MOMENTUM! Mentorship creates opportunities for everybody!

Gabrielle Birchak/ April 8, 2026/ MOMENTUM/ 0 comments

Wel­come to Mon­day Momen­tum! I’m Gabrielle Bir­chak. I love physics, and one of the things that fas­ci­nates me is momen­tum, how things actu­al­ly move for­ward, whether it’s a fly­wheel, a steam engine, or a chain of gears. Noth­ing gets going with­out it. Life works the same way: ideas, skills, and oppor­tu­ni­ties don’t move for­ward unless momen­tum is cre­at­ed, pushed, pulled, built.

That’s the idea behind this series: prac­ti­cal ways to cre­ate for­ward motion in your life, your career, and your work, inspired by sci­ence, his­to­ry, and extra­or­di­nary peo­ple. This week, we’re talk­ing about men­tor­ship as momen­tum, inspired by Maria Gae­tana Agne­si and last Friday’s episode, Access Has Gates.

Maria Gae­tana Agne­si is a per­fect exam­ple of momen­tum in action. Ear­ly in her life, she had incred­i­ble men­tors, Rampinel­li and Jacopo Ric­cati, guid­ing her think­ing, help­ing her orga­nize cal­cu­lus, and shap­ing her ground­break­ing Ana­lyt­i­cal insti­tu­tions for use by Ital­ian youth. Their guid­ance was her first push, the force that start­ed her fly­wheel of learning.

Lat­er, she became a men­tor her­self. She didn’t just teach math; she struc­tured knowl­edge so it could be used by oth­ers, ampli­fy­ing the impact of her work. And even lat­er, she devot­ed her­self to car­ing for the sick and poor, cre­at­ing momen­tum in her com­mu­ni­ty by lift­ing oth­ers. Her life shows how momen­tum flows in two direc­tions: you both give and receive support.

And here’s the sci­ence behind it. Momen­tum isn’t just a metaphor, research shows men­tor­ship has real, mea­sur­able ben­e­fits. Accord­ing to a Gallup sur­vey, less than half of pro­fes­sion­als report hav­ing a men­tor, yet those who do are much more like­ly to advance in their careers and feel engaged at work.

Men­tored employ­ees are pro­mot­ed up to five times more often, and men­tors them­selves can be pro­mot­ed up to six times more often, accord­ing to Mentorloop’s men­tor­ing sta­tis­tics.

And it’s not just about career advance­ment. Employ­ees with men­tors report high­er job sat­is­fac­tion and stronger com­mit­ment to their orga­ni­za­tions, which fuels ongo­ing momen­tum in projects, teams, and per­son­al development.

Men­tor­ship also ben­e­fits the men­tor: research from the NIH reports that men­tors expe­ri­ence increased self-aware­ness, per­son­al growth, and career sat­is­fac­tion from help­ing others.

So momen­tum, in life as in physics, isn’t a one-way street. When you give and receive sup­port, you accel­er­ate move­ment in both direc­tions, for your­self and for the peo­ple around you.

Here’s how you can cre­ate men­tor­ship momen­tum in your own life this week:

1. Seek a push. Iden­ti­fy one per­son in your work or field who can give you insight, advice, or guid­ance. Ask for a small les­son or per­spec­tive that helps you move for­ward. This is your ini­tial force, the nudge that starts your fly­wheel spinning.
2. Give a push. At the same time, look for some­one who could ben­e­fit from your knowl­edge or encour­age­ment. Even a small act of men­tor­ship, shar­ing a tip, answer­ing a ques­tion, offer­ing guid­ance, adds force to the sys­tem, help­ing oth­ers gain momen­tum while accel­er­at­ing your own growth.
3. Observe the flow. Notice how giv­ing and receiv­ing builds ongo­ing for­ward motion. Accord­ing to Chronus, orga­ni­za­tions with men­tor­ing pro­grams see high­er engage­ment and reten­tion, because men­tor­ship com­pounds progress for every­one involved.

The key here is the dual flow, like a fly­wheel spin­ning faster when forces are applied at mul­ti­ple points, your life and work move for­ward most effec­tive­ly when momen­tum flows both ways.

Momen­tum is not just speed or ener­gy; it’s direc­tion, force, and con­ti­nu­ity. Maria Gae­tana Agne­si shows us what this looks like in life: her math­e­mat­ics made knowl­edge acces­si­ble, and her lat­er life made care acces­si­ble. She pushed for­ward, and she pulled oth­ers for­ward with her.

This week, think about where your fly­wheel needs a push, and where you can be the force push­ing some­one else. Seek men­tor­ship, give men­tor­ship, and watch momen­tum car­ry every­thing forward.

I’m Gabrielle Bir­chak, here’s to your Mon­day Momentum.