A business founder experiences a vague, powerful heaviness that drains energy and confidence, leading to stagnation. She questions her abilities and concludes her efforts will never work. Stagnation makes change feel impossible rather than merely difficult. The concept of momentum is borrowed from physics, where momentum depends on mass and velocity and determines how hard it is to stop an object. Psychological momentum applies the metaphor to human performance, focusing on movement and the direction of that movement. Psychological momentum is defined in multiple ways, including added psychological power, motivational force, performance effects, and self-reinforcing expectancy.
"Momentum is a concept psychologists borrowed from physics. In physics, momentum is a property of a moving object defined by its mass and velocity-how heavy it is and how fast it is moving. Another way to think about it is that momentum refers to how difficult it is to stop a moving object. For example, if thrown at the same speed, a tennis ball is much harder to stop than a Nerf ball, because while they look the same size, the tennis ball has more mass, and therefore more momentum. More momentum makes you more unstoppable. Less momentum makes it easier to come to a standstill."
"You could say that Ariella lost her motivation. But this isn't the case. What Ariella lost is momentum. What Is Psychological Momentum? Momentum is a concept psychologists borrowed from physics. In physics, momentum is a property of a moving object defined by its mass and velocity-how heavy it is and how fast it is moving. Another way to think about it is that momentum refers to how difficult it is to stop a moving object."
"Seeing no change in the trajectory of her business, Ariella entered a state of stagnation. Her energy depleted, her confidence eroded, and her sense of hope vanished. When in stagnation, change doesn't feel difficult; it feels impossible. You could say that Ariella lost her motivation. But this isn't the case. What Ariella lost is momentum."
"Psychological momentum is about movement, but toward what? Let's see how it's been applied to human performance. Different definitions of psychological momentum exist in the literature, with researchers approaching it from various angles: a perception, a motivational force, a performance effect, or a self-reinforcing expectancy. For example, Iso-Ahola and Dotson (2014) define it as "an added or gained psychological power that changes a "
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