Isn't it funny how most people work their tail ends off for years only to be labeled an "overnight success"? Right now, our team is experiencing growth like never before! But this isn't how it's always been. We've paid an unbelievable price to get this momentum. We've put in the time, the money, the heartache, the sweat, and everything else we had left. And then, everything took off. But it sure didn't occur overnight.
One thing my team and I have learned over the years is that this type of unstoppable momentum doesn't just happen. Momentum has to be created. There is a process to go through before momentum can result. It takes focused intensity, over time, multiplied by God, to equal unstoppable momentum.
( Fi / T ) x G = UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM
Focus? Really? In a society where everyone "should be" on Ritalin? Focus? In a time when my teenagers can have five IM screens open while checking their e-mail, talking on the phone, keeping up with VH1, and doing the homework that gets them on the Honor Roll? We live in a world of true multi-taskers and I'm asking for focus!
But we have to learn - in our workplaces, social lives, spiritual lives, and everything in between - how to focus. Whatever you focus on will happen. If you don't focus on anything, nothing will happen. Dispersed light lights up a room. Light that's focused can cut metal.
Let's use the analogy of a football player who's raking in millions. This guy's job - his only job for all that money - is to catch the ball! And yet, here comes the ball, heading straight for the numbers on his chest, and he doesn't catch it! What happened? He lost focus. He either got greedy, taking his eye off the ball to turn and look at the goal line before accomplishing the task, or he was overcome with fear (you would be too if some guy the size of a KIA was getting ready to mow you down). Being able to catch the ball in the midst of all that chaos is what marks the great ones. Concentration and focus make for success - which is just as true for you and me as it is for football players.
The Bible says the double minded-man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). Get to one side of the road or the other. Be somebody. Focus!
And remember, momentum doesn't come easily. You have to have intensity and passion for what you're doing. Be fired up and wired up. If you don't love what you're doing, you won't be intense, so get to doing something else. You might not be able to quit and start totally fresh today, but start making plans. Start taking classes that have something to do with what you're passionate about. It's time to get with it! Get the mentality that what you're doing matters because whatever you're doing can matter. And you can do it with excellence and intensity at a level of attack that awes everyone around you.
A lot of us think we can do that, but few of us actually do. Most people are just plain lazy. If you go to work and work while you're at work, you're ahead. Most people won't even do that. Sure, maybe they'll do it for a few days, maybe even a month. Maybe somebody will make it a whole year. But how many people actually make it a decade or two with that focused intensity?
Another huge factor in reaching the goal of unstoppable momentum is time. Most of our culture isn't willing to put in the time that it takes to be a success! Sure, you'll have problems and "down days" along the way, but it takes an overall, determined willingness to get up in the morning, leave the cave, go kill something, and drag it home.
Think back to one of the foundational tales of childhood - The Tortoise and The Hare. Every time you read that book, the tortoise always wins. He always wins! The slow and steady win the race. The slow and steady - those willing to put in the time as they're intensely focused - succeed and gain momentum.
If you think you can do all this stuff by yourself, you are naive. I've been fortunate to experience success as a leader and speaker. It's what I do; it's my craft. And we have a fabulous organization. But I don't have enough juice to have created everything that's happening around here. I've done things in my own power, and I know what they look like. They look limited. But we don't have to be bound by limitations. We have access to the multiplying factor who is the ultimate deal-changer, who shifts everything over time. With God, all things are possible.
Without God in the equation, our efforts would look like a bunch of "good ideas." But God has a way of taking our ordinary attempts and ideas and desires and making them extraordinary. It's because of God that the information we market is influencing our culture on such a massive scale.
Also, without God, none of the work we do would really matter. Maybe it could still get pretty big and somewhat successful. But the power to change people's lives and see new truth, hope, and peace infiltrate their entire families would be extremely limited. God brings meaning and reason to all things, and without Him our efforts would be just a drop in the bucket. Our work would be about changing people's minds instead of their lives. I don't know about you, but I want to change some lives!
Momentum is not something that just occurs. Momentum is something that is created. Have some focus, some intensity, some patience to let things unfold over time, and to allow God to permeate, penetrate, and multiply everything you do. And if you'll stay focused and intense over time, if you'll let God do things His way, you'll experience unstoppable momentum!