Let's Think About It Podcast

Episode 77: Why Your Momentum Breaks When Motivation Fades

• Morice Mabry • Season 3 • Episode 77

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Summary

In Episode 77, Coach Mo closes out the December momentum series by breaking down grit—the most misunderstood and most critical part of the S.W.A.G. framework. This episode reframes grit away from hustle and grind and squarely into what it really is: the discipline to not quit on yourself when motivation fades, energy leaks, and the inner critic gets loud.

You’ll hear how grit sustains self-awareness, reactivates your why, and keeps aligned action alive—especially when busyness disguises burnout and productivity becomes a trap. Coach Mo also breaks down the difference between draining (catabolic) energy and fueling (anabolic) energy, and how the S.W.A.G. cycle restores momentum when you fall off track.

If you’re serious about entering 2026 with consistency, clarity, and stamina, this episode is your reset point.

Key Takeaways 

  • Grit is emotional stamina, not grinding harder
    The ability to stay in motion when excitement fades is what separates momentum from burnout.
  • Busyness is the inner critic’s favorite disguise
    Being busy feels productive—but it quietly drains energy and kills alignment.
  • When your S.W.A.G. is off, that awareness is the win
    Catching it early gives you the power to reset and re-enter the cycle.
  • You don’t quit goals—you leak energy first
    Grit protects aligned action by stabilizing your emotional state.
  • Resetting is a rep, not a weakness
    Grit is built through mental reps of stopping, reframing, and recommitting.
SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Let's Take of Munich podcast, where high achievers start performing and start transforming. I'm Coach Mo, certified core energy leadership coach, founder of the inner arena, and creator of the Swan Framework. And when I'm here, retrain your mindset, challenge your limits, and turn pressure into purpose. Subscribe now and join me on YouTube at Swann Coaching. So let's get your reps in. Welcome to another episode of the Let's Think About It podcast. I'm your host, Coach Mo. And today we're going to continue the momentum of what we started with at the beginning of the month here in December. We talked about creating momentum utilizing the swag framework. That's right. Self-awareness, why power, aligned action, and grid. If you guys don't remember, we started off focusing on self-awareness, creating just awareness around how that punk ass inner critic really gets in our way. And in order to create momentum for setting our goals in 2026, let's put some self-awareness into this. Let's create the awareness that punk ass inner critic may be showing up that will limit us for even setting goals. So we talked about that. And then we moved into the W, which is the Y power, right? Understanding your purpose and why you're even deciding to set goals. Then I even broke down how to establish your core values and gave you some phenomenal tips around how we do that. So you got to check into some previous episodes from this month, as I touched on that why power. Then last week, we transitioned into aligned actions, right? Based on our values and our purpose, it naturally will generate specific aligned actions that we can take to move forward in how we show up in achieving our goals starting in January 2026. The goal is to just be consistent. And what I'm framing this around is swag, swag, because we're in someone else's cycle anyway, right? Where we continue the same habits, but not necessarily getting the results that we desire. So the swag framework can be that cycle that propels you forward in achieving your goals. So we spent the month of December focusing on creating that momentum. And today we're going to close it out with grit. Grit isn't about working harder. Grit is really about the emotional stamina. Emotional stamina, the discipline to show up, the discipline to show up mentally when you continuously offline. Let me break that down. Emotional stamina, the discipline to show up when you need to push through. Not in the sense of grinding harder, but when I mean showing up, like we often set goals or have things, endeavors that we're trying to achieve. Sometimes it's all gravy at the beginning. And we're locked in, dependent on the person, dependent on the goal, dependent on the endeavor. It fades. It naturally fades. And we often become unconscious that this particular goal has faded. And that goes back to maybe not necessarily having a strong purpose or having the awareness that fading in those moments towards your goals or aspirations, endeavors, however you want to describe it. But grit is really about resilience. That's what it's about. And you got to have that emotional stamina, pull yourself out of the rut when you don't feel like doing something, when that excitement and that joy fades. The grit is the piece that doesn't allow you to quit on the actions that you set forth for yourself. That's what I mean by grit. Grit is about momentum. The momentum of what we've been talking about for the duration of December. That's grit. Okay. So let's just say I want to lose 15 pounds, 20 pounds, 30 pounds. It doesn't matter. Okay. This is how this kind of works, right? We're really motivated that we're going to try this exercise regiment. So I want to try this exercise regiment. Okay. Maybe it's lifting weights, working out, going on a walk, whatever the program is. Let's just say I want to go for it. I'm really excited about it. I'm excited because the potential that I'm going to lose 15, 30 pounds, whatever. Okay. So the self-awareness piece of it is the excitement behind it. I'm in I'm engaged, right? But then when that self-awareness piece starts to fade a little bit, I'm not realizing that the inner critic, that punk ass inner critic, by the way, is telling me three weeks into my goal, oh man, just take the day off. Oh, you don't need to exercise right now. It's early. We can make it up later in the afternoon. Later in the afternoon comes. Oh, you know what? I forgot we got this project that we need to work on. You know what? Let's close it out at the end of the night and we're all good. The end of the night comes, I forget. Okay. So that one day process, my self-awareness was not as strong because the why wasn't even there. My why power was why I even set the goal. So the inner critic, that prunk ass inner critic, really talked me down. And because that self-awareness kind of faded a little bit, my white power wasn't even as strong. And sometimes maybe I could have put more emphasis in remembering why exercising is really important and losing 15, 30 pounds is really important to me. And so maybe that highlighted the awareness that my inner critic is trying to talk me away from my goal. But whatever the case may be, I fell victim to the habit of not being consistent and following through on my exercise regimen. So because of that, now I'm not taking the actions because I elected to postpone it, procrastinate, whatever you want to call it, to the afternoon and then to the evening, and then the evening, not do anything. Actions was not present. So then, and that's the A, right? And then finally, the grit. The grit is the part of the equation where I have within myself to make sure I follow through on the reps, the rep of exercising, remembering to when I don't feel like doing something to propel forward, to make sure I do what I need to do. See, that's grid. And it's not, it's it has nothing to do with working harder, it has everything to do with being consistent in remembering why my goal is important to me. And see, that's what I'm trying to help you do and determine for yourself in the month of December. How do we create grit so that we can continue to back our aligned actions? That's what grit does, right? And it's the ability to remember why this is important to me and why I am not going to give up on myself, why I am not going to continue to procrastinate around things that will take me off alignment for what I'm really trying to achieve. I was having this conversation with someone yesterday. They were telling me how busy they are. They want coaching, but they're busy. And I said to them, that's just the nature of being a human being in the podcast inner critic, because that's what it does. It camouflages busyness as productivity. And you believe that you're being productive because you're busy. That just becomes part of your DNA as a high achiever. And a lot of times you do achieve what you need to achieve. Doing a lot of busy work that you think and feel is productive. But here's the problem with that your energy starts to leak. Yeah, your energy starts to leak. That's what happens because grit is about emotional stamina. And in that moment when you're busy, the punk ass inner critic is really talking you into continuing to be busy to put this mindset, this frame thought in your head to make you feel that if you slow down, you're not going to be as productive. You're going to be viewed a certain way. You're going to start being more critical and judging self in that moment. So, guess what you do? Be more busy. And part of you might even feel is I can't afford to slow down because I need XYZ. You're in the cycle of being burnt out. That's the cycle that you're in. And what I'm teaching you is to get into the swag framework cycle. When you have the emotional stamina to tell yourself that I'm not going to continue the same habits that creates burnout for me, that thought generates awareness. It does. And that awareness fuels why. Why? It does. Why is this important? The aligned action is what gives you direction. And then it you're in a cycle. And then that direction gives you the grit to keep moving forward, to stay motivated. And when you can create consciousness around this, it's a powerful thing. And here's what I mean by that. Because we all get off track. We all get off the train tracks. We do. Regardless of whatever the goal is, whatever you're trying to achieve, endeavor, it does not matter. We get off the tracks because of personal, family, whatever. Something causes us to get off the tracks. And that's we're all human beings. It's okay to be off the tracks. But the swag framework is to get you back on the tracks and stay on the tracks. You can say to yourself, damn, my swag is off right now. What does that mean, though? Self-awareness, white power, aligned action, and grit. When you say your swag is off right now, what is that pertaining to? What goal is that pertaining to? What issue is that pertaining to? What dynamic is that pertaining to? And then you can break down the framework of that self-awareness, why power aligned action and grit, in which you can lean in with any part of the acronym. In this moment, my swag is off. Let's lean in with why. What's your purpose in how come you are off alignment? How do you reframe your purpose so that you can continue to move forward? What actions come from this purpose? And then how do you stay motivated even when you don't feel like it? See, that's grit. That's what we're talking about. And so think even thinking that think about it from this viewpoint. You probably don't even feel like setting goals for 2026. That's fine. Or maybe you are a high achiever and you always hit your goals. That's brilliant. That's amazing. But see, the grit part is how do you maintain your momentum when you don't feel like moving forward in an area that you're trying to achieve some success in? How do you generate momentum? See, and that's grit. That's the piece. How do you challenge yourself to reset? Reset when you don't feel like it. How do you challenge yourself to reset when your critic, that punk ass inner critic, is telling you that you can't afford to rest right now? How do you maintain grit when that punk ass inner critic is telling you that your colleagues, your boss, whoever is going to think X, Y, and Z of you and create this critical judgment of self. How do you propel past that? That's what I want to know. See, then that's grit. And this is stuff that no one talks about. You don't learn this in a training. We carry it, we naturally carry this, and you know I'm right. You know I'm right, you know it because we're human beings, we carry judgments. It's hitting us 24-7, even when it's quiet. What are your thoughts about yourself? What thoughts go through your head about you? Okay, let's talk about that. And your punk as in a critic will probably try to talk you out of it to make you feel that everything is okay. And I'm sure things are okay, but this is about reflection, resetting, so that you have the stamina to continue to press forward in whatever area that you're trying to achieve. That's what grid is. It's a reason is at the end of swag, right? Because it keeps the momentum going in self-awareness, white power in the actions. It's so powerful. It's so powerful because we all go through these cycles where we feel we're not good enough, we're not doing enough, and we continue to beat ourselves up on that. And a lot of us drink the Kool-Aid on that, and we walk around carrying this shame, this guilt, this embarrassment, and we hide it because we can't let anyone know. And that punk ass inner is writing shotgun, validating that bullshit, validating it, and we believe it to be true because we're out of the cycle of swag. Now you're into this imposter syndrome cycle type deal where you can do no good for yourself, regardless of who validates you. That's where that prunk-ass inner critic is the loudest. So if you can get into the swag cycle and hone into what I'm like really talking about, you just naturally feel better about yourself. When you're off the cycle and you say to yourself, damn, my swag is off. Boom, you got the awareness right there to know that you're off the swag cycle. And then what do you do? You get back in. How do you get back in? Create some self-awareness or why power or an aligned action or grit. And when you think of grit, grit is the momentum. Grit is the discipline and not quitting on self, not working harder, having the emotional stamina to not quit on self. That's grit. Grit is also the reps, the mental reps that you put in and not quitting on yourself, the mental reps that you put in and resetting for yourself, the mental reps that you put in from shifting your old model to the new model. See, that's grit, baby. That's grit. The ability to reset and re-enter. That's grit. The old model might be oh, I can't stop. I gotta keep going, I gotta keep going. If I keep going, then they're gonna think XYZ. The swag model would be more so around, you know what, my swag is off. Let me reset and re-enter. Boom. And that's leaning in with grit. And you learn to do that, man. Your stress starts coming down. That catabotic energy starts to shrink, and that antibodic energy starts to increase. Anabotic energy, by the way, is fueling energy. Catabolic energy is this draining energy. When you're off of swag and you're leaking energy, catabotic energy is present. Fueling the ability to feel the burnout. That's why you're leaking energy. We always want to get that antibody, that fueling type energy. In order to get that fueling type energy, you enter the swag cycle. The swag cycle generates antibotic energy because antibotic energy. When you have self-awareness around your energy, you have the ability to shift it. Just as you feel in this draining type energy and you have self-awareness to shift it to a fueling state, you're also in a swag state of being. It's all perception. It really is. If you choose to enter the swag framework and be part of the cycle itself, you're naturally generating this antibiotic type energy that you naturally feel because you feel good about yourself. You got swag. You got swag. And when you're off and you're not in a swag moment, it's okay. It's okay. Because no human being is perfect and can stay in swag 100% 24-7. It's just not possible. But the purpose of all of this is your self-awareness to know that your swag is off and get back, get back in it. Get your swag back. Get your swag back. That's what it is. When you do that, your self-awareness is on point for self. And that's what this is all about. When you could do that for self, you start to create consistency in 2026 and achieving your goals, whatever you decide those goals are to be. And it doesn't matter if you're a high achiever, a low achiever, the swag framework works for everybody, anybody. Try the swag framework. You can visit me on my YouTube channel. I got a swag coaching channel. You can visit there. You go to my Maurice Mabry, M-O-R-I-C-E, M-A-B-R-Y.com. Or you can also subscribe to this podcast and you will continue to receive the nuggets that you receive. But the grit, emotional stamina, the motivation to fuel this swag cycle, and you will be glad that you did. I appreciate you and more power and prosperity to you in 2026. Stay tuned for more content. I love this stuff. I appreciate you guys. Peace. That's another rep in the inner arena. You didn't just listen, you leveled up your swag. Self-awareness, why power, aligned action, and grit. If this hit home, share it, subscribe to the Let's Think About It podcast, and log in with me on YouTube at Swag Coaching. Until next time, stay aware, lead with your why, act in alignment, and keep your grid strong.