Momentum=Mass (M) x Velocity (V)
A little while back, I was giving a sex education talk to a group of high school students in our community. During the three hours I spent there giving my lecture to three different groups of students, I heard the science teacher remind the students of a formula he had taught them, Momentum (P) = Mass (M) x Velocity (V). I immediately recognized it from my high school and college physics years. I had fun thinking about the concept again because I loved math and physics. I could easily have been a physicist if I weren’t a physician.
Momentum is a very important concept in physics. For example, force (F) is the rate at which momentum changes with respect to time. That concept alone has numerous applications in jet propulsion and many other things. If you are interested in jet propulsion, wet your tongue with this NASA page that discusses the general thrust equation. In case you are not a fan of physics, don’t worry, you’ll still get my point.
As I was driving home, it occurred to me that momentum is also very crucial in building habits and leading people and organizations to achieve their dream of moving from where they are to where they desire to be (the destination captured in their vision).
I wondered, is there a corollary in habit formation and leadership to the equation Momentum = Mass x Velocity in physics? I think there is. I’ve not seen it anywhere before, but here is what I came up with. And I think it captures the essence of momentum within individuals, teams, and the larger organization.
Because Momentum= Mass x Velocity, to gain momentum, you have to either increase the mass or the velocity or both.
From the equation, Momentum (P) = Mass (M) x Velocity (V). If you look at the mass (M) as an achievement, you can say that if your achievement is large, your momentum will be large, if it is small, your momentum will be small. If you (or your team) are lining up one victory after another, that is, the velocity or speed in the direction of victory is high for your team, your momentum will increase as well. The same is true for personal habits. Lining up big wins one after another certainly builds momentum and motivates.
When you line up massive victory after victory at a fast pace (high velocity), it builds momentum and literally raises your morale or the morale of your people. It helps you experience the joy of winning and start thinking like winners, and that increases your chances of success. If you space out your achievements so that they are few and far between, i.e., in physics terms, your velocity (speed) is low, then you don’t gain momentum as well. Your momentum will be low.
If you want to increase your momentum (or that of your team) so that it skyrockets, goes rises through the roof, or even into space (as one of NASA’s rockets), you know what you’ll need to do. Line one massive victory after another at a fast pace or speed. That’s exactly how any individual or team can build momentum, and that formula supports this logic!
Momentum = The Size of wins x Speed of winning.
Remember, just as you can build momentum by lining up massive victories at a fast pace, you can lose momentum fast if you start lining up massive losses at a fast pace or if your team doesn’t get any wins because you are waiting months or years for the big win that seems not to be coming.
Aim for Small Wins and a Higher Speed
Scoring big wins is easier to say than to do and may take too much time to accomplish that people become demotivated before they get there. That’s why when it comes to building personal habits or leading teams, the wiser approach is to gain small wins at a faster pace. With habits, you do that by finding the mere habits of the task behavior you are trying to gain. Mere habits are small, insignificant habits or behaviors that, when done consistently, produce big results that compound over time.
Instead of flossing your entire mouth, a mere habit could be to floss just one tooth per day. Instead of trying to make huge changes to lose weight, a mere habit could be learning to chew your food 30 times before you swallow.
Focusing on mere habits is key to success. I have seen this truth in myself over and over again and have seen it in others, and research bears that. In fact, that’s the gold standard advice on the topic, and there is a lot of science to back that up.