Are you in Momentum or Maintenance Season?

Did you know that in business and life, not every season is meant to be a sprint? Sometimes, maintaining is the smartest move you can make. But so many of us high achievers equate slowing down with falling behind. 

So ask yourself: What if holding steady was actually part of your growth strategy?

In this blog, I’m discussing a topic that every business owner and professional woman faces, but we don't plan for: determining whether you're in momentum season or maintenance season.

My Personal Wake-Up Call

I remember after my dad passed, I really should have been in full-blown maintenance season. Maintenance season is the time when you hold back, maybe put stuff in place behind the scenes, and you're juggling fewer balls or maybe less in the public eye. Momentum season is when you're moving forward, pushing, doing a lot, putting out more energy, and maybe you're in the public eye more.

I really should have been behind the scenes. We were putting together the Confidence Secrets book, the second in the Dynamic Women book series. I had so many authors in it and wanted to get more authors. I can remember not having the energy or desire or excitement anymore to fill the last spots.

I said to one of my business coaches, "But I'm only at 34 authors and I need to get 52." ​

He was like, "Who said you need to get 52?" ​

I replied, "Well, that's what we did in the first book, Success Secrets, and I wanted to do the same."

"Well, do you have to do that? Can you still create a really good book with 34 people?"

"Yeah, I could. I guess to make it bigger, I could add in more of my own stuff." ​

He asked, "Yeah, why don't you do that? What would it take for you to muster the energy to be able to fill the rest of the book?"

"I just don't have it in me."

He said, "That's totally fine. Just put it out the way it is. You didn't promise your authors to have 52 people. Who made that rule? You did. So you can change it."

I was so appreciative of that moment because I felt pressure in a maintenance season to do more and to push and to kind of have momentum. But I realized my energy and my ability to perform at that time. I couldn't do it. This wasn't failure, it was wisdom, thanks to my coach, I needed to really honor that maintenance season.

Understanding the Two Seasons

Momentum seasons and maintenance seasons are both essential for long-term success in business and life. The problem is, society glorifies momentum, and we shame maintenance. We shame people when they're not doing crazy things. Even, "What's new?" That's a momentum question, along with when people ask you that, "What's new and exciting?" I've been guilty of asking that of people.

The idea of honouring maintenance, of being in that place of "I just need to keep it together" or "I just need to do some stuff behind the scenes", it's not necessarily growth, but it's keeping things as they are, or maybe even improving things behind the scenes. Maintenance is where systems are strengthened, creativity recharges, and your success becomes more sustainable because you have things in place that are going to help you get further.

Knowing what season you're in is crucial, not only so that you can make decisions, but so that you can own it and give yourself permission to either go for it or take a break. And that's going to prevent burnout. It's also going to prevent guilt.

The Marathon Runner Example

One of my soccer teammates runs marathons, and after she did the actual race where she had a personal best, she said to us, "Hey, I can't make practice because I just did a marathon."

When I asked a member of my Kenya Mission Team who's a marathon runner how many races she does a year, she said, "Two to four, maybe."

I was like, "Oh, because they're expensive to go to?" 

She said, "No, no. The sweet spot is typically two to four marathons per year that allows enough time for recovery or maintenance and then proper training between the races, the momentum stage."

Even just doing two a year, spaced out six months apart, is a really common and manageable goal for runners. She had a personal best because she was honoring recovery days, the maintenance mode, so that her muscles could rebuild.

Business and life are so much the same. Two to four major goals or projects per year, personally or in business, is the momentum stage. Depending on if there's one massive thing, then maybe it's just one big thing.

The cool fact is that companies that actually strategically pause, just like the runners, who decide they’re only going to do two to four major launches, product drops, summits, book launches, whatever it may be. Those who strategically pause to consolidate, to build those systems, they actually outperform those companies who consistently chase that growth, who are in momentum all the time, by 30% over five years.

It's proof that the stillness needs to happen. The strategy is best to be able to have that constant burst and pause, rather than constant acceleration.

The Benefits of Embracing Your Season

What are the benefits of embracing the season that you're in? Whether it's maintenance or momentum, it doesn't matter. The most important thing is you want to align your effort with your reality, because when you do, you're going to gain so many things.

1. Peace of Mind: For me, it was so nice to realize, "I don't have to fight that I'm in maintenance mode anymore. I don't have to push myself to be in momentum". It helped me to see the strategy behind it.
   
2. Stronger Foundations: When you do go into maintenance mode, you build those better systems, those better processes. You rest, you build your energy, you build connections, and then you can head out there again into momentum.
   
3. Confidence: You're going to start making decisions from clarity, not pressure. Which increases your confidence in yourself and your next step.
   
4. Renewed Creativity: You’re rested enough to be creative so you can come up with ideas. You have space to think, space to innovate and plan the next big leap.
   

My Business Example

In one maintenance season for me, the business Virtual Assistant Made Easy had massive growth. We were at 50 clients, 16 VAs, and I hadn't done much coaching, workshops or speaking engagements for a while because I was so focused on building that business.

Then I was like, "Okay, no, no more. We have to stop this momentum. It's too crazy. I'm always trying to catch up and trying to put the systems in place." I just said, "I have to get out of momentum, and go into maintenance."

So I did a hiring freeze. I didn't hire any VAs for probably a year because when I have a VA, I am responsible for filling their client list. So I thought, "No, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to focus on refining our systems: hiring systems, training systems, client systems, onboarding systems etc., instead of adding more clients."

It was great, and it was good for my team too, just to give them some time to catch up. That season, I didn't grow my revenue beyond where it was, but I doubled my capacity later because we were able to automate more things. I was able to teach or train and pass off more things. Maintenance, in this case, created the structure for the momentum, for that next wave of momentum when it came.

Why We Resist Maintenance

There are obstacles and reasons why we resist it:

1. Comparison: We're looking at things online, we're meeting people at networking groups, and we're saying, "Wow, she's scaling. I should be too. She launched a new book. I should too." That comparison doesn't put you in a creative place. It puts you in a chasing place.
   
2. Pressure: Being in quiet progress doesn’t make fun social media posts. Social media celebrates growth mode, scaling, launching, not this quiet progress behind the scenes. So you feel the pressure of "I need to show/share the cool things I’m doing.”
   
3. Fear: Maintenance feels like stagnation. It feels like you're slowing down, you're stopping, you're not making progress. Or worse, it feels like failure. But it's not failure. It's a wise decision.
   
4. Ego: We crave external proof that we're still winning. "I launched this. Check. Oh, I spoke here. Check. Oh, I made that incredible thing. Check." High achievers often don't feel enough unless we're ticking off the boxes and having that external proof. Because of our egos, when we're in maintenance and putting in the work, we need to get good at knowing that we are enough. ​
   

What Happens If You Ignore Your Season

If you don't understand your maintenance, if you don't recognize the true season that you're in, and you stay in momentum for too long:

1. Burnout: You're going to push your body, your mind, your team. But they need rest. We all need rest. I went to my naturopath once and said, "I'm just tired all the time." She did my blood work and said, "I understand your life is stressful. No wonder your cortisol is so high." I said, "I'm not doing much. I used to do more before." She said, "Yeah, but your body is telling me that it can't." You can't run a business marathon, one after another.
   
2. Cracks in the Systems: Leads will fall through the cracks. You won't reply to an email on time. You'll miss an opportunity because growth without structure and (Standard Operating Procedures) SOPs leads to collapse.
   
3. Disconnection: You're doing more, but feeling less fulfilled. You're in momentum for way too long that you just go on autopilot and don't even have a chance to feel or be present.
   
4. Missed Intuition: You're going to ignore your gut telling you, "Pause, reflect, refine, make this change."
   

Once, I had back-to-back launches that looked successful from the outside, but internally, it was chaos. I wasn't in maintenance mode long enough to get my systems fully ready. The next time I paused, fixed the processes, trained the team, and the next launch ran like clockwork. That's the power of maintenance.

Your Action Step

Ask yourself right now: Are you in maintenance season, or are you in momentum season? Be honest. Don't be idealistic.

If you're in momentum, go all in. Do it, but protect your energy so you don't burn out. That'd be like that marathon runner trying to sprint the whole race.

If you're in maintenance mode, honour it. Use the time to rebuild, to recharge, and to strengthen your foundation, not only in your business, but in your life.

Either way, there's no shame. They’re both strategic. Both seasons matter, just like the seasons in nature. We don't get mad in Autumn because the trees aren’t growing fruit and the leaves are falling.

Remember, growth isn't just about acceleration. It's also about knowing when to slow down so that you can rise stronger later.

Until next time, stay dynamic!