Momentum Cliff · also called stopping at the session finish line
why is it so hard to start again once I completely stop
A momentum cliff is the moment you hit the end of the work session you had planned and stop completely, instead of pushing a few more minutes while you are still warm. The cost is not the minutes saved by stopping — it is the far larger cost of tomorrow’s restart, which always costs more than the extension would have.
Ten more minutes today costs you ten minutes. The same ten minutes tomorrow costs you the whole restart.
What to do about it
When you hit today’s stopping point and the work is still going fine, add ten more minutes before you let yourself close it out.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
Quit Is Verb$6.99
Momentum Math$6.99
The Daily Restart$6.99
Refuse The Quit$6.99
Smaller Line Story$6.99
Quit Is Optional$6.99
Smaller Line Setback$6.99
Stack Decades Hard$6.99Part of the Unstoppable series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- why is it so hard to start again once I completely stop
- I always quit right at a natural breaking point and regret it later
- restarting tomorrow is harder than just finishing a little more today
- I stop the second the timer goes off even when I am on a roll
- why does my momentum disappear the second I take a break
- I never push past the point where the session was supposed to end
- stopping cold in the middle of a project makes tomorrow so much harder
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.