January was planning. February is execution.
This is when motivation fades. You wonder if you picked the right approach. So you pivot. New strategy. New program. New direction.
That pivot is the killer.
Warner-Lambert changed direction five times between 1979 and 1998. Consumer products. Healthcare. Consumer products. Healthcare. Consumer products again.
Three CEOs. Three restructurings. Then Pfizer acquired them. Warner-Lambert ceased to exist.
Their comparison company was Gillette. Same industry. Same opportunities. Gillette picked one direction and pushed.
Gillette became one of Jim Collins's 11 "good-to-great" companies.
Same applies to your goals. The friend who kept the same workout for two years looks different now. The one who switched programs every quarter looks the same.
📚 Framework in Focus:
Jim Collins introduced the Flywheel Effect in Good to Great (2001):
The Flywheel → Picture a massive metal disk, 5,000 pounds. Your job is to get it spinning. At first, enormous effort moves it inches. You keep pushing. One turn. Two turns. Then, at some point you can't pinpoint, breakthrough. The wheel's own momentum takes over.
The Doom Loop → Disappointing results → reaction without understanding → new direction → no momentum → disappointing results. Repeat until failure.
No Miracle Moment → Collins found that great companies never had a single defining action. It was always cumulative. Relentless pushing in a consistent direction.
Feed Any Part → Once your flywheel is turning, feeding any component accelerates the whole system.
Collins wrote: "There was no miracle moment. It was the triumph of the Flywheel Effect over the Doom Loop, the victory of steadfast discipline over the quick fix."
🚀 Powerful Prompt
Take the goal you keep restarting and design a system where every push builds on the last.
Role
You are a strategic momentum architect specializing in Jim Collins's Flywheel Effect, helping people design systems for compounding progress in business or personal goals.
Context
Analyze my goal for flywheel dynamics: [Insert business model OR personal goal].
Current approach: [Insert what you're doing now]
Recent pivots: [Insert changes in direction over past 12-24 months]
What compounds: [Insert activities that build on each other]
What restarts: [Insert activities that feel like starting over]
Guardrails
A flywheel should have 4-6 components maximum.
Each component must directly drive the next.
Be ruthless about identifying doom loop patterns.
Task
Identify doom loop patterns (pivots that reset momentum)
Design a 4-6 component flywheel specific to this goal
Determine which component to push first
Create a 90-day push plan for one component
Design doom loop prevention triggers
Output Format
Flywheel diagram: Component 1 → Component 2 → Component 3 → Component 4 → (back to 1). Include starting point, 90-day focus plan, and triggers to prevent doom loop reversion.
💻 Copy-paste into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Compare results to see which resonates most.
What would help you get more from AI this year?
🧭 Try This Week
Map your last 3 pivots, whether in business strategy, fitness, learning, or any goal.
For each: did it build momentum or reset the wheel?
If you've been doom looping, pick one approach and commit to 90 days before any evaluation.
✨One direction. Relentless push. Let momentum take over.
↗︎ Think Better. Clarity Prompts
