Why I Pressed Pause — and What It Taught Me About Momentum

After months away from the mic, Femi returns with an honest conversation about losing momentum, rediscovering focus, and rebuilding from a low period.

In this raw and reflective episode, he opens up about what really happened during the break — chasing too many priorities, neglecting small wins, and learning the hard way that curiosity without focus can kill consistency.

If you’ve ever fallen off track, lost motivation, or struggled to find your rhythm again, this episode is for you.
 You’ll learn how to restart with clarity, rebuild confidence one small win at a time, and turn stillness into strength.

Because sometimes, showing up again is the biggest win of all.

🎯 In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why momentum fades quietly — and how to rebuild it.
• How to focus on what truly matters when life gets noisy.
• The hidden power of small wins and quiet consistency.
• Why every comeback starts with a single step.

💬 Share your comeback story: connect with Femi on LinkedIn
or Instagram
using #YouUnleashed.

Chapters

• 0:47 Why I Went Quiet
• 2:11 The Momentum Snowball
• 4:20 Shiny Objects And Lost Focus
• 6:53 When Rhythm Disappears
• 10:31 Inspiration Won’t Save You
• 13:21 Guilt, Doubt, And Small Wins
• 17:31 Five Ways To Rebuild

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:47

So Femi. And it's been a long, long minute. And I bet you've all been wondering, on least, Femi on least, is he still going? What is he up to? I thought it quit podcasting. You are not alone. There was a period when I asked myself as well, Femi, do you still podcast? Well, the question is valid one. And the answer is absolutely yes, I still podcast. So today's episode is a bit a little bit different. It's about me being honest, personal, and real. Because it's been a gap since January, and I want to share what happened, what I've learned, and most, most importantly, the takeaway for you, and to a certain extent for me is how to rebuild when you've lost momentum. Because here is the thing: we all lose momentum. If it's in work, if it's your vision, your career, your business, savings goals, anything you try to do, life is built on momentum. It's like a snowball. And as it starts to build momentum, you build confidence, you feel better, you take bigger bets, bigger risks. But the inverse is true. You lose momentum, you slow down, you lose confidence, you stop taking risks, you become more conservative, and you slowly grind to a halt. So let's take it back. Christmas 2024, I'm happy, New Year comes, I get my goals out, my to-do list. I'm gonna achieve XYZ in podcasting, and I'm gonna achieve some other goals as well that are kind of associated with it as well. And I had big plans, I had a clear content strategy. I was excited. I was looking at taking on new coaching clients, taking on new executive companies as coaching clients as well. I was just looking at a very strong January plan. The blueprint was there, the plan was laid out. But as you find out, sometimes the thinking and the plan is easy. Implementation can be the brutal and the hard part. So, plans ready, let's go, Femi. And then somewhere along the line, I took my eye off the ball. And here's what happened. I got curious about everything. Now, one of the lessons number one in this is you have to absolutely know yourself. As a person, I'm someone who loves new shiny things. I'm someone who can get distracted by amazing things going on and wanting to dip in and out into other things. So I had my own goals for this year. Alongside the podcasting, I was going to invest in AI. I was going to upskill in AI because that was a service I was going to start offering as coaching, and I was going to start offering as well to executive clients. I had a lot of other small projects. These are all good things. But what happens when you try to juggle too many balls? They start falling. They start falling. And instead of remembering that the main ball, the podcasting and the coaching, which is the foundation for everything, was the one thing I had to keep my eye on. I took my eye off that, looked at what dropped, the big ball dropped, and everything dropped. And what happens? Instead of quickly picking up the big ball and getting back into it, you start focusing on the new thing and you forget the main thing. So, and then before I knew it, weeks turn into months, months turn into quarters, the mic gathered dust and the rhythm disappeared. And if you know anything, life is about rhythm. You just keep going. One of the things when I had my hottest run in podcasting was probably about 2022, 2023. And every week, new guests, the podcast, my interviewing skills was through the roof. I was getting guests like crazy, and everything was just going smoothly. The inverse is true as well. As I interviewed people less, my interviewing skills got less good. And then as I interviewed less, I just stopped researching. I didn't get as good at podcasting. My skills for finding guests wasn't as good. Because the other thing is when you look for guests, guests want to know who was the last guest. When was your last guest? Because they two want momentum. And here's the thing you should learn as well. Misery loves company, but success has many fathers as well. So the lesson here as well is that when you're doing well, people want to associate with you. When things are grinding to a halt, or when you are in startup mode, when you're still trying to grow, people kind of go, Femi, I'll give you a break. Let me see how you get on. Then when you need me, I'll jump on and I'll be there to support you. It's the way people are, it's the way we all are sometimes, and we get it. I get it. But again, these are all symptoms of me losing momentum. So I told myself I'd get back next week, and then I'd look at the mic, and then I wouldn't do it. And then I'll say, Don't worry, after I finish this big project, I'll get back to it. Time goes by again. And then again, I'll say, once I feel inspired, I'll get back to it. Are all of these things sounding familiar? It's the same. And this is something that just ended up happening to me. I just ended up putting things up, putting things up, and in all of this, I learned one valuable, valuable lesson. Momentum doesn't wait for inspiration, it builds for motion. I'll say that again. Momentum doesn't wait for inspiration, it builds for motion. So if you're thinking that being inspired is where your momentum will come from, my friend and my listener, you will be waiting a very long time. In whatever you do, momentum comes from building motion. It comes from drop, drop, drip, drip, and that becomes a flow, that becomes a flood, that becomes a waterfall, and it sweeps all the way. And you become unstoppable and you become inevitable. So that was my lesson from that whole period of procrastination of focusing on too many things, then dropping the ball, then procrastinating on getting back because I was waiting for something to inspire me when all I should have done was pick up the mic and said anything. I should have done anything and I would have been back on the rhythm. Okay, so the second piece is reflection. Here's the thing. When momentum fades, guilt and doubt, self-doubt just rush in. Because when you're momentum, you haven't got time to think. You're just working, you're working, and before you know it, you're building confidence and you're stacking up, you're stacking up reps. In athletes, top-level athletes call it stacking reps. When you go to the gym and you just do rep after rep after rep. But when you're an athlete, you score goal after goal after goal. You just build more confidence. But my momentum faded and guilt, feeling guilty, and then self-doubt just fed in. And then you start questioning whether anyone notices your absence. And then you think, have I lost my edge? But I realized this break wasn't wasted because it revealed some certain truths to me. I'd stopped appreciating small wins. And I'll pivot here to tell a quick story. The podcast might have paused, but it's still hosted. And I noticed that I still get listeners every week. I still get hundreds of listeners. And it made me realize that I'd come to stop taking my listeners, I'd started taking my listeners for granted. I had stopped when I started the podcast game, my view was always one listener, one listener, if one listener listens in and takes something away from it, that is more than any of us deserve. It's an honor for one person to spend 15 minutes listening to you. And somewhere along the line, I was thinking far ahead at the bigger numbers, the biggest numbers, instead of investing in you, my one listener. If I make sure you, my one listener, are fine, the rest will take care of itself. So I'd stopped appreciating the small wins. I'd be measuring progress, but only by big outcomes. And that's what happens to a lot of us as well. We stop measuring progress by just the little step, the tick, tick, tick each day. And you're waiting for the big thing, you're waiting for the big check, you're waiting for the big win. But big wins come from tiny little wins. And then I forgot, most importantly, that showing up, even imperfectly, is a win in itself. Fermi Akemi, the Fermi Akemia of Done is better than perfect. Became the person that forgot that it's all about showing up, even if it's imperfectly, is a win in itself. And that's the other thing. I'm human. We all make mistakes, and sometimes we forget to listen to our own message. So there is a power in recognizing where you are without shame. There's a power in recognizing that okay, you fell off, you made mistakes, you took the eye of the ball. Because when you stop pretending, you're fine. But the moment you keep deceiving yourself, you will never go anywhere. And me admitting that these were problems, it gave me the space to recreate, it gave me the space to build, it gave me the space to start to rebuild. Which brings me to the third thing. How do you rebuild momentum? Here is what I plan to do, and I hope it will help you too. Number one, start with clarity. Ask what truly matters right now. Because for me, it's this serving through my voice, building consistency and creating impact. I love to encourage, I love to speak, I love to teach, I love to coach, I love to impact people, and that can only come from building consistency. Number two, sometimes you need to shrink the goal until you can't fail. It's like atomic habits, the book Atomic Habits by James Clare, where he says, just turn up to the gym, do a five-minute workout or 10 reps, no more. Even if you feel like it, just do the 10 and leave. It's about shrinking the goal till you can't fail. Make the goal so small that you know I can't fail. If it's as simple as calling one person a day, if you're someone who's trying to build up relationships, make that one call a day or that WhatsApp, one WhatsApp message a day, or one text message, and just say, hi Femi. That's it. Hi, Femi. I know I'm not good at messaging, but all I'm doing is saying hi. I'll try to speak to you later. And that even removes the burden of sending follow-up messages. But shrink the goal till it's you can't fail. Rig the game till you can't lose. Don't aim for a perfect launch. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to aim for a perfect launch and everything. I'm just aiming to record and release one a week. Sometimes I might try to do more, that's me overstretching. But progress loves simplicity, let me tell you. Progress loves simplicity. And then number three, appreciate the micro wins. And this is where I want to say a quick shout out to everyone who continue to listen to my podcast. New listeners, old listeners, from the bottom of my heart, I say thank you. But every time I hit record or I post or I plan, momentum builds through celebration and not through criticism. Momentum builds from you just high-fiving yourself and saying, Femi, well done. Number four, protect your focus like energy. If you notice the highest performers, the most successful people, their focus, they protect it. The reality is focus takes concentration and it takes energy. And who no matter who you are, you cannot focus nonstop for 24 hours a day. You can only focus for so much. So what you need to do is that precious time you're spent focusing, cherish it, don't share it with anyone. When it's time to focus, block out the noise, get it done. But cherish it like gold, like energy. Look, I love AI, I love innovation, I love all these things, but curiosity without boundaries becomes a distraction. If you are curious and you have no boundaries, it has become a distraction and you're going nowhere. So now I will be blocking out time for creation, for coaching, for exploration in that order. It's creation, I create my podcast, my content, I coach, and then I explore. Because when I explore and then I learn, that feeds into my creation and it becomes a virtuous cycle. Number five, embrace the grind phase. Some of us are creatives, and most of us are creatives, and sometimes we love to do the bits we love. But even the most creatives have a grind. I went to um Rome a few months ago, and we got to see some of the work Leonardo da Vinci did. And he had to paint the Sistine Chapel on his back facing up. You can't tell me painting on your back facing upwards, no matter how creative it is, isn't going to be back-breaking, grinding work. There will be quiet stretches, episodes that don't explode, but the work you do when no one is clapping defines the next breakthrough. Some of the podcast episodes I created when at the time it went live, nobody listened, are the ones when I look back at the numbers, are the ones that went the most stratospheric and people listened to the most. Which brings me to the fourth section. Do you unleashing yourself? If you've lost momentum in your career, in fitness, in relationships, or creativity, this is your reminder. You don't need a grand restart. And in fact, sometimes a grand restart in front of the whole world, in front of everybody, just puts more pressure on you. Personally, I am one of those that just love to start quietly. I've realized, and this is for me, I succeed most when I just get on with it quietly and I don't tell anyone what I'm trying to do. And you hear a lot about people say, don't publicize your goals. And some people say publicize your goals. Sometimes when you publicize your goals, the publicizing of the goal in itself, you lose something, you lose an intensity, and it's almost like you don't follow up. Whereas sometimes when you leave it to yourself and it marinates and it's internal and it's intense, you just get on with the job. I've seen both work for different people. So try and find out who you are and pick the one that works for you. But the main thing is you don't need a grand restart, whatever it is, just one honest step forward and pat yourself on the back. So maybe that's sending an email, recording the episode like me, or simply admitting I'm ready to go again. So here's my challenge. Before the day ends, take one small action that reconnects you to something that matters. Whatever it is you want to do, take one small step that reconnects you. Tag me, message me, and tell me what that step was. Because when you move, the world just tends to move for you. There's a saying that when the apprentice is ready, the master shows up. It's the same thing for the world. When you are ready, the universe just moves with you. Again, momentum isn't built by intensity, it's built by consistency. Thanks everyone for listening to me. Just share my soul and share my personal story to the you unleashed community. I'm Femme Akami, and this session is all about unlocking your best self. One mindset shift at a time. It's all about taking it one step at a time. New episodes drop weekly. We're trying to get it out Thursday, seven o'clock. But this episode, if this episode helped you, share it with someone else and help them rebuild their rhythm. The one thing I want to tell you is that lastly, it's so easy to fall into a trap that you look at your age and you say, This is my age. My time has gone by. It's not true. I have a very good friend whose mom became an author at quite an old at an older age in her 50s, and the success she has amassed now is mind-boggling. Absolutely mind-boggling. And she started late, and she was trying to get a publisher for years. Your success comes when it comes. But your success can come early in life, it can come late in life. It's all part of your journey. So if you've lost momentum and you're thinking I'm too old, my time has gone, or I'll do it later. Just start. Your success will come. Success can come when you're 40, when you're 50, you're 60. It comes when you're 30, when you're 20. Your success is your success. Your journey is your journey, and your life is your journey. There's nothing more I can say to you. Just go unleash your best self, reconnect with your goal, your passion, one step at a time. Get on leashed. Stay on leashed. Thank you for staying on this journey with me.