Honestly, I feel like you already know where I am going with this action gets you traction, but I’m going to go ahead and share my thoughts with you, and you let me know what you think.

Clearly it takes action to get traction, both literally and figuratively. What I want you to consider is that for anything that you are trying to gain traction in, you must be willing to put in the effort or the action. If you feel like you aren’t getting any traction, it’s because you are not putting in enough action. It’s much like a small snowball heading down a hill, at first, it’s very small and doesn’t seem to be getting much traction or gaining much momentum, but if the hill is big enough and long enough, by the time the snowball reaches the bottom of the hill it can be as large as a car.

Traction and action go hand in hand you don’t need, nor do you get traction without action. Something that isn’t moving has very little need for traction because it is already stuck or still. Traction has multiple meanings depending on the context of the use, but for the purposes of this discussion traction is the ability to not only stay on track, but also to be able to gain momentum due to the actions you are taking. The main job of traction is to keep something or someone from sliding or slipping, but it is also the job of traction to propel something or someone.

If you want to gain traction in life and or in business, it takes action and the ability to endure. At first, you may not feel like you are gaining much traction or forward momentum, but if you are willing to stick to your efforts you will eventually start to gain some real traction. One way to look at is the person who is trying to lose weight or gain muscle mass, they may get started and spend a couple weeks in the gym, but when they don’t get immediate results, they start to get discouraged and then they give up before they have a chance to gain any traction.

If they had simply stuck to it and realized that their had actually been some small changes they would have reached their destination with a smile on their face. The first change was that they actually went to the gym, the second was they made it two weeks. These steps were like creating the snowball and putting it on the hill, but the fact they only lasted two weeks was like putting the snowball on a little ant hill. To really gain some traction, you have to think about your results like you would think about investments which compound over time.

Every little bit of action that you put into any endeavor is going to gain a little bit of traction and the longer you take those same actions or similar actions the more the traction builds, and it almost starts to really propel you with less effort because of the compounding effects of your previous actions. For instance, you go to the gym, it’s your first time in and you start out by just lifting the bar and you lift it 50 times. You do this the entire first week and you realize that it has become much easier and so you decide the second week you are going to add some weights to the bar and repeat the process. By the end of the month, you are starting to feel really good, and you have added some cardio to your workout regimen.

The compound effects of the actions gained momentum, and more was added because of the traction that was felt by the good effects of the actions. Admittedly it is very hard to stay on track when you aren’t see the fruits of your labor quickly, but the need and ability to stay focused and determined to see things through to fruition is when you will get to see the compounded effect of your actions. I am 42 years old now and these were hard lessons to learn in my 20’s and even 30’s, but now that I am starting to really see how these things are starting to add up it is clear to me that my past actions are finally starting to grow into something I can be proud of.

Having said all that, there is some action that is not good action and will cause you to feel like you like you are spinning your wheels and gaining no traction. If that is the case, then you simply need to take a step back and look at your actions and maybe look at your map or your gameplan, so you are clear on where you are going and what you truly want to accomplish. Without a goal or a destination your actions aren’t entirely in vain, but it’s incredibly hard to get somewhere if you don’t know where you are trying to go.

If you set an intention to gain or lose weight, it’s a loose plan and you will probably falter. Yet, if you add a little bit of specificity to your goal and decide that you want to gain or lose say 25lbs. then you have a measurable goal. Week one you might only lose a pound or two, but at that point you know you only have 23-24 to go. This little action of using some specificity to give yourself a destination is going to help you to gain the traction you need to keep going. Another thing you can do to create more momentum is to plan a reward for when you reach this goal, like buying yourself a new outfit or treating yourself to a fancy dinner or vacation to show off your new body.

The same goes for business or the endeavor to become wealthy which is a very noble venture. In business or in becoming wealthy you need to set a goal or a milestone or maybe several, so that you can start to have something to measure against. This is what is going to help you to gain the traction and keep you taking the actions necessary to achieve greatness. To start, if you are making $50,000 annually right now, then a realistic and achievable goal or milestone might be to reach $75,000 annually within the next year or so. If you are making $50,000 right now and you want to become a millionaire then this an incredibly audacious goal and it is achievable, but you are going to need a very good plan and you are going to need to set some milestones and benchmarks to measure your achievements to date.

So that should look something like this, year one I am planning to increase my yearly income by $50,000 to $100,000 annually, but I am also going to decrease my spending by say 10% and direct this money to investments. As my annual income increases instead of spending more initially, I will redirect the money I want to spend and put it into investments that have the ability to compound over time in a way that nothing else can. Warren Buffett presumably the greatest investor of all time is worth over 100 billion dollars to the effect of compounding interest.

Warren Buffett had a book written about him and in perfect fashion it is called “Snowball.” The book is an amazing look into the mind of arguably the most impactful investor in the history of humanity. One of the major points of the book is about all of the small actions that Mr. Buffett took that started gaining traction and momentum, like a small snowball rolling down a hill and by the end it is as large as a house. The thing that he stresses is that you must take action and start investing even if it is very small to start out, eventually it will start to build due to the interest that it is gaining and then every year even that interest is gaining interest. This is in a nutshell the power of compounding interest.

To some it all up, it’s always going to take action to gain traction, and every action is not good action, but at least it’s action. Focus that action on a goal or intention and that’s when the traction will start to be noticed, because you know where you are going. Lastly, set some milestones and reward yourself for hitting the milestones and maybe reward yourself a little more if you reach it quicker than you intended, but also don’t give up because you can do it, you will do it, and you are doing it!

As always thanks for stopping by, now go out there and plants some seeds because we are excited to hear some stories about how your life has improved by just planting some small seeds and then you watched as they turned into some amazing fruit.

-Founder Magbunga.com