Momentum Trap

Say this

Am I moving fast toward the right thing, or just moving fast?

Do this now 3 min

When you're in the middle of rapid execution, pause and write: What am I building toward? Is the speed serving the goal, or has the speed become the goal? If you can't answer clearly, stop for 10 minutes and re-read your original criteria.

Use when

You've been executing quickly and it feels great — but you haven't checked direction recently.

Avoid when

You're in genuine crisis mode where continued rapid action is the correct response.

Why it works

Velocity creates its own emotional reward. The feeling of progress becomes addictive, and slowing down feels like failure even when the direction is wrong.

Speed feels like competence. When you’re shipping fast, completing tasks, clearing the backlog, your brain rewards you with a sense of progress and control. But speed and direction are independent variables — you can be moving very quickly toward the wrong destination. The trap is that momentum generates social proof too: the team is energised, people around the team see activity, everything looks healthy. Suggesting a pause feels like breaking the spell. But the most expensive mistakes aren’t the ones that happen slowly — they’re the ones that happen at full speed, because by the time anyone checks the compass, you’ve covered too much ground in the wrong direction to recover cheaply.

Go deeper · 8 min read

Velocity Bias: When Moving Fast Becomes the Goal Instead of Moving Right

Velocity creates its own emotional reward. The feeling of progress is so satisfying that it masks a critical question: progress toward what? Speed and direction are independent variables, and the fastest path to the wrong destination is still the wrong path.