Mark: You know that old saying, 'What got you here won't get you there'? It turns out the real problem is that we're terrified to let go of what got us here. That's the invisible cage keeping us stuck. Michelle: Oh, I feel that. It’s like we build this beautiful, comfortable prison out of our own past successes. We’re the warden and the prisoner at the same time, and we’ve lost the key. Mark: Exactly. And that very idea is the heart of Get Momentum: How to Start When You're Stuck by Jason and Jodi Womack. Michelle: And what's fascinating about them is they're a husband-and-wife team who met in college and built their entire coaching philosophy together, blending psychology and real-world business experience. It’s not just theory for them; it’s born from decades of working with people who are professionally thriving but personally stalled. Mark: Precisely. They’ve seen this pattern over and over. And they open the book with a perfect, almost cinematic example of this paralysis in action. It’s a story about a guy named Stephen.

Michelle: Okay, lay it on me. Who is Stephen? Mark: Stephen is the picture of success. He’s a senior manager at a big advisory firm in New York City. The book paints this picture of him on the 37th floor, with a view, a fancy Hermès tie, family photos perfectly arranged on his desk. He’s about to be offered a massive promotion. We’re talking a new role managing a huge team, frequent travel to London, and a 15% compensation bump. Michelle: Hold on. A guy with a corner office, a fancy tie, about to get a 15% raise... and he's our poster child for being 'stuck'? To a lot of people, that sounds like the goal, not the problem. Mark: That’s the brilliant, counter-intuitive point of the whole book! Externally, he's winning. But internally, he's a wreck. He’s so stressed he’s just been diagnosed with hypertension. His wife is worried sick about the hours he’s putting in. His kids are nearing college age, and this promotion means he’ll see them even less. He’s stuck between the life he’s built and the life he actually wants to live. Michelle: Wow. So the 'stuck' feeling isn't about a lack of options, but an abundance of the wrong options. Mark: You've nailed it. The pivotal moment comes when he’s in a session with his executive coach, who happens to be Jason, one of the authors. Jason listens to all this and then asks him a devastatingly simple question: "Does this new role align with what you want to be known for?" Michelle: Oof. I can feel the silence in the room from here. Mark: The book says there was a long, heavy silence. And Stephen finally admits he has no idea if he even wants the job. He’s just been climbing the ladder he was told to climb. That’s the core of being stuck: a deep misalignment between your actions and your purpose. Michelle: It reminds me of that quote from leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith that the authors include. He calls it the 'Success Delusion.' Mark: Yes! Can you break that down? It’s such a powerful concept. Michelle: The way I understood it, the Success Delusion is the belief that the exact same behaviors that led to your past success will guarantee your future success. It’s the trap of thinking, "This worked before, so it must work again," even when your life, your goals, or the world around you has completely changed. Mark: It’s the corporate version of a band that had a huge hit in the 90s and is still trying to write the same power ballad in 2024. The formula is right, but the context is all wrong. The book gives another quick but powerful example with a guy named Jerry. Michelle: What was his story? Mark: Jerry was a tech leader who moved his family across the country for a new job. His old strategy for getting ahead was just to work longer hours. So in this new, more demanding role, he starts going into the office every Saturday. He gets a bigger bonus, but he’s miserable. He barely sees his new baby, and he feels more stuck than ever. His old success formula—more hours—is now the very thing destroying his quality of life. Michelle: That is so relatable. It’s the default for so many of us. Feeling overwhelmed? Just add more brute force. More coffee, less sleep, more hours. Mark: And the authors connect this to something even deeper, something with much higher stakes. They bring up the work of Bronnie Ware, the palliative care nurse who wrote "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying." Michelle: I’ve heard of this. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. Mark: It is. And the number one regret, more than anything else, was: "I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." Michelle: And that’s Stephen on the 37th floor. That’s Jerry working on a Saturday. They’re living the life that’s expected of a successful manager or a dedicated employee, but they’re sacrificing the life that’s true to themselves. The regret is building in real-time. Mark: Exactly. Being stuck is the quiet accumulation of future regret. It’s the slow drift away from your authentic self, often masked by the noise of external achievement.

Michelle: Okay, so they've diagnosed the disease of 'stuck' perfectly. It's this gap between our successful persona and our authentic self. But what's the cure? It can't just be 'quit your job and follow your passion,' right? That feels terrifying and completely impractical for most people. Mark: You’re right, and that’s why the book is so useful. It doesn’t prescribe a dramatic, life-altering explosion. It prescribes a process for building a momentum engine. And that engine runs on two types of fuel. The first is Motivation. Michelle: When I hear 'motivation,' I think of rah-rah speeches and inspirational posters. I’m guessing that’s not what they mean. Mark: Not at all. For the Womacks, motivation isn't about getting hyped up. It's about getting anchored. It goes right back to that question the coach asked Stephen: "What do you want to be known for?" True motivation is connecting your daily actions to your desired legacy. It's about having a purpose so clear that it acts as a filter for all your decisions. Michelle: I like that. It’s not a fleeting feeling; it’s a permanent compass. It helps you decide what to say 'yes' to, but more importantly, what to say 'no' to. Mark: Precisely. But a compass is useless if the terrain is too terrifying to cross. You can know your destination, but if there’s a giant, impassable mountain range in front of you, you’re still stuck. That’s where the second fuel for the engine comes in: Milestones. Michelle: Breaking it down into smaller steps. That’s a classic productivity tip. What makes their take on it different? Mark: It’s the power of the analogy they use. They tell this fantastic story about a trip they took to Alaska. A client loaned them a truck to drive from Anchorage to Homer, which is a long, beautiful, but potentially treacherous drive. Michelle: I’m picturing vast, empty roads and maybe a moose or two. Mark: Think bigger. Think grizzly bear zones, quicksand on the beaches, and avalanche danger areas. They were driving into the unknown. But their client gave them a book, a local guide called 'The Milepost.' Michelle: What was in it? Mark: It was a mile-by-mile breakdown of the entire highway. Jodi would read it aloud while Jason drove. "Okay, in two miles, there’s a blind curve known for rockslides. At mile 78, there’s a great lookout point. At mile 92, be aware, that’s a high-density bear area." The book didn’t remove the dangers, but it made the journey completely manageable. It turned an overwhelming, 220-mile monster into a series of small, predictable, one-mile segments. Michelle: Wow, that’s a brilliant metaphor. So the 'Motivation' is your destination—Homer, Alaska. But the 'Milestones' are the mile-by-mile instructions in the guidebook that keep you from driving off a cliff or into quicksand. You need both. Mark: You absolutely need both. Without the destination, the mile markers are meaningless. Without the mile markers, the destination feels impossible. This is how you get momentum. You don't focus on the entire 220-mile journey. You just focus on getting to the next milepost. And then the next one. Each small win builds the confidence and energy to tackle the next. Michelle: Okay, the Alaska analogy is great, but how does someone stuck on, say, starting a business, actually create their own 'Milepost' book? Mark: They offer a very practical framework for this, like the 90/90 Rule. The idea is to spend 90 minutes, once a month, planning for something that's 90 days away. It forces you to stop firefighting in the present and start building the infrastructure for your future. Michelle: So instead of just worrying about "launching my business," which is huge and scary, you'd use that 90 minutes to define a 90-day milestone. Maybe it's "Finalize my business name and register the LLC." Mark: Exactly. And then your 30-day milestone might be "Brainstorm 50 potential names." And your milestone for this week is "Spend 30 minutes researching how to register an LLC in my state." You’re creating your own 'Milepost' guide. You’re making the future predictable and actionable, not overwhelming. Michelle: I've heard some readers find the advice in the book a bit repetitive or even promotional of their coaching programs. Does the core idea of this Motivation-Milestone engine hold up despite that? Mark: I think it absolutely does. While the style might not be for everyone, the central psychological insight is solid. The feeling of being overwhelmed is the primary killer of momentum. The combination of a deeply personal 'why' with a granular, non-threatening 'how' is a potent antidote to that paralysis. It’s the core of what makes good coaching effective, and they’ve distilled it into a process anyone can try.

Michelle: It’s interesting. When we feel stuck, we often think we need a giant, heroic leap. A sudden burst of inspiration or a complete life overhaul. But what this book is really saying is that we need to do two things that feel much smaller and quieter. Mark: Go on, what are they? Michelle: First, we need to look inward and ask a quiet, honest question about our legacy. Not for anyone else, but for ourselves. And second, we need to look outward and break the terrifying journey into tiny, visible, almost boringly small steps. Mark: That’s a perfect synthesis. It’s not about a revolution; it’s about an evolution. And that's why the book, despite any mixed reviews about its style, has such a lasting impact in coaching circles. It reframes 'stuck' not as a personal failing, but as a navigation problem. You're not a bad driver; you just lost your map and forgot your destination. The book gives you a way to create both. Michelle: It takes the shame out of it. You’re not broken; you’re just off-course. And all you need is a compass and a single mile marker to aim for. Mark: And that’s a profoundly empowering shift. It moves you from a state of passive despair to active creation. You stop waiting for momentum to happen to you and start building it, one small, intentional step at a time. Michelle: It makes me think about all the "stuck" projects in my own life. The half-read books, the unfinished ideas. The problem isn't the project; it's that I'm staring at the whole 220-mile drive to Homer instead of just looking for the next milepost. Mark: So for everyone listening, maybe the question isn't 'what's your next big move?' but rather, 'what's the very first milepost you can plant, today, for a journey that truly matters to you?' Michelle: I love that. And we'd genuinely love to hear your answers. Find us on our socials and tell us one small milestone you're setting for yourself after hearing this. It’s amazing how saying it out loud can be the first step. It makes it real. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.