Momentum, Our Life Force

This is the Momentum podcast.

This podcast is on one of my favorite subjects. Momentum as entrepreneurial personality types, I define this as physiologically sensitive momentum based beings. That is who we are. They're highly reactive to constraint. In this episode, I want to go back to some of the earliest stuff that flowed through me, that channeled through me about the entrepreneurial personality type and why momentum is so crucially important to us, how we get it, how we keep it, and how we avoided the alternative, which is absolutely crushing for people like you and me.

I'm Alex Charfen and this is the Momentum podcast. Made for empire builders, game changers, trailblazers, shot takers, record breakers, world makers, and creators of all kinds. Those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum so we can roll over bureaucracy and make our greatest contribution. Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them around our own will. We don't accept our destiny. We define it. We don't understand defeat because you only lose if you stop and we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority, the few who are willing to hallucinate there could be a better future. And instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world, because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive human evolution. And we always will be.

So if you can hear some background noises, some birds tweeting, maybe a car driving by, it's because I'm on a walk. I wanted to get really clear on this podcast episode, and what I've found in my life is that very little can outlast a 20 minute plus walk. And what I mean by that is if I'm feeling constrained or blocked or irritated or anxious or frustrated or depressed or any of the things that come up for people like us, I throw my shoes on, go for a 25 minute walk, and 100% of the time it helps me change state. It helps me get clear, it helps me understand what I should be doing. It gives me creativity back and blocks anything that's going over and unblocked anything that's going on. And so I was going to go for a walk and come home and record this podcast, but I felt like I had it worked out enough and I'm clear enough and excited enough about it to share it with you. Right now I want to talk about momentum for me. I don't just hear that word, I don't see it when it's written. I feel it. I feel like it's a part of who I am. I feel like it's a part of the makeup of my personality. It's part of why I was put on this earth. I'm here to be in momentum. I'm here to be making things happen with the world following in my wake, you know, going out there and changing the status quo and making a massive contribution. And in order to do all those things, momentum is what drives me. Momentum is who I am. And if you feel the same way, it doesn't surprise me that you're listening to this podcast. It doesn't surprise me that you're one of my listeners and I'm so appreciative that you're here. That gives me momentum. But I think for people like us, understanding that there's other people who feel the same way is incredibly validating and grounding. And when it comes to this subject of momentum, I've really spent so much time with it and I've shared this information with thousands of people around the world, and I've been in front of so many audiences and so many one on one calls and on so many broadcasts, sharing this, so many podcasts, sharing this that I'm excited to kind of share with you the stages of momentum that I understand today. And what I feel is really important for people like you and I to understand.

The way I look at it is there's three states of momentum: (1.) being in momentum, (2.) facing resistance and then (3.) being in constraint. And I want to take you through each of those three phases, give you some insight into what each stage means and where we really need to focus as evolutionary hunters, as entrepreneurial personality types. You know, I believe the reason that momentum is so important to us is because we are programmed to be in momentum so that we keep the human tribe alive, so that we get up every day and night so that this tribe survives. It's who we are. And when I look at the stages of momentum, here's what I've come to understand. There are three states of momentum. There's three different experiences of momentum for people like us. And I just gave those three to you. I want to go into the first one being in momentum.

When I've shared this conversation or had this conversation with big groups of people, big groups of entrepreneurs, I'll simply ask, what does it feel like to be in momentum and in a normal room with normal people? That isn't even a normal statement to make. Like in momentum isn't even something that most people would understand. And they might ask you to clarify and they might say, “What do you mean by in momentum?” Well, when you ask a roomful of entrepreneurs, they just go, “Oh, it feels incredible. It feels amazing. It feels like you're, you know, it feels high, it feels ecstatic. It feels… it's better than sex”. And then sooner or later, somebody says, “It feels like I'm alive”. The average person in the world, if you say, what does it feel like to be in momentum? look at you funny. You ask entrepreneurs, and sooner or later somebody says it feels like being alive. And I fully believe that for people like you and I, being in momentum is when we are engaged, when we are alive, when we are doing what we should be doing in the world, that is the feeling we have and that's a feeling we can maintain. That's a feeling we can have all the time, you know, to be in momentum. I just want to give you some insights into what this means. It doesn't just feel great, but it's also part of who we are. It's the meaning of life for people like you and I. And in my experience, there are always three things necessary for momentum. The first one is a clear outcome. The second one is some type of measurement to give you perspective as to whether you're actually making progress or not. And the third one is a clear understanding of what you're doing and what the people around you are doing. We have initials for this and in our coaching programs. It's outcome, where are we going? Transparency, what are we measuring and; accountability, who's doing what? If you think through any period of momentum in your life, you know that those three things were present. You know, people tell me all different types of things are periods of momentum. When they started a business, when they went to law school, when they got a divorce, when they had a baby. Like all of those things have three things in common: clear outcomes, clear perspective as to whether you're moving forward or not and a clear understanding of what your responsibilities are. You know, this actually comes from this understanding of these three things and how they create momentum. Actually started for me by working with some of the most successful, incredible, amazing entrepreneurs on the planet. I've been in meetings and been able to work up close and personal with people who have created $100 million and billion dollar businesses. People who have billions of dollars in net worth. People who move the world around like puzzle pieces and do extraordinary things. And one of the commonalities that I saw with them is that when they walked into a room and something was going wrong or something had gone wrong, they asked them simple questions. Where were we going? What were we measuring? And who was responsible for what? And I also noticed we walked into a room and something was trying to be accomplished. Maybe there wasn't a problem, but there was a destination everybody wanted to reach. They would simply ask, what is the clear destination? What are we going to measure to see if we're getting there? And who's responsible for what? And I started to see this commonality, this pattern, this repeating pattern of outcome, transparency and accountability. And if you and I want to stay in momentum, we need to have a clear outcome, clear measurement, and we need to understand what we're doing, what we're responsible for. So I'll share a personal example with you. I am in huge momentum right now when it comes to my health and physiology. I turn 51 in a year. I am at the lowest body fat percentage I've had in my adult life. I carry above average muscle mass. I'm in the top 2% of all males at 52. I'm including all the 20, 30 and 40 year olds in there. I am in the top 2% of males right now, and there's days where I test out in the top 1% on my body composition scale. Massive, incredible momentum. Here's what happened months ago. I decided I wanted to get into the best shape of my life and I wanted to get to the lowest body fat percentage and maintain my muscle. I did a ton of research and looked at how I wanted to do that, and it was actually because my wife got into a program that I noticed her counting macros and started counting my macros and getting really clear on what I was eating. So I set a clear outcome. I wanted to have body fat under 40 lbs. I weighed about 240 lbs. at the time and I think I had 56 or something like that, pounds of body fat, my body fat percentage was 20 something and I decided I wanted to get to a certain weight in body fat and that I was going to measure it through my body scale every day and that I was going to start tracking macros and get really responsible with what I ate, almost obsessively responsible, while the results are pretty crazy. This morning I'm down from 240 lbs to 207 lbs, and the 33 lbs I've lost, 30 of them are fat and I'm at the lowest body fat percentage I've had in my adult life. I was able to accomplish that because I had a clear outcome, clear measurement and clear understanding of what I was going to be doing. If you're not in momentum right now, ask yourself, do you have a clear outcome? Are you measuring where you're going and do you understand what you're doing in order to create the outcome you need? When we get these three things, we get into momentum and we stay there. Now, that's the first state of momentum that's being in momentum.

Now, the second state is really interesting. It's when we're facing resistance, it's when we see a tiny light at the end of the tunnel. We know where we want to go. But maybe the reflection from the world around us is that we don't have what it takes. Or maybe we are told we're too young, we're too old, we don't have enough money, we don't have the investment. It's not a safe thing for us to do. It's not the right thing for us to do. But we still are facing all that resistance, facing challenges, facing insecurity, facing a lack of knowing every single thing we're going to do. But we see a tiny light at the end of the tunnel, and we know the next few steps we need to take. And we continue to move towards that light and we pull it towards us and we compel ourselves towards it. And we finally step through that light. Even though the people around us were saying, “Hey, that light might be a train”, we step through the light and that is where we become who we are today. See, we’re this interesting part of the world that when we're facing resistance, we turn it into momentum, we overcome it. And we've heard this throughout history. It's where the obstacle is the way. That phrase, “the obstacle this way” comes from people like you and I facing massive resistance, knowing our next few steps, overcoming it and going on to change the world, going on to create outcomes in our lives, going on to succeed, to survive, to overcome, to make things happen. It's who we are. When we face resistance, we create massive momentum. Don't ever forget that. Because when you're in that place where it feels like the world is against you and you feel like maybe you shouldn't be doing what you're doing, but you believe in it. And there's some reflections around you of maybe you need to go back to the drawing board, you need to stop doing what you're doing. You need to go do something different or something easier. Just remember if that light at the end of the tunnel is still calling to you, if it still is compelling for you, if it's still an outcome you want. This is exactly how we create the world around us. We go towards that light and we make things happen and we become who we are. When we face resistance, we create momentum. Being in momentum is awesome. Facing resistance and overcoming it is amazing. But there is a state of momentum that people like you and I have to be fundamentally fearful of. We have to be careful. We have to understand it and stay away from it. It's what I call full constraint.

When you hear those words for constraint, don't you feel them in your body? I feel them when I share them with you for constraint. Is that place where you no longer see the light at the end of the tunnel? You don't understand the next few steps. You don't have a compelling destination, a compelling outcome. You don't really know where you're going. You know it happens. We become evolutionary hunters who aren't hunting, and man, does it create some challenges. It creates all types of issues. In fact, being in constraint when we don't know where we're going, when we're not compelled by a destination, we actually look and become disordered and sometimes disabled. This has happened to me when I'm in that place of constraint, I am reactive and triggered and frustrated and all of the things that make me talented and successful as an entrepreneur become liabilities. My ability to see the future man. I'll just spend all the time in the future and never come back to the present. When I'm in a place of full constraint, my high sensitivity and awareness, it allows me to see opportunities in the world become such high sensitivity that I'm sensitive to the world around me. I'm reactive, I snap at people, I get frustrated with where things are around me, with my kids. It's brutal. My ability to perceive any connections which lets me see opportunities and outcomes in the world becomes overwhelming. And not only can I not see unique connections, I can't see steps forward that I want to take because I become so overwhelmed. When we're in constraint. It causes all types of issues. Because here's what I know about people like you and I: When we're in momentum, we are physiologically boosted. Physically, we can do more, we have more stamina, we can get more accomplished. It's not a theory, it's not a myth. It's real. You know this. You've been there when we are in momentum. Not only are we physiologically boosted, we're psychologically boosted, cognitively. We actually have more capacity to think. We have more decision making capacity. We get more done. We can see around corners, we can see the future even brighter. We can understand what direction we should go, and we have more confidence in it. Not only are we physical boosted and cognitively boosted, we are chemically boosted. When we are in momentum, we feel the chemical high of momentum and it makes it easier for us to do everything. Now, on that same token, the opposite is true of constraint, memory and constraint. Our bodies break down, we become tired and exhausted and fatigued and feel like we can't get anything done and we actually break down. Now you stay in constraint for a little bit and you're going to feel tired and exhausted and maybe get sick. You staying constraint for too long. And we have names for these things. We call it autoimmune disease and chronic fatigue and Hashimoto's and Lyme disease and all. And insomnia and psoriasis and all types of things where our bodies attack itself. Our bodies attack ourselves because we're in this place of full constraint, because this psychological challenge of being in constraint is so massive that it actually affects us physiologically. And it's not just physiological. Same thing as being in momentum. The opposite is true when you're in constraint. Psychologically, we have some challenges. Cognitively, we have a hard time making decisions, we have a hard time seeing around corners. We have a hard time seeing the future that we want to create. We're in this place of constraint. And not only are we psychologically challenged, we actually get to a place where we feel things like brain fog. I actually think the word brain fog was created by an evolutionary hunter under constraint because we literally feel foggy. We feel like we can't make decisions. We feel like we can't see what's next. I know I've been there and it's not just physiologically and cognitively, it's chemically the same way we feel the chemical high of momentum. We feel the chemical depression, anxiety, frustration, irritation of being constrained. Man, I know that feeling. It's incredibly challenging. It's incredibly frustrating. If things aren't going in the right direction in my life, I will find a place to get momentum. It's part of the reason I'm doing what I'm doing physiologically right now to get into the best shape of my life, because I know momentum anywhere in my life gives me momentum everywhere in my life. And if I'm. Willing to set outcomes and track those outcomes with transparency and get really clear on what I'm doing and why and make sure I stick to those things. And I use discipline to get it. I get into momentum and I stay there and that's the feeling that moves the world for people like you and I. And so to summarize this concept of momentum, there's really three states we're in momentum, and that takes clear outcomes measurement. We call transparency and a clear understanding of what you're going to do. I call that accountability. The second state of momentum is when we're facing resistance. And as long as we have a compelling outcome and clear measurement and we understand what we're doing, we can overcome that resistance and get back into momentum. And then the third state is constraint. It's when we can't see that outcome, when we don't know where we're going, when we don't know our next steps. And that is the most damaging state that someone like you and I can exist in. If you want to get into and stay in momentum, you can use the concepts in this podcast or I'd love to help you personally. Beginning in November, I'm going to be working with a small group of entrepreneurs to go through our personal operating system that is created exclusively for people with the entrepreneurial personality type. If you relate to the concept of evolutionary hunter, this is a system that will help you get clear in ways that you never had before. It will help you understand where the constraint is in your life and what you need to do to move past it and get it out of your life. And it will help you understand how to get the momentum and change the world around you and make things happen. So if you feel like you've been blocked or frustrated or plateaued or not moving at the speed you want and not getting the results you want out of life, let me help you personally. You can go to Charfen.com/BlackFriday and join the waitlist. So the second we announce this promotion where, like I said, I'm going to be working with a small group of people personally, you can join and I can help you create massive momentum. If you relate to the concepts I share, then not only am I confident I can, I know I can and I'd love to help you. Charfen.com/BlackFriday. Thanks for being a podcast listener. Thanks for listening to these episodes on the entrepreneurial personality type. The Evolutionary Hunter. They're helping me get in touch with this discovery that I made all the way back in 2015. I feel like I'm reconnecting with a part of myself that I haven't really spent a lot of time with, and it has been so valuable. I appreciate you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being a podcast listener again. Go to Charfen.com/BlackFriday. I look forward to working with you personally.