April 3, 2025 • 6 mins
Being able to build and keep momentum has been huge for me. We all go through phases—on track, off track, fired up, burnt out. That’s life.
The hard part is getting back on track when you’re off. That’s where building momentum comes in. Forget waiting for motivation or inspiration. Just start, even if it’s small, and don’t sweat the outcome. Consistency beats perfection.
The flywheel effect is real. When you keep pushing, momentum starts working for you. And if you fall off? No problem. Just repeat the process. It’s all about building momentum over and over.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So I completely lost momentum onrecording these podcasts. I
(00:04):
don't know when I put one out,but it's been a little while. So
this show or episode is anexample of something I've talked
about in the past. Like, whenyou lose your momentum,
it's hard to get started. Whenyou're you know, out of it, like
it's the same for anything I gotthis fucking microphone with dog
(00:26):
hair on it, like it's
the same thing with anything,you know, like, if you haven't
worked out for a while, it'shard to get yourself to go to do
it. If you haven't recorded afucking podcast for a while,
it's hard to get yourself to doit. And that's kind of where I'm
at. And so I figured I wouldjust recap something that I've
talked about before, and it'sabout building and maintaining
momentum, and kind of what to dowhen you lose your momentum. And
(00:50):
so right now, this iscompletely, well, almost
completely unplanned. It's justa matter of me turning on the
camera and the microphone andjust deciding to record
something to try to get my mymomentum back again. And it's
something I learned a long timeago, probably around, I don't
know, 2000
(01:12):
No, 99 2000 something like that.I was in school and I was stuck
on a project, and this guy, Edfella, was a design professor
for the masters
program. I was studying graphicdesign and the bachelor's
program. And so I went overthere, and I asked him, I said,
What do you do when you don'thave any ideas like, how do you
(01:33):
get yourself going? And he said,just start making stuff. Don't
worry about don't worry aboutwhat it is, if it, if it relates
to your project, or if it'sconceptually, makes any sense,
or anything, he said, just startmaking stuff, and then you'll,
you'll start getting ideas fromthere. He didn't actually use
the word momentum, but that'swhat he was talking about. Like
(01:55):
when you start, you just, youstart moving forward. Even if
you have to force yourself tomove forward, at least you start
moving and then little ideas andlittle things will pop up, and
little motivation and shit willpop up
as you go. And so a lot oftimes, we may find ourselves
lacking motivation because we'vesort of let our momentum slip,
(02:20):
and then we're sitting aroundjust waiting to be inspired to
get started, like you're sittingaround waiting to be motivated
to work out, or waiting to bemotivated to record a podcast or
whatever. The thing is, ifyou're trying to learn an
instrument, motivated to pick upthe instrument and go through
that uncomfortable phase ofgetting getting back into the
(02:40):
groove of things, because we allknow that that first part sucks,
and that's what's so hard to getus to start again. So
really, it's a simple thing, andthe key is just to, just to
force yourself to start, andthen just keep going until you
build the momentum. And there'sthis concept about a flywheel
that like, it's so heavy in thebeginning it's hard to turn it,
(03:04):
so you're trying to get it toturn, and it's turning really
slowly, but as you you go, theweight of it starts picking up,
and then it becomes easier andeasier to go. The same thing
with, like, those old schoolwater pumps, like I've never
used one, but I read in a bookabout how this applies to this
concept, like the old waterpumps, you know, the the pipe
(03:25):
went way down into the ground,so you have to, like, pump the
thing
a shit load to get the water togo from the well, or whatever
the ground, water all the way upthis pipe and then start flowing
out. But once it starts flowing,you don't have to pump it as
much. You just have to maintainit. So if you're stuck and
(03:47):
you're in a rut or lackingmotivation, and you're sitting
around waiting to be motivated,you may be sitting around for a
really long time and wasting aton of time, and that's how I
feel with this podcast. Likethis happens to me all the time,
and it's that cliche,
paralysis by analysis, or maybeit's other way around, I don't
(04:09):
know, but, you know, I'll I'llthink, oh, man, I got to record
a podcast. What am I going totalk about? And then I'll write
down some ideas, and I'll belike, well, I already kind of
talked about that. Maybe Ishouldn't,
maybe I shouldn't talk aboutthat. Maybe I should come up
with, excuse me, maybe I shouldcome up with something else, and
maybe people aren't gonna likeit, and all these kind of shit.
(04:31):
And you sit there analyzing it,and that's just a form of
procrastination. You're just,
you're just sort of pretendingto be big I, at least I that's
what I was doing. It's justalmost like pretending to be
busy, you know? Oh well, I'm,I'm taking bullet points, and
I'm doing all this shit, andI'm, I'm brainstorming, and I'm,
(04:51):
I'm this, that, and all thisshit. And it's like all I'm
doing is not fucking turning onthe microphone and recording
something I'm.
I'm kind of, like,
keeping myself busy so that Ican feel like I'm doing
something, you know,
and so it's a simple message,and I don't think I'm going to
talk for very long, but so,yeah, if you're finding yourself
(05:13):
in a position like what I'mtalking about, just start
that's, that's what this episodeis an example of. Like, I knew I
had to record something. It'sbeen a long time, and I'm
sitting here going back andforth in my mind, like what I
should talk about and what Ishould really do is just turn on
the mic and just start recordingsomething. The worst that'll
(05:35):
happen is it'll totally suck,and I don't have to put it out,
or I can put it out, nobody willlike it. Am I gonna die like,
you know, it's who cares?Obviously, I want to put out
good stuff, but like, puttingout maybe not my best shit is
better than not putting outanything. So if you're finding
yourself in a rut and you'reyou're having, you're having a
(05:57):
hard time, just start doingsomething. If you haven't worked
out for a long time, go take awalk. If you haven't drawn, or
come up with any new ideas forgraph or something, just get out
your sketchbook. Draw for fiveminutes. Just put on a kitchen
timer. Say,
I'm going to commit to drawingfor five minutes. If you're out
of the habit of reading, sitdown and read one page, one
(06:20):
paragraph, even just whatever itis, just start
the next day, do it again. Nextthing you know, you know you'll
have momentum again and you'llbe back off to the races. So
that's it. That's all I got. Youknow, fuck it. Let's go.
(06:42):
S
all right,
appreciate each and every one ofyou guys who are supporting the
cause and continue to spread thelove and yeah, stay up.
So I completely lost momentum onrecording these podcasts. I
(00:04):
don't know when I put one out,but it's been a little while. So
this show or episode is anexample of something I've talked
about in the past. Like, whenyou lose your momentum,
it's hard to get started. Whenyou're you know, out of it, like
it's the same for anything I gotthis fucking microphone with dog
(00:26):
hair on it, like it's
the same thing with anything,you know, like, if you haven't
worked out for a while, it'shard to get yourself to go to do
it. If you haven't recorded afucking podcast for a while,
it's hard to get yourself to doit. And that's kind of where I'm
at. And so I figured I wouldjust recap something that I've
talked about before, and it'sabout building and maintaining
momentum, and kind of what to dowhen you lose your momentum. And
(00:50):
so right now, this iscompletely, well, almost
completely unplanned. It's justa matter of me turning on the
camera and the microphone andjust deciding to record
something to try to get my mymomentum back again. And it's
something I learned a long timeago, probably around, I don't
know, 2000
(01:12):
No, 99 2000 something like that.I was in school and I was stuck
on a project, and this guy, Edfella, was a design professor
for the masters
program. I was studying graphicdesign and the bachelor's
program. And so I went overthere, and I asked him, I said,
What do you do when you don'thave any ideas like, how do you
(01:33):
get yourself going? And he said,just start making stuff. Don't
worry about don't worry aboutwhat it is, if it, if it relates
to your project, or if it'sconceptually, makes any sense,
or anything, he said, just startmaking stuff, and then you'll,
you'll start getting ideas fromthere. He didn't actually use
the word momentum, but that'swhat he was talking about. Like
(01:55):
when you start, you just, youstart moving forward. Even if
you have to force yourself tomove forward, at least you start
moving and then little ideas andlittle things will pop up, and
little motivation and shit willpop up
as you go. And so a lot oftimes, we may find ourselves
lacking motivation because we'vesort of let our momentum slip,
(02:20):
and then we're sitting aroundjust waiting to be inspired to
get started, like you're sittingaround waiting to be motivated
to work out, or waiting to bemotivated to record a podcast or
whatever. The thing is, ifyou're trying to learn an
instrument, motivated to pick upthe instrument and go through
that uncomfortable phase ofgetting getting back into the
(02:40):
groove of things, because we allknow that that first part sucks,
and that's what's so hard to getus to start again. So
really, it's a simple thing, andthe key is just to, just to
force yourself to start, andthen just keep going until you
build the momentum. And there'sthis concept about a flywheel
that like, it's so heavy in thebeginning it's hard to turn it,
(03:04):
so you're trying to get it toturn, and it's turning really
slowly, but as you you go, theweight of it starts picking up,
and then it becomes easier andeasier to go. The same thing
with, like, those old schoolwater pumps, like I've never
used one, but I read in a bookabout how this applies to this
concept, like the old waterpumps, you know, the the pipe
(03:25):
went way down into the ground,so you have to, like, pump the
thing
a shit load to get the water togo from the well, or whatever
the ground, water all the way upthis pipe and then start flowing
out. But once it starts flowing,you don't have to pump it as
much. You just have to maintainit. So if you're stuck and
(03:47):
you're in a rut or lackingmotivation, and you're sitting
around waiting to be motivated,you may be sitting around for a
really long time and wasting aton of time, and that's how I
feel with this podcast. Likethis happens to me all the time,
and it's that cliche,
paralysis by analysis, or maybeit's other way around, I don't
(04:09):
know, but, you know, I'll I'llthink, oh, man, I got to record
a podcast. What am I going totalk about? And then I'll write
down some ideas, and I'll belike, well, I already kind of
talked about that. Maybe Ishouldn't,
maybe I shouldn't talk aboutthat. Maybe I should come up
with, excuse me, maybe I shouldcome up with something else, and
maybe people aren't gonna likeit, and all these kind of shit.
(04:31):
And you sit there analyzing it,and that's just a form of
procrastination. You're just,
you're just sort of pretendingto be big I, at least I that's
what I was doing. It's justalmost like pretending to be
busy, you know? Oh well, I'm,I'm taking bullet points, and
I'm doing all this shit, andI'm, I'm brainstorming, and I'm,
(04:51):
I'm this, that, and all thisshit. And it's like all I'm
doing is not fucking turning onthe microphone and recording
something I'm.
I'm kind of, like,
keeping myself busy so that Ican feel like I'm doing
something, you know,
and so it's a simple message,and I don't think I'm going to
talk for very long, but so,yeah, if you're finding yourself
(05:13):
in a position like what I'mtalking about, just start
that's, that's what this episodeis an example of. Like, I knew I
had to record something. It'sbeen a long time, and I'm
sitting here going back andforth in my mind, like what I
should talk about and what Ishould really do is just turn on
the mic and just start recordingsomething. The worst that'll
(05:35):
happen is it'll totally suck,and I don't have to put it out,
or I can put it out, nobody willlike it. Am I gonna die like,
you know, it's who cares?Obviously, I want to put out
good stuff, but like, puttingout maybe not my best shit is
better than not putting outanything. So if you're finding
yourself in a rut and you'reyou're having, you're having a
(05:57):
hard time, just start doingsomething. If you haven't worked
out for a long time, go take awalk. If you haven't drawn, or
come up with any new ideas forgraph or something, just get out
your sketchbook. Draw for fiveminutes. Just put on a kitchen
timer. Say,
I'm going to commit to drawingfor five minutes. If you're out
of the habit of reading, sitdown and read one page, one
(06:20):
paragraph, even just whatever itis, just start
the next day, do it again. Nextthing you know, you know you'll
have momentum again and you'llbe back off to the races. So
that's it. That's all I got. Youknow, fuck it. Let's go.
(06:42):
S
all right,
appreciate each and every one ofyou guys who are supporting the
cause and continue to spread thelove and yeah, stay up.
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