Stop Fizzling Out: Protect Your Momentum and Follow Through

Here's something I've noticed. Most people don't actually lose momentum. They never create it in the first place. They get all fired up about all the possibilities, but then they just expect that somehow, they're going to get it all done while doing everything else that they have going on. That spark of excitement isn't momentum. It's just potential. And if you don't know how to convert it into real momentum, it disappears, and it disappears fast.

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Hey everyone. Welcome back to The Law Firm Owner Podcast. Today, we are talking about something I observe all the time, and it's fascinating to watch. It's what happens after someone has that surge of excitement about their future. Maybe it's after a planning retreat with us. Maybe it's after a mastermind, a conference, a coaching session, or even hearing a podcast that spurs ideas they want to explore and run with. And in that moment, they see the possibilities. They feel energized. But then what happens next is like watching different animals at the zoo. Everyone behaves differently.

Some people turn that spark into momentum. Others don't. This is not just about willpower or discipline. That's not what we're talking about today. What we're talking about today is how to develop your momentum and protect it so that it actually will deliver results.

Okay, constraint. This is where most people go wrong right out of the gate. They leave that conference or retreat or coaching session with 57 new ideas, and it feels like momentum, but it's not. It's just an emotional high from all the possibilities. And if you try to chase all of them, you're going to stall. And if you indulge in the impulse to start something new that you just heard about when you already have priorities that you committed to and they're not complete yet, you're going to wreck any momentum or chance of momentum that you had.

Momentum depends on focused follow-through. And every time you splinter your attention, you reset the clock on progress. Constraint is the first step. At our strategic planning retreats, this is the work we do. We don't send you home with 57 new initiatives and tell you to get going. We distill everything down to 1, 2, 3, maybe more if you have the team to handle it, priorities that matter the most for the next quarter.

If you're not coming out of work with us, you have to do this part yourself. You can brain dump every idea that you are excited about. Get it all out of your head and onto paper. And then ask, which of these, if done, would make the biggest difference, would have the biggest impact? And then you're going to select the 1 or 2 or 3, but like keep it constrained down. Select the priority that you're actually going to commit to following through on. That clarity is the foundation of momentum, and without it, you will never build real momentum. You'll only have spurts of effort that fizzle out.

Once you've chosen your priorities, the next mistake I see is expecting yourself to get them done somehow without ever deciding when or how. It's this vague mindset of, I don't really know when we're going to do it, but we're going to do it. And that is not planning. That's wishful thinking, and it kills momentum. Momentum requires intentional space. If you don't proactively carve out time on your calendar for these priorities, they will not happen.

This is where so many law firm owners lose momentum. They have clarity about what matters, but they never protect time to work on it. And then they blame themselves for lacking follow-through when really, they never created the conditions for follow-through in the first place. So block time on your calendar now. Treat it like a client appointment. It's non-negotiable. Momentum isn't about doing more, it's about giving focused attention to what matters the most.

Okay. Now, you've constrained down to what matters the most. You have blocked time to actually focus on those things. Now, even when you block time, life will try to pull your attention away from what matters. And if you aren't regularly reconnecting to your goals, it's way too easy to drift right back in the day-to-day swirl. And this is where people quietly lose their momentum. It's almost sneaky. And it's not because they aren't capable, but because they lose sight of the thing that they were trying to build, the reason that they're trying to get these things done.

So build in a rhythm to reconnect with your priorities. Look at your goals every single day and make it easy on yourself to do so. Remind yourself, what am I working towards here? Why does this matter? What difference will it make if I see this through? You can do this in whatever way you see fit. You could post your quarterly priorities on the wall in front of you. You can put them in your planner. You can create a digital dashboard and put them there. You can review them when you do Monday Map, Friday Wrap. You could talk through them in your team's weekly meeting. You have to stay connected to these things because the busyness will take over otherwise.

This is about anchoring your brain so you don't lose the thread. When your goals stay visible and present, your behavior naturally starts to align with them.

Okay, so now let's back it up. We have constraint. You're going to constrain down to just a priority or a couple. Then you're going to block time to actually work on those. You're planning when you're going to work on them. Then you're going to stay connected to the goals, review your goals every single day, keep your priorities on the wall, whatever you need to do there to stay connected so you don't get pulled off your path. Now, it comes to execution.

And this is the part where many people stumble, where they don't actually use the protected time that they carved out. Because here's the thing, when it's time to sit down and actually do the work, you won't feel like it. There's a very, very good chance you won't feel like doing it. That's normal. There's always friction right before you start, and if you're not ready for it, the friction will win. Protecting your momentum here means knowing how to get yourself moving anyway.

And there's 3 reasons why people stall when it's time to actually execute. The first, you don't know where to start. Okay, this is a sign that you haven't broken down the thing you want to accomplish into small enough steps. Break them down into small, concrete tasks, and this will give your brain a clear starting point so that it has a path to begin.

Second, it's really hard work for your brain. Strategic, deep work is heavy lifting, and your brain will resist dropping into that. Make your environment supportive. Silence notifications, close your email, clean off your desk, light a candle, put on music so you can focus, set a timer. And something else that I like to do, I know other people do it, say your intention out loud before you begin.

Consider the time that it's going to take you to get set up, and you want to schedule for this piece specifically. So one of my favorite tricks is scheduling 15 minutes before your deep work block just to get set up. That way, by the time your actual work block starts, you're ready to dive in instead of still trying to get your head in the game. These rituals, whatever you choose, signal to your brain, this matters. We are doing this.

The third thing is that external distractions may pull you away. So before you start, communicate to others that you are going to be unavailable. Shut down email and messaging tools, we talked about that, completely during your work block. And this is something you can do ahead of time that can really help. Define what counts as a real emergency so that people know not to interrupt you unless it is a true emergency. There's not actually that many things that count as a true emergency, but in the moment, without definitions, people perceive things as urgent, and they'll interrupt you when it really could have waited until you were done.

Here's the truth about momentum. Momentum doesn't run on adrenaline. It's not fueled by that emotional high you feel when you've just left a retreat or you've heard an inspiring talk. That spark is just potential. Momentum is what you build when you decide what matters most. You protect time for it. You reconnect to your goals every day. And you show up and execute even when you don't feel like it. That's what turns ideas into results.

So if you're feeling energized about your future right now, if you've had that spark, make sure you're setting yourself up to win. Do these things, and that spark will become real momentum.

Skip these things, and the spark's going to fade. Protect your momentum. It is the bridge between your vision and the results you create.

Hey, you may not know this, but there's a free guide for a process I teach called Monday Map Friday Wrap. If you go to velocitywork.com, it's all yours. It's about how to plan your time and honor your plans so that week over week, more work that moves the needle is getting done in less time. Go to velocitywork.com to get your free copy.

Thank you for listening to The Law Firm Owner Podcast. If you're ready to get clearer on your vision, data, and mindset, then head over to VelocityWork.com where you can plug in to quarterly Strategic Planning, with accountability and coaching in between. This is the work that creates Velocity.