Episode 733 - Short Production to Long Term Success

In this episode of Monday Morning Mojo, Phil tackles the often-overlooked challenge of sustaining momentum after the initial excitement of a new role, goal, or project fades. He draws from personal experience and years of leadership insight to he explain why so many great ideas stall in the middle and how success is really won in the follow-through. Phil shares three practical strategies to push through the grind: accountability partners, clear milestone check-ins, and short, focused production sprints. Lasting achievement comes not from an energetic beginning, but from the commitment to sustain forward progress when motivation inevitably dips.

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Transcript

 Top performers in every field surround themselves with those who inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I am Phil Buchanan, executive chairman of Cannon Financial Institute. I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push and motivational insight to live your best life. Thanks for joining.

Good morning, Cannon Nation. It is Phil here with episode 733 of Monday Morning. Mojo 2026 is off and running, and based on my notifications, emails, and texts from you, many are now in new roles and or with new companies. Additionally, many of you have written to talk about the new projects and initiatives you are undertaking for 2026.

You know, January is a season of energy and renewal. New challenges, new ventures. This is a time of excitement and passion. Yet like all honeymoon periods, the feelings and experiences while now very optimistic and visionary may or may not be sustained over the long term. The key to long-term success is not dependent simply on the start.

It is dependent on the sustainment, follow through and execution. It is in the sustainment, followed through and execution phases that thousands of great ideas and intentions flounder and ultimately may fail to be realized according to research. As the old saying goes, when the new or novelty of an adventure wears off, many will lose the focus and energy.

Necessary to succeed. I admit to you that I am not immune to this phenomenon. I first noticed this when I was in college. Now I was rarely that student that crammed for exams. I was actually fairly decent about keeping up with my studies. My challenge was around research papers and projects. Regardless of the timeframe for completing them, I noticed a pattern developing.

Now, truthfully, it was only in hindsight that I recognized the pattern, but it played out in a fairly predictable format. Number one, a strong start. It's in this phase that I would create the project outline. I would dive into the initial steps with research. I had great enthusiasm, I had great energy and all of this combined to get a lot done in a very short period of time.

However, in phase two, after this energetic start, I would usually wind up hitting a wall, whether that was mental, emotional, physical, or otherwise. The project or the paper would have inflection points, and there were different possible angles or avenues that I could take. This led to a little bit of anxiety and a bit of unsureness as to how the, the paper or the research project would go.

I found that it was never linear. And it could turn into a bit of monotony. Again, that newness would wear off, and all of a sudden the project or the paper would seem a bit boring. And who likes boring? So what winds up happening is a bit of procrastination or setting it aside until you can get your energy.

Now as I look back, my best professors would always require milestone reports. These were quick check-ins or project summaries as to the paper or the project I was working on all the time that these were occurring. I absolutely load these check-ins because it meant I had to slog my way through and produce something.

Yet in hindsight, this was a brilliant requirement as I was forced to actually keep moving forward, trying to stay on track and producing something. These check-ins actually resulted in constantly reframing my thoughts, reframing my ideas as I was progressing through now in phase three as the deadline approach for completing the project or paper.

My energy and my interest and my focus and my time commitment would heighten it was as if clarity suddenly appeared. In actuality, almost any endeavor that takes a period of time to complete is likely to follow a similar pattern for most of us. The key is to use good techniques during that intermediate phase of projects that allow us to ultimately succeed.

I have found three things in my career to be valuable in helping me to stay on track with longer term initiatives. First is accountability partners. Second is setting milestone check-ins, and third is engaging in short production sprints. Accountability partners are individuals that help mentally and emotionally keep us on track.

Now, these individuals may be on the project team with you. They could be a mentor. A senior report or simply someone that you interact with and provide an update Regardless, your accountability partner needs to be someone you respect and who has the ability. To hold you accountable. Milestones are relatively simple.

It involves breaking any long-term objective into components and establishing intermediate target dates for getting those done. But number three, the short sprints. I have found that using daily time blocks in which you put everything else aside and do nothing but work on your project for that period can be instrumental in continuing your path forward.

I keep a timer on my desk and I will set it to 5, 10, 15, or 20 minute segments and commit to doing absolutely nothing for that period of time other than the project at hand. What you say can get done in five minutes. Well, first you'll be surprised at what you could get done in five minutes, but what often occurs is that by setting a short time limit where you've got your mind hyper-focused, magic often occurs leading you to use that short period of time.

As a catalyst to keep you working on that project, perhaps beyond your time limit. Whatever you're working on this year, keep the long view. Recognize that as the old saying goes, Rome was not built in a day, and you won't be able to complete significant projects overnight, but by managing your time and yourself to keep moving forward.

It is that forward momentum that will allow you to succeed forward. Momentum I have found in one part of my world yields all kinds of benefits to other parts of my world, but that's a conversation that we'll tackle next week as you think about your long-term projects right now. Think about accountability partners.

Think about the issues involved with milestones, and try to focus on those short production sprints. They'll lead you to longer term success.

Monday Morning Mojo is a production of Cannon Financial Institute; executive producer of Monday Morning Mojo is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner. Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan reminding you to be a force for good. Have a great week and thanks for being part of the Mojo community.