As we move into this final stretch of this year,
Director, ask yourself, are you coasting
or are you building? 2026
isn't waiting for you to feel ready.
It's waiting for you to show up with
momentum.
If you want to lock in those high performer habits,
routines, mindset shifts that.
Will carry you forward.
Director, I got you.
Join me for my new live
masterclass, High Performer Strategies. How to
level up before 2026. It's free,
it's live, and it's where you'll learn how to create
that unstoppable rhythm that keeps
you focused and energized and excited for
what's next. Let's make this your red
marker moment. Join me, enroll
today for an upcoming masterclass.
Welcome to the Pivot with Passion podcast. Hi, I'm
Penny Casselman. I believe everyone is deserving of a
phenomenal life. Regardless of where you came from, life is
what you make of. And when you learn to pivot with passion,
your world explodes with opportunities. Go
grab your favorite beverage, and let's shake things up as we
explore how to pivot with passion.
Hello, director.
How are you today?
What are we celebrating? Yes, there was
always something you can find to celebrate
every single day before you start
into the onslaught of tasks. So what is
that today?
Give it a thought.
If you are new around here, welcome.
I'm thrilled that you're joining me.
You might notice that I refer to you often as director,
and here is why. Every day,
every situation, you have the
opportunity to choose how you respond
and what actions you take. And just like
a director in Hollywood, you get to
make those choices. And if you have big goals,
if you have big dreams, then those
choices that you make are so
important. I trust that because
you're here, because you're listening, you are
the director of your life. You are intentional
with how you show up and what you go after and
strive for. So welcome. Let's dive in
to the topic for today, which is one of my favorites, which
is momentum. And I'm not talking
about fake momentum that you might get
from caffeine or being in the
company of people who are rah, rah, go, go.
No, I'm talking about the momentum that you
bring to the table, the momentum that comes from
within you and shows up as
bold, courageous, and consistent. Consistent
action and choices that you make every day
to propel you forward. Now, back in high school,
I was in track, and by no means was I the
fastest on the team. Truly, far
from the fastest. Even though I
ran short distances, I.
Still had to Train on longer
paths just to help with my endurance. It was
just part of, you know, the routine of being on the track
team. And I remember the one
time once did I
hit that runner's high? Now, it
did not come at the beginning of track season. In fact,
it probably came closer to the end. One day on a
long run routine, I hit the
halfway point where I normally would have come to
a slow walk. Something happened and
I kept running. I truly did not know
what happened in that moment because my
legs just kept moving, they kept carrying
me. And I thought, I am in no pain.
This feels good.
I'm going to keep going. There is no need
for me to stop. And that was the day that I
finished the entire routine without
pause. I truly don't know how I made it
through that long run and didn't stop and
wasn't in pain. Instead, everything was
flowing together. I was feeling good, I.
I was happy. And it just was.
And I remember thinking, this is what they mean by
a runner's high. And here's the truth. That
effortless moment was not in
my first day. That moment that the runner's high
showed up came after weeks of
stretching, of walking between my
sprints, my long run days. It
was after I had hit the weight room and built
strength. After those long days, I would sit
and ice my shin splints at the close
of practice.
All of those challenging moments that I faced still
counted as momentum towards
my end goal. And that flow that I experienced
that day, it came because I had earned it.
I hadn't simply stopped. Even though progress
seemed almost insignificant
in the moment, I kept pushing on, which
created momentum. And the same is
true for momentum in life. You see, you
don't find momentum. You build
momentum.
You build momentum in those slight, small,
incremental choices that you get to make.
As a director every single day.
I know.
I love the feeling of being in motion. Clear,
productive, full of purpose type of motion.
But too often, I also know that.
We can wait, hand raised over here.
We can wait until we feel motivation
to hit us before we act. And the
problem is that motivation starts.
You, but momentum is the thing
that carries you.
So do not confuse motivation with
momentum. Momentum does not come from one
single grand gesture that you do in the moment or
when you sit down once a year to map out goals.
It comes from the reps. It comes
from facing challenging times and
knowing and choosing to continually
move forward. It comes from showing up
even when you don't feel like it. From making choices
that align with your vision before
you See results. If you are new to my world,
I often talk about a red marker moment.
And that is a moment when three things align.
Belief in yourself, a readiness to take action, and
holding that vision of your future that you
know is possible and.
That you are worthy of.
It simply takes a choice and
continuous effort to generate the momentum for you
to make a phenomenal life. So when
you begin to build that rhythm, mentally,
emotionally, physically, you can find
yourself floating through the hard
parts. Just like I did when I experienced that
runner's high. Something in me just said,
keep going. You've got this.
By holding onto your red marker moment. In believing
that you have set yourself up mentally, emotionally, and physically
to take on the challenges before you, you will start to
experience your own version of that
runner's high. Another way you can view the runner's high is like
a flywheel. Those are those big, heavy wheels
that take forever and so much effort
to start their movement. At first,
every push that you do is hard.
And maybe you've seen these at a science center or
remember some examples from Little House on the
Prairie. Yes, I'm dating myself with that reference. But you see,
once you get those.
Going, they stay in motion almost
without effort.
And that's what happens when you build momentum in your life.
You've created a rhythm that now works
for you instead of against you.
And the beautiful part about that is you control
the speed, you control the push.
And it's when you hold the vision of what you're going after
in a bright light with clarity, when you focus on
it with intention, those first initial
pushes, you can find the momentum
to. To get you through to success on the other side.
It's time for a clarity cocktail.
Here's a quote that I love from Confucius, and it goes.
It does not matter how slowly you go, as
long as you do not stop. When I think about that quote and apply it
to when I had that runner's high, had I
stopped, I would have interrupted that moment
where I went from it just being a run to switching over
and experiencing that runner's high. Had I stopped,
all the momentum I had built up into that point
would have been forfeit.
And this is a perfect illustration that.
Momentum does not require
speed.
It requires persistence.
Every small action compounds every choice
to keep moving builds belief, and belief
builds energy. At the time that this episode
drops, we are in the final quarter of.
2025, and as I think about how
quickly the next three months are going to come
at me, the demands on my time, my desire
to maybe slow down in areas to speed up
connection with friends and family.
I know as a high performer that
it's okay to shift my focus as long
as I don't stop. Putting
a complete full stop on anything you are working
on will bring you right into back to that
very first action and have you start all
over again. And Director, I want you
coming out of the end of this year with excitement
for the new year. And that starts by
continually turning that flywheel,
continually choosing to run, choosing
to take action. Because we know as high
performers, it's not how slow you go,
it's that you don't stop. And Director,
here's a quick plug. Please join me,
register for one of my upcoming masterclasses.
You can go to my website, click the banner at the top of the homepage
and it will take you right to where you can register and
join me. I'm showing up live to do these.
It's almost like we'll be having a.
One on one conversation about what it
takes to set yourself up to finish this year.
Feeling empowered, feeling accomplished, and
having that.
Momentum that will kick start your 2026.
Remember, just like what Confucius shares,
it does not matter how slowly you
go, as long as you do not stop.
Director, join me for the masterclass.
Do not stop what progress and momentum
you have built thus far. Do not give
up your power of choice heading into the final
months of this year because every little action
builds momentum and keeps you moving forward.
And now back to the episode. Cheers.
Circling back to this idea of the momentum effect,
how you can create your own runner's high
in the activities that you are doing and striving to
achieve this year. So most people lose
steam, especially this time of year. It
can be far too easy to look at what's ahead
on the calendar and think, I simply don't have the capacity,
I don't have the time, I don't have the energy, I don't have the
resources to finish the year like I had
envisioned. So why try? Let me just focus on
other areas that I know are more comfortable for me,
will bring me more joy and let me
relax.
But Director, I know because you are listening to this
podcast.
You are a high achiever.
You want to see progress in your.
Life, you want to achieve more. You want to
show up as the.
Best version of yourself every single
day. So my challenge to you is show
up every day until the end of this year with
intention. Don't get pulled down by the 80%
of people around you who will give
up and lose steam before the end of the finish line.
You will hear this from people around you. I'll wait until
January. As if the flip of a calendar
is going to magically create action and
belief and vision and consistency and
bold action.
If you listened to last week's episode, you know that was my entire
topic. Do not wait Director for January
to show up Build the momentum until
January shows up so that you already
have the wind behind you carrying you forward into
a new year. Because here is the truth. If
you don't finish the year strong, you
start the next one week. You
see you are either building momentum or you're breaking it.
Mic drop on that right there and let me
tell you that again. You are either building momentum
or you're breaking it. So let's talk some strategies.
That's why you're here. That's why you showed up.
So let's talk about how to build momentum right
now, even before the new year begins.
STEP 1 Align with your vision.
Remind yourself why does it matter
what you're striving for? What is it that, when
you accomplish.
Will bring you joy?
Let me provide a few examples for Align with your vision. Too
often as I record these podcasts, my
mind defaults to all of my time in corporate
America. But truly high performers you
don't have to be in corporate America. You could be a
stay at home mom. You could be retired. You
could be someone starting a new career or just
entering the workforce. Your goals might be get a
promotion. Or your goals might be cook breakfast for
your kids three times a week before they go to school.
Maybe your goal is find time to
connect now that you're in retirement with people you may have
lost touch with when you were in the workforce.
Regardless of where you find yourself in life
right now, align with your vision and
remind yourself why it matters. Step
two Take action even
when you don't feel like it. Yes, if you think about the example
I gave of being in track, it doesn't mean that I needed to do sprints
every single day. However, I did have to
choose to keep momentum with movement.
I had to either walk, jog, stretch. I just
couldn't stop moving because in that choice
to stop, I would have brought myself back to the very
beginning and lost all the momentum that I had
created. And I would have never experienced that
runner's high. And step three Strengthen
your belief.
Remind yourself it's working. Even
though I can't see it yet because
it is working. Just like when I would sit in.
The hallway of my high school after.
Practice with bags of ice on my.
Shins because they were on fire.
After training, I knew that even though.
I was sitting with ice and in.
Some pain, I knew that all of the effort I
was making was still there. My
body simply had to catch up with the goal
that I have of continuously running and Director.
Those three steps align with your
vision, take action even when you don't feel like
it, and strengthen your belief. Those are what
Red Marker moments are made of.
Vision, action, and belief. And when those three
things align, momentum becomes
inevitable. Momentum builds without
you having to exert much effort over
time, you've done the hard part. In the beginning, you've
got the motion. And now, as it becomes
a habit, as it becomes consistent, as you
become intentional with the choices you have, that
momentum will carry you forward. As we
move into this final stretch of this year, Director,
ask yourself, are you coasting or are you
building? 2026 isn't waiting
for you to feel ready.
It's waiting for you to show up with
momentum.
If you want to lock in those high performer habits,
routines, mindset shifts that.
Will carry you forward.
Director, I got you.
Join me for my new live
masterclass, High Performer Strategies. How to
level up before 2026. It's free,
it's live, and it's where you'll learn how to create
that unstoppable rhythm that keeps
you focused, energized and excited for
what's next. Let's make this your red
Marker moment. Join me Enroll
today for an upcoming masterclass because today
is the day, Director, you decide to
build momentum and not wait for it.
Friend, thanks for listening to this episode of Pivot With
Passion. If you've been feeling stuck, exhausted or
frustrated, this is your permission slip to go grab
a red marker and claim the life you desire
and deserve. If you enjoyed this episode, share
it with a friend and then hop over to rate and review the
show on Apple Podcast. Because my goal is
to put a red marker in everyone's hand and I
need your help to spread the word and make that happen.
Until the next episode. Go grab a red marker, get
excited for your future, and make your first move to
Pivot with passion.
