How Momentum Works
Understand whether your daily activities are investments in your future—or just consuming the present. Sustainability helps you recover and recharge.
Getting Started
- Add activities — Log what you do each day and rate effort, short-term reward, and long-term reward.
- Set engagement — Slide to reflect how much you actually did each activity. Intentions don't count.
- Read your scores — Momentum and Sustainability update live to show if you're investing or depleting.
Core Concepts
Effort Score
Physical or mental energy required
- 0-3: Effortless
- 4-7: Moderate
- 8-10: Very demanding
Short-term Reward
How good it feels right now
- 0-3: Draining
- 4-7: Pleasant
- 8-10: Highly enjoyable
Long-term Reward
How it helps your future self
- Negative: Harmful consequences
- Positive: Future benefits
- Example: Exercise (+5), Junk food (-3)
Autonomy
How much choice/control you felt
- -10 to -4: Felt forced or obligatory
- -3 to +3: Mixed choice and obligation
- +4 to +10: Freely chosen
Activity Categories
Activities are automatically grouped into categories based on your ratings:
Investment
Building skills, health, or relationships for future benefit
Taxing
Necessary obligations that don't provide personal reward
Escape
Temporary relief or avoidance (often low short-term reward despite enjoyment)
Bonus
Easy, enjoyable, and rewarding activities (e.g., Catch up with coworker)
Mixed
Activities with multiple category characteristics
Understanding Your Scores
Investment
Are you trading present comfort for future benefit?
(Effort + Long-term − Short-term) × Engagement %
Comfort-seeking
Neutral
Good
High investment without sustainability means burnout. Low investment means no forward progress. Balance both.
Sustainability
Are your activities sustaining you — or draining you?
(Short-term − Effort) × Autonomy Factor × Engagement %
Autonomy Factor = (Autonomy + 10) / 20 — obligation suppresses sustainability even when the activity seems pleasant
Depleting
Balanced
Good
Fully charged
High sustainability without investment is the escape trap. Negative sustainability means you're sacrificing wellbeing. Aim for both positive.
Autonomy
Do your activities feel chosen — or forced?
(Sum(Autonomy × Engagement^1.5) / Sum(Engagement^1.5)) × Total Engagement Fraction
Weighted by engagement — high-engagement activities dominate the score. If total engagement is low, autonomy is closer to neutral. If only one activity is engaged, autonomy is proportional to its engagement.
Obligatory
Neutral
Good
High
A forced activity drains you even when the effort-reward balance looks fine. This captures the psychological cost of obligation. Low engagement means autonomy is closer to neutral.
Tips for Success
Be honest about what you log
Log what you actually did, not just what you planned. This makes your scores meaningful.
Look for patterns, not perfection
Momentum is about trends over time, not hitting perfect scores every day.
Autonomy matters
Activities feel easier and more sustainable when you choose them freely.
Categories are just a guide
Some activities don't fit neatly into one category, and that's okay.