Momentum

“The human brain is not designed to make you happy, it’s designed to make you survive. Happiness, that’s your job.”

I found this quote about 3 years ago and it helped me change my perspective and how I felt about life.

Sometimes life can be simple, but just because it’s simple does not make it easy.

I used to get frustrated that I wasn’t where I wanted to be in life or that I didn’t feel how I thought I should, but this quote helped me realize that you manifest your own destiny. It’s not owed to you or somehow built into going through the motions.

But one thing that really helps me is momentum. I’m motivated by a lot of things, but one of the most powerful is habit.

Take getting/staying in shape for example. It starts with the little things, like working out. After you work out you feel those endorphins flowing and you don’t want to fuel a good work out with junk food, so you eat a clean, healthy meal. The next day you feel sore, but know that if you work out anyway, it will be good for you. So you work out and eat healthy again the next day. A few days of this go by and the weekend rolls around. A friend invites you to go out to eat and grab some drinks. You do, and over indulge a bit. Enough to make you skip working out the next day, and the next. This is what usually starts my motivation kick. I start to think about all the momentum I’ve lost. About how if I just do the little things everyday, it adds up to big results. About how hard it will be to start from scratch, or start to slip when I’ve already come so far

There’s a video I like, it’s about brushing your teeth and how it correlates to getting in shape. Brushing your teeth one time for 2 minutes isn’t going to make your teeth white. Just like working out one day isn’t going to get you a 6 pack. But brushing your teeth twice a day for a year will certainly whiten your teeth. The same goes for anything in life. The small daily act probably won’t make any noticeable difference at all, but the consistency of that act over time, the dedication to the act, knowing you are paying it forward will yield results.

In a ever-growing, fast pace society, people want to see results yesterday. And it can be hard to find the motivation to do the little things when it seems like everyone around you is doing big things. But committing yourself to the act, because you believe in yourself can build momentum. And the momentum, just like a snowball downhill, will grow and grow, until you become the unstoppable force of your dreams.

Here’s The Thing. It’s up to you what you want to do with your life. Set goals, chase your dreams, and have a plan. Know that it’s not overnight success, but a gradual journey. See the person you want to be, and do the things that person would do, until you become that reality.