I used to laugh at the concept of morning routines. Like, actually laugh out loud when people talked about their 5am meditation-journaling-cold-shower rituals. My routine involved hitting snooze four times and grabbing coffee on the way to wherever I was already late to.
Then last year happened. You know how sometimes life just… collapses? Everything fell apart simultaneously – work projects, relationships, even my apartment (literal ceiling leak). And in that mess, I realized something: my random, reactive approach to each day wasn’t working.
That’s when I started paying attention to momentum. Not the inspirational quote version, but the physics version – an object in motion stays in motion. The people who seemed to make consistent progress weren’t necessarily smarter or more talented. They had figured out how to build momentum through specific daily habits.
The Physics of Personal Success
Let’s get something straight – momentum isn’t motivation. Motivation comes and goes like a flaky friend. One day it’s all “let’s change the world!” and the next it’s ghosting you completely.
Momentum works differently. In physics, momentum equals mass times velocity. In our lives, it’s the combination of our actions (mass) and consistency (velocity). Small actions repeated consistently create a force that becomes increasingly difficult to stop.
The mistake most of us make is waiting for perfect circumstances or a surge of motivation before taking action. But that approach is backwards. Action creates momentum, which then fuels more action.
Remember Newton’s First Law? An object at rest stays at rest. That’s why starting is the hardest part of any journey. But once you’re moving, physics is literally on your side.
Your Brain Is Lazy (In The Best Possible Way)
I mean this with love – your brain is constantly looking for shortcuts. It’s not personal; it’s evolutionary.
Your brain consumes about 20% of your energy while representing only 2% of your body weight. It’s an energy hog. To compensate, it’s programmed to conserve energy whenever possible by creating habits and routines.
This is actually fantastic news for us! Once we establish a habit, our brain starts running it on autopilot, requiring much less conscious effort and willpower. That’s why the first week of a new habit feels like pushing a boulder uphill, but by week four, you’re doing it without thinking.
To build momentum through habits, we need to work with this natural brain tendency, not against it. The goal isn’t to force ourselves to do hard things forever; it’s to make important actions automatic.
So how do we do this? By creating what we call “momentum triggers” – small, consistent actions that signal to your brain that it’s time to enter a specific mode or mindset.
Tiny Habits = Massive Momentum
When Sharon first started meditation, she tried sitting for 30 minutes every morning. It lasted exactly two days. Then she tried a different approach – just one minute of meditation. Just one.
Guess what happened? Some days it stayed at one minute. But many days, once she started, she naturally continued for 5, 10, or even 15 minutes. Starting was the obstacle, not the meditation itself.
This is how you build momentum – by making habits so small they’re impossible to refuse.
Stanford researcher BJ Fogg calls these “tiny habits” – behaviors that:
1. Take less than 30 seconds 2. Require little to no physical effort 3. Don’t need much thinking 4. Don’t need to be scheduled
Think about flossing just one tooth. Doing just one pushup. Writing just one sentence. They’re so ridiculously easy that your brain can’t come up with a good excuse to avoid them.
The power isn’t in the action itself – it’s in establishing the pattern. Once you’ve started, continuing becomes much easier. This is how you begin to build momentum in any area of your life.
The 5-Minute Rule (When You Really Don’t Wanna)
Some days even tiny habits feel impossible. We all have those moments when manifestation principles feel like fantasy, when the law of attraction seems like wishful thinking, and when the couch has an almost magnetic pull.
For these moments, we use the 5-minute rule.
It works like this: commit to just 5 minutes of the activity. That’s it. Want to write but feeling blocked? Just 5 minutes. Need to exercise but can’t face a full workout? Just 5 minutes. Dreading that project? 5 minutes.
Two things typically happen:
1. You actually do the thing for just 5 minutes, which is better than nothing and keeps your momentum going 2. More commonly, once you start, you find yourself continuing well beyond 5 minutes
This works because beginning is almost always the hardest part. The resistance we feel is usually to starting, not to the activity itself. By committing to just 5 minutes, you sidestep that initial resistance.
I’ve used this to build momentum with writing, meditation, exercise, learning Spanish, and even cleaning my disaster of a home office. The key is honoring the 5-minute limit if you want to stop. This isn’t a trick – it’s permission to start small.
Stack Your Way to Success (No Willpower Required)
Okay so how do we make these tiny habits stick? By attaching them to things we already do automatically.
Habit stacking (sometimes called habit chaining) is when you link a new habit to an existing one. The formula is simple: “After I [current habit], I will [new habit].”
For example: – After I brush my teeth, I will do one pushup – After I pour my morning coffee, I will write three things I’m grateful for – After I sit down at my desk, I will set a specific intention for the day – After I get in bed, I will visualize my biggest goal for 30 seconds
The existing habit becomes the trigger for the new one. You’re essentially using the momentum of an established routine to build momentum for a new one.
This works because you’re not relying on motivation or remembering. The existing habit serves as your cue, making the new behavior much more likely to stick.
The key is to be extremely specific about both the trigger and the new action. “After I turn off my morning alarm” is better than “In the morning.” “I will do exactly five deep breaths” is better than “I will breathe mindfully.”
By building these habit chains, you create a daily flow that generates continuous momentum with minimal conscious effort.
What About When Life Breaks Your Momentum?
Let’s be real – life happens. You get sick. Your kid needs you at 5am. Work explodes. Your ceiling literally caves in (still not over that one).
When momentum breaks, most people make the same mistake: they try to jump back in at full force. This almost always fails.
Instead, return to the tiny version of your habit. If you were running 30 minutes daily and missed a week, don’t try to run 30 minutes your first day back. Do 5 minutes. If you were meditating for 20 minutes, go back to 2 minutes.
Remember, we’re working with physics here. It takes more energy to get an object moving from a standstill than to keep it moving. Be patient with the restart process.
The goal isn’t perfection – it’s persistence. Momentum isn’t built in straight lines; it’s built through consistent returns to the path after inevitable detours.
Your Turn: Momentum Mapping
Here’s what made the difference for me: I stopped treating daily habits as separate tasks and started seeing them as a momentum map – each small action creating energy for the next.
Try this today:
1. Choose ONE area where you want to build momentum (not five – just one) 2. Identify the tiniest possible action you could take daily in this area 3. Connect it to something you already do without thinking 4. Do it for three days straight – no exceptions, no extensions 5. After three days, evaluate how it feels and adjust if needed
The magic of momentum isn’t in grand gestures or perfect plans. It’s in those small, consistent actions that compound over time.
When you understand how to build momentum through tiny habits, you unlock a different way of achieving your goals – one that works with your natural tendencies rather than fighting against them.
Sometimes I still hit snooze. But now I also have a chain of small habits that keep me moving forward regardless of motivation. And on those days when everything flows? The momentum becomes unstoppable.