From The Business Coaching Chronicles The Power Of Momentum

The momentum was gone and so was the fun for one of my personal business coaching clients. As he looked up from his desk he sighed and said, “This is no fun any more.” I have encountered this scenario numerous times in my business coaching practice and it even happened to me in the businesses I owned. For the self-employed business owner, entrepreneur or solo professional one of the worst feelings is a loss of momentum. Why? Momentum Determines Perspective When things are going well your steps are lighter, the day is brighter and the problems you have a challenges that can be overcome. You have positive, forward momentum. Obviously, there can be negative momentum but the focus in this article is on the positive. When your momentum is positive your perspective of the present and the future is good. You believe that things will continue to get better over time. As a self-employed business owner running a small business you feel you are on a good track. When you feel you are on a good track you have positive momentum. You have a healthy perspective that sees “what can be” and the means to make it happen. When our momentum ceases to be forward and positive we start to feel stuck or overwhelmed. When we are in this position, very often our activity diminishes. When our activity diminishes, so do our results. And when our results diminish our self-esteem and our can do attitude erodes. Regaining Momentum As was the case with my client, his activity had diminished and so had his results. The employee morale in his 5 person company was not good. People did their jobs…..kind of. There was little enthusiasm. This loss of enthusiasm was felt by his customers. Some of his long time customers would remark to him that he didn’t seem happy. This bothered him greatly. He had been in business 20 years and built a good business but the joy and enthusiasm was gone. He saw all his business days looking the same. Today was going to be like yesterday. Tomorrow was going to be like today. He knew he had to regain his momentum but how to do it? Your Vision Of The Future Creates Your Momentum If you think about it, everything must be finished before it can be started. Without an exciting vision of the future the present becomes a tedious slog through the mud. When you get to the end of the day you say, “Whew, I made it through another day.” Then your energy is zapped even further when you realize that tomorrow is going to be the same. For my client we collaborated to create a vision of the future that was exciting to him. Once we created the future, which included upgrading parts of the business and positioning it to be sold, then the present became meaningful. Every day was now a step forward to attaining the future he desired. This took several months. But the excitement and the momentum returned. His business became better externally and internally. Positive momentum was carrying him forward. If you feel your momentum is lost and the present is a slog through the mud, go to work on your vision of the future. Go to work on yourself. After all, your world will get no bigger than your thinking. And, when the future is finished in your mind, then what you need to do in the present becomes absolutely clear. When things are clear you have cleared the pathway for momentum to carry you to the business and life you desire. Things become fun again. Capture the future in your mind and you will build momentum.