What Does “Momentum” Mean in Sports and Life?

As we approach the fall sports season I have already heard, during a preseason game, a sportscaster proclaim that “the momentum in this game has shifted.”

My degree was in physics, so I’m very familiar with the physical property of momentum: the momentum of an object is its mass times its velocity (P = Mv).  One of the fundamental laws of physics is “Conservation of Momentum.”  (I will leave it to another time to discuss this topic; trust me that a momentum shift is possible for physical objects so long as the total momentum of the system is conserved.)

What about in sports, or in our lives?  What is it that causes the tide to turn in a sporting event or a business venture or some other human interaction?  Are there physical properties that change values, like velocity or mass?

The answer, of course, is no.  No physical properties change their values.  When the tide turns in a game, or battle, or other human endeavor, the thing that changes is the beliefs of the people involved.  Think “The Little Engine That Could,” positive affirmations,  and “self-fulfilling prophecies.” Our conscious and, more importantly, our subconscious beliefs influence our success more than almost any other aspect of our being.

Napolean Hill (Think and Grow Rich) noted that “Anything that can be reasonably believed can be achieved.”  In his article “The Strangest Secret,” Earl Nightingale stated “We become what we think about.”  These two authors, and hundreds of other philosophers and psychologists, tell us the same thing: our beliefs determine our destiny.  So when our beliefs change, our destiny changes.

It is absolutely true that we don’t always achieve what we reasonably believe, but as Damon Runyon would have said, that’s the way to bet.  When two teams or individuals are evenly matched, the one with the stronger belief almost always prevails, and when the “underdog” believes and is more committed to that belief than the superior team or individual, the underdog prevails.

What do you believe?  How is that showing up in your life?  What could you reasonably believe and commit to that could shift the momentum in your life for the better?  When are you going to start believing in that success?