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Building Momentum With Small Wins

Jason Wetzler

My friend Betsy is a runner, and an impressive one at that. The distances she runs are what normal people call insane, but what runners deem "ultramarathons," aka anything over 26.2 miles. Having completed multiple 50 and 100 mile races, she has done what less than .01% of the human population will ever do. My favorite part of Betsy's story is not how far she runs, but how far she has come.


She steps on the scale and it tops out at 392 lbs. She tells us in her blog that she probably weighed more, but household scales wouldn't go any higher. She has Type 2 Diabetes and her doctors warn her that there could be drastic consequences for her life if something doesn't change. I'm driving to an event in June, listening to her tell her story on my friend Justin Sharp's podcast, and the entire time I can't help but ask, "How do you end up being 392 lbs?"


The next question that comes to my mind is a response to my first, "Yeah, but how do you then lose 200 lbs and become an ultra-runner?" Almost as if she's listening to me, Betsy answers both of my question on the podcast.


She started by walking to her mailbox to get the mail. At first, even this simple task would exhaust her. She'd make concerted efforts to avoid fast food, oftentimes locking her wallet in the trunk of her car for the drive home so she couldn't go through the drive-thru. The next morning, she walked a little past her mailbox. After a little while, she jogged to her mailbox, then past it, then further than that. Eventually she found she didn't crave fast food anymore.


It turns out, the answer to how you end up weighing 392 lbs and how you run an ultramarathon are one in the same: momentum.


You don't wake up one day weighing 392 lbs and you also won't survive a 100 mile race without putting months of work (at minimum) in before hand. Betsy's change started because she shifted the direction of the momentum in her life. The more momentum she built, the easier it became to sustain.


The secret was small wins. No one was giving her a standing ovation for walking to her mailbox to get her mail, or driving past McDonald's without stopping, but those small wins built momentum in the right direction.


Too often we focus too much on where we want to be tomorrow that we forget it will be the momentum built today that carries us there.


Becoming a morning person starts by waking up five minutes earlier than you did the day before. Managing anxiety starts by getting our heart rate back down just a little faster than we did the time prior. Losing 200 lbs starts by walking to our mailbox and deciding we'll go just a little further than we did yesterday.


Whether it's career ambitions, a weight loss goal, learning a new skill, repairing a relationship, or overcoming a mental illness, we cannot underestimate the power of momentum.


Fact

Celebrating small wins can significantly boost motivation and happiness levels, with studies indicating a potential increase of around 24% in positive feelings by recognizing small successes.


Question

Where is your current momentum in life taking you?


Action

Make a list of your small wins from the last week.


Quote

“Momentum begets momentum, and the best way to start is to start.” - Gil Penchina

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