Inertia and Momentum

Let’s talk about physics.  OK please don’t stop reading, because this is one of the best life hacks I ever learned!

Inertia and momentum are two powerful physical properties of matter.  In very simple language, inertia is the force which must be overcome in order to start a body moving.  Momentum, by contrast, is the force which keeps a body in motion once it’s moving.

Imagine a large, heavy stone wheel at rest.  To get it moving in the first place requires a great deal of force in the right direction.  This is inertia.  Once the wheel is moving however, it begins to have momentum of its own and so requires only an occasional application of additional force to keep it going.

“What’s this got to do with work?” I hear you ask.  Allow me to explain:

In our lives and work there can be tasks that we KNOW we need to get done, but just struggle to find any motivation to start.  I get this.  It happens to me all of the time.  All that we can see before us is a monumental task that just seems too big to tackle.  Our minds put all kinds of obstacles in the way and then, before we know it, the day has gone and the task remains incomplete.  This, in our cases, is a form of INERTIA.

A simple, reliable way to overcome this inertia is to trick your mind away from the scale of the task at hand.  But how?

On an episode of his podcast, American ultra-distance runner Rich Roll described how, quite often, he can barely face early morning training runs.  So rather than think about the long, cold run, he breaks it down into much smaller tasks.

He says to himself, “I’ll just put my trainers on.”  

Only when that is done does he tell himself “I’ll just go and stand outside the front door.”

Next he’ll say “OK I’ll just walk to the end of the street.”  

Then “I’ll just run for two minutes.”  

And what do you know, he’s off and running.  The inertia is broken.

It functions exactly the same way for any other task.  Can’t find the energy to write that article or report?  Don’t think about the whole job.  Break it down into smaller chunks and make it more appealing by using the magic words “I’ll just…”:

• I’ll just…go and sit at the desk

• I’ll just…boot up the laptop

• I’ll just…open the word processor app

• I’ll just…create a new document

• I’ll just…type two sentences

  
  

And before you know it, having started to write, two sentences become a paragraph which becomes a page, which become several pages and the report or article is complete.  

MOMENTUM tackles over!  

The body is now in motion with energy of its own and you just have to keep it moving.  This is much simpler than starting it in the first place and that is the essence of the trick.  Whenever you find yourself faced with an inertia problem, ask yourself this:

“What is the single smallest act that I can do right now that will start to move me in the right direction?”

Enough of those small steps in a consistent direction will build up momentum of their own and the task will feel like it completes itself.

It genuinely works.  Try for yourself and thank me later!

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash.