Launching a Vision, Pt. 1- Momentum

"The momentum has shifted! The momentum has shifted!" My friend Ryan may have adopted this as his favorite phrase during the little football game broadcast this past weekend (a.k.a. Superbowl 45. No, I refuse to use the Roman numerals. Deal with it.) Mostly he was doing this to taunt me and goad me, Honorary Cheesehead, into a state of panic-- especially the third period. Ultimately, the Pack did in fact Go and now the fabled Lombardi Trophy is back in Green Bay.

I could go on, but that pretty much taps my depth of football knowledge and interest. (Deal with it.)

It did get me thinking, though. Momentum is a significant factor when it comes to launching a vision, especially in the initial stages when there seem to be more hurdles in front of you than behind you or worse, you find yourself stalled and all you want to do is get the vision out of your head, off the paper and into glorious existence.

What do professional sports teams do when the momentum has shifted and they've hit a losing skid? They don't dwell on the loss. They don't rehash every move that went wrong. Instead, they look forward to the next match up. They size up their opponent. They strengthen what is already working for them and make adjustments to what isn't, and before too long guess what? The momentum shifts, and they are back in the winning column.

In my journey to launching my vision, I get pretty frustrated when my own forward progress slows and stalls out. I will be cruising along, fired up and excited about letting this passion take hold of me, totally giddy about what is taking shape, when out of nowhere things just start to sputter... then cough... then choke... and finally completely stall in the middle of the road. Kinda like the first time I tried to drive a stick shift, minus the super colorful language and angry tears. How that old VW didn't just blow up and eject me, I will never know. Eventually and with some great coaching, I did finally figure out how to master a 5-speed and a whole new world opened up for me. No more rolling backwards on a hill or freaking out every stop light. Same is true for moving my passion forward despite whatever external forces come into play; momentum, baby, momentum!