Momentum and Massive Action by Klemmer

Leaders create the kind of action that leads to building lasting momentum

Have you ever watched a satellite launch? Do you know that sometimes even when the satellite is perfectly on target they will blow it up?

Imagine that! A perfectly good (and incredibly expensive) satellite and it's precisely on course and they blow it up? Why?

The reason is that there is a certain speed it takes to break out of the earth's orbit. That's called "escape velocity." I believe it is in the neighborhood of 25,000 miles per hour. If the satellite has not reached that critical speed, then even though it's on course it won't break out of the earth's orbit. The scientists blow it up so it won't fall back to earth, hurt people, and do damage.

I believe our business and personal life is much the same. People need to create a critical speed so they can break through to the next level. One way to do that is MASSIVE action.

You identify a period of time like a month or six months. You commit to have an extra-ordinary amount of action. It is not a pace you can keep up forever. Its purpose is to create breakthrough momentum.

Did you know a train that is stopped can have a small six-inch block of steel on the track and that alone can prevent it from moving, though the locomotive weighs 40 tons or more! Yet, that same train moving with a momentum of 50 miles per hour will run right through a tractor-trailer like it was paper.

Momentum can overcome many problems that would otherwise keep you stuck. It is more effective to focus on building momentum and letting momentum overcome the obstacle you face, rather than focusing directly on the obstacle.

What area of your life are you willing to create momentum in? What period of time are you willing to commit to massive action? Make a list of the actions you will take, and start today.

TAKEAWAY! Focus on building momentum instead of directly over coming an obstacle. MASSIVE action is one powerful way to create momentum.

Action Step #1

Think of an ordinary problem you have. List 10 things you can do in other areas of your life to build momentum to overcome that problem that have nothing to do with the problem itself.

An Example

Let's say your problem is work related. What momentum could you gain by making time to do some physical exercise? How about putting in some needed relaxation? Or study? Every success in one part of your life will add momentum to other areas even when they do not seem related at all.

Action Step #2

Now, think of your biggest problem. What momentum can you focus on building through massive action to overcome that obstacle? Write down five things that will create that momentum.

If you get stuck thinking of five items, you can form accountability partnerships or a mastermind group and brainstorm with them until you not only have five things, but you make an agreement with your partners as to what specific actions you will do this week to build momentum.

An Example

Young Glenn Cunningham used to run to the little country schoolhouse every morning and start the wood stove. He loved to run more than any thing and the money he earned helped his family.

One day the teacher and some students arrived to see the schoolhouse engulfed in flames. The fuel oil used to start the fire had ignited the entire building. They pulled Glenn out of the inferno and rushed him to the hospital. He was so badly burned the doctors expected him to die within hours.

To the amazement of everyone, Glenn survived. But it was clear he would never walk, much less run, again. He had no motor ability in his legs and they were severely burned, damaged beyond repair.

Everyday his mother would massage his shriveled legs with oil, to ease the pain and try to bring some life back into them. But there was no feeling, no movement, nothing.

In time, through his mother's unceasing care, Glen developed enough strength to go outside in a wheel chair. One day, he threw himself from the chair and dragged his body across the yard, pulling himself up on the white picket fence. Hand over hand, picket by picket, he dragged himself along the fence. He was determined he would walk again. Every day, day after day, Glen would drag himself all around the fence. He wore a path in the grass in the yard inside the fence.

Through his mother's massages and truly super-human effort and iron will, Glen began to stand, then walk and finally to run. And not just to run, but to run faster than any human being had before.

For three years, from 1932 to 1934, he won the Big Six indoor track titles and was again at the Olympics in 1936 (he'd also competed in 1932). In 1938, Glen Cunningham became the world's fastest miler as he set a new record at Dartmouth College. That same year he also received a doctorate degree from New York University.

By simply going outside, each day, every day in a wheel chair–nothing spectacular, but it got the momentum going–Glen Cunningham was finally able to cast aside his circumstances and achieve greatness.

"It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past."–Karl Von Clausewitz