Months back I read an excerpt about momentum.  The fact that I am still thinking about it, and have referenced the piece numerous times, means it is time I share the idea with you.

Many of you know - even joke - about what an avid user I am of the infamous, Planner Pad.

Seth Godin's blog post about momentum helps explain why.

CAbi Party Saturday, September 25; House of Shine meeting, September 30; Trip to Louisville, Saturday, October 2; Craft work party at my house, October 9; Friend coming to town, October 22; Annual Random Acts of Kindness Party, October 23; Fall Festival, October 30; 3-Day Walk for Cancer, November 5.  I could keep going.

Planning events and making commitments are strategies I use to keep momentum.

I don't bound out of bed every morning eager to go to work.  I don't always want to be a website owner or a blog writer.  Some days I want to curl up in a cozy chair and read back issues of O Magazine, while eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food. Scheduling momentum into my Planner Pad keeps Oprah, Ben, and Jerry distant acquaintances and not live-in roommates. 

I arrange lunch meetings, coordinate projects, agree to participate in events, establish monthly rituals such as Highlowaha, Shineworks, and the Fancy Flour Cookie Cutter Challenge to help me to get over humps (and through Dips).

Seth Godin explains that when you have appointments, commitments, and jobs you have to show up and start doing the work.  He says about dentists and lifeguards, who don't always feel like being dentists and lifeguards, "...most of the time, this jump start is sufficient to get them over the hump, and then they go back to being in the zone and doing their best work."

Commitments require action.  Action creates movement.  Movement leads to momentum.  (And, momentum is the stuff Shine is made of).

I use my Planner Pad to schedule in momentum - momentum at work, momentum for House of Shine and the Yellow Envelope Project, momentum in building a network of friends.  Momentum, momentum, momentum.

How about you?  Planner Pad or no Planner Pad, what momentum could you schedule into your upcoming days, weeks, and months?  Join us in the Community Forum labeled Today's Post and tell us. 

Shining off until tomorrow...