All completed experiences create momentum. This is a great mental model to use when enduring difficult jobs, less than ideal stretches of life, annoying commitments, etc. Why? Because 1) it’s true (oh you’ll see) and 2) it helps us maintain a bigger picture perspective of life.
Anyone who has ever had a tough job, stretch of life, or has completed a commitment they hated doing will usually declare long after the experience is over: “ya know, that really helped me with X”, or “without that experience I never would have X”. There in lies the power of this perspective. Believing that all completed experiences create momentum colors a dreary situation with much needed optimism, and that optimism becomes self-fulfilling.
"Completed experiences create momentum" - Jenna Fischer
I got this specific line from Jenna Fischer’s (aka Pam from The Office) book The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide. I’m not an aspiring actor, but I read her book for another project I’m working on and found it to be chalk full of great advice on long term thinking, resilience, realistic perspectives, and the ugly truth of what it takes to chase your dreams.
Actors have brutal existences when you unpack it all. They faces mega tons of uncertainty, piles of rejection, and even when they “arrive” their momentum can be wiped away in an instant, usually due to circumstances outside their control such as "you were too tall for the co-star", "another 'name' came up", "your 'type' isn’t polling well", etc. Most other career tracks look easy by comparison.
As she shares in her book, her completed experiences were the crappy office jobs she held while trying to make it as an actor, the not so great performances and auditions she had, and the seemingly insignicant connections she made that later turned into bigger things. Those crappy office jobs? Those gave her the edge in auditioning and winning the role of Pam in The Office, which was her breakout role. So yea, I'd say that one created some momentum.
Why is this important for me? While this perspective came from an actor, anyone in life can benefit from it. Horrible jobs, bad relationships, or other rough patches are usually the most fertile soil for growth. We don’t want it to be that way, but that’s usually the truth. When you embrace this mantra that all completed experiences create momentum, you weaponize that truth for your benefit, and you become much more likely to operate from a place of optimism and strength. It could be the difference in catching your dreams rather than quiting on them.
Got get 'em, and blessings to you as always.
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