hill. I've, I've tapped, danced around that, but I'm going back in and I'm just gonna read that book. That book is huge man. I mean, the best of the best invested in that book. Why Should't? I, but see, the first thing is you gotta have that focus. Like what is it that you want? And if you don't know, like head in a direction, what's the thing that brings you the most energy? What are you good at that other people are not so good at? What do you get lost in time doing? Or you become that go-to that everybody else is like, man, I don't know how you do it. I mean, and you just seem to just like thrive on it. Number one, that focus. Choose something that you want to do. Secondly, the practice of momentum. So you gotta be a student not casually interested, not doing it because it's the bright, shiny object. I mean, bro, you're obsessed, you're curious, you're creative, you're curious, you're asking questions. Okay? You're immersing yourself like you eat, sleep, and, and breathe. This thing, like any gap moment that you have, man, you're constantly thinking about it. Okay? That's the obsession that I'm talking about. Then you become that student. The curiosity is the questioning, but the creativity is like, I, okay, I can't afford some things, but what do I have right now? Okay, I got a library card, which brings me to my next part, which is find mentors. Lemme tell you something, you don't need to find Mr. Big, successful guy here in town and, uh, will you be my mentor? No, anybody You have access to anybody you want. At your fingertips anytime you want. You wanna wake up at two o'clock in the morning and holler at John Rockefeller, then dammit, crack open a book. You wanna hang out with Oprah for a day? Well, damnit, there's podcasts, there's videos, there's books who you, you have access, you have digital mentors all over the place. You have social media all over the place. Instead of scrolling, begin to be a student. Develop a core of mentors. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say create a second social media account. You can create two X accounts or Instagram accounts where one is just all for your friends. The second one is all as the student who are your teachers, and you just follow those people only that way nobody gets butt hurt on your main feed, but your private feed man, that's, that's you. That's your classroom. And so when you become a student man, you learn how to think. You channel these mentors again, you have access to any entrepreneur, any athlete, any thinker. You have complete access to 'em. Your mentors accelerate your momentum. The third practice of momentum, bro, you gotta get your hands dirty. You gotta get experience. You can't just sit here and read about it, okay? You can't sit here and theorize now you gotta be a practitioner. You gotta get, you gotta get dirt underneath your fingernails. You gotta get your lips busted up a little bit. You gotta be dead tired someday and want to quit, yet you five hours later, man, you're getting up and doing it again. That's what I'm talking about. The fourth thing is you gotta continuously challenge yourself. You gotta move the bar. You gotta develop that inner strength. Here's the thing about inner strength and outer strength. Outer strength is only so, only so much, but inner strength, it's unlimited. And so every day, man, because that commitment and that resilience and that push, like you have that focus and you're a student and you understand the backstory of that craft in that field, you, you just totally immerse it. You have mentors, both physical and digital mentors. You challenge yourself continuously. You're getting real world experience. Now you keep moving the bar and you critique yourself along the way. You don't criticize yourself. You critique yourself along the way. This is what builds that inner strength. Now, here's something that's super powerful. You can actually borrow your momentum. But let me preface this by saying this. I just, that was double, wasn't it? Let me preface by saying this. When you borrow MO momentum from one area, you gotta pay it back. You can't, I said borrow. I didn't say steal. I didn't say withdraw. You're borrowing. So what happens is, is once you're, once this big momentum is coming your way and like you're almost like not deserving of the success that you have. You are, but you're not.'cause you're like, oh my God. It's like you blink, you whisper someone's way, you look their way. Just stuff is just like coming to you from all over. And if, if you don't believe your hype. And you constantly, you're challenging yourself. You're continuously being a student of the game. You're critiquing yourself. You're pushing yourself to new levels, you're understanding the backstory. You continue to find those digital mentors, like this thing you keep investing. That should be what I would say. If you keep investing in this thing and this thing perpetuates and gets super large, then you can borrow from this and apply that momentum in other areas of your life. This is how you see people just like, they're just like, oh my God. They're successful in so many different areas in life. And bro, I can't win in one. The reason being is, is because they were focused on one. They built that thing up to where it was just a monster. They borrowed from it, applied it to another area, and then that thing began to feed upon itself. Yet they paid the original back. How do you pay it back? You're still a student of the primary thing. And now you're a student on other areas as well. You can be multifaceted. You don't have to be a one channel kind of guy, but you can't be multiple channels trying to build multiple momentums all at once. You can't. You gotta be singular focused. Napoleon Hill talks about that singularly focused, I'm sure I didn't say that word right. Singularly focused. There we go. Boom, get it perpetuate, get that thing built. It's gonna take some time, then borrow from it, but then pay it back. Continued effort. Challenging student, evolving, critiquing, all those kind of different things. Momentum's, like poker chips. I love this analogy. You gotta have chips to play the game and to stay in the game. I can't just be all chips in. Like Seth Godin says if I'm failing more than you, I'm winning. Failing is something that's iterative. It's a process so you don't take yourself outta the game. You're failing. You're continuing to play the game. You gotta play the landscape. You gotta be persistent. You gotta be continuous, you gotta constantly challenge yourself. You're student. You're playing this game. So you don't get knocked out. But you also, for momentum to really work, you also have to play in progressively bigger pods. You gotta increase your bets, but you're not careless, you're calculated. It's so simple. Life is simple. Feed momentum daily. Sometimes it's a lot, sometimes it's a little, but it's never, never. You gotta understand that you never stop feeding it because when you stop, momentum stops. Don't get seduced by any results and don't get butt hurt by the results either. You're just building. Sometimes you're just building new momentums. Sometimes you've, you've reached a season, okay, now there's a new period in your life starting, boom, I'm feeding it again. Don't let what you've done be the greatest thing you ever do. Keep feeding that momentum. And just as a point of reflection, like, am I, am I learning everything I can? Am I studying my craft? Do I have a process? Just a few things every single day? Non-negotiables. Am I obsessed with the details? Like am I, am I controlling what I can control? Am I curious? Am I creative? Am I a continuous learner? Am I communicating with myself? Am I confronting? That's the challenging part. It's gonna happen for you., When it happens for you, bro, I don't know, nor do you. But what you do for when it happens is completely up to you. If you have lost momentum, you can get it back, but you gotta understand it's a hard process, but it'll kick back in and when it does, never stop feeding it again. Alright, thanks for sharing this episode. Remember, keep it simple, keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough. Peace.