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Image: jupiterimages.comI hope you have been having a fabulous time succeeding at your endeavors.
I’ve been held up with a little too many things and I had to take the help of Physics to get back on track. The simple and effective technique that I am going to reveal today has helped me many a times in getting out of the traps along life’s success journey.
It’s based on Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion.
More than three centuries old, and originally written in Latin, Newton’s laws of motion have been worded in several different ways. For the purpose of this article, we will consider the following definition of the first law:
“A body persists in its state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force”
A typical scenario
Ever noticed how some days are so productive and you feel all charged up and enthusiastic about finishing that piece of work you had started? Everything seems to be working in your favor and you feel you might complete it all much ahead of schedule?
That’s Newton’s first law applied to yourself in “motion”.
Then, for whatever reason, you get a little busy/distracted with something else, and the activity you had been so enthusiastic about just comes to a standstill? All of a sudden you seem to have lost track of what you were doing and seem to find no motivation to resume what had been stopped?
That’s Newton’s first law applied to yourself in “a state of rest”.
The losers, the average, and the winners
Losers allow themselves to be in a state of rest. They might not even realize that they are stuck. Some might be lazy to make any attempts to improve the situation they are in. Some might even go ahead and start blaming fate for getting them into it.
The average person identifies that things are not quite right and tries to do something about it. They get motivated once in a while and set themselves in motion. But the motivation does down often and they come to a standstill every now and then.
The winners constantly monitor their activities and priorities and keep themselves motivated. Better still, they take this law and extend it into the domain of Newton’s second law of motion. They not only continue to be in the state of motion, but take it one step further and apply additional force to accelerate their success.
A source of logical motivation
When applied to everyday life, this law can be used as a powerful source of motivation. It can be used to get over the most common and frequent roadblocks like procrastination, overwhelm, negativity, non-productivity etc. etc.
Newton’s 1st law of motion quoted above is also known as the Law of Inertia.
My wife and I have this very short mantra that helps us quickly get out of any such roadblocks, almost instantly.
The mantra is, “Inertia!”
Just one word, but it is more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
A word of caution
It’s best if you can share the mantra with someone who can remind you of it when you need it.
But then many a times you are the only one who can identify the situations when the law of inertia is taking you down. In such situations, you are the only one who can push yourself into motion.
The law however indicates that the force that is needed to get yourself moving needs to be external. If that is the case, how is it that you yourself can make the difference?
If you are drowned into the situation that you are in, you will not even remember to say the one word mantra I gave you. What you need to do is realize that you are stuck. The minute you do so, you break out of the mind trap and you can see your situation from a third person’s point of view. Consequently, you take the place of an external entity and it becomes possible to exert the external force and create the imbalance required to get yourself moving.
How inertia brought about this article
The last month has been hectic on the personal front, and I could give hardly any time to writing articles. The external forces of additional responsibilities brought things to a standstill in that regard. That eventually resulted in into a writer’s block and, when I could finally make the time to write articles, I got stuck for some time not knowing where to start. This article was purely the result of me first realizing that I was stuck, and then applying the external force (myself) to set things into motion.
All I had to do was shout, “Inertia!”. That led me to open my text editor. But that was not enough. So I reminded myself about inertia once again and forced myself to start typing something. One sentence led into two, and I realized I could turn this into an article to tell you about the technique my wife and I have been using for the last 7 years or so.
A concluding note
What you see above is purely the result of applying the one word mantra, “Inertia!”.
Being able to use this intuitively, and applying it regularly when things start slowing down, will make a huge positive difference to your productivity.
Try applying it to various aspects of your life’s success journey and see how many wonders it works for you.
Inertia is a certain fact for success. When you are “on a roll” things go well and seem to fall into place, where as other days nothing seems to go right.
I do believe this is all inertia working for or against you. It is not easy to change the “path” of inertia but on those days things just aren’t working right I like to give my self small and easy successes and build up from there. Change the game and all of that.
Steve,
Thanks for your contribution!
“Small and easy successes” is a good way to switch from the state of rest to the state of motion. It gets you going and you can build momentum from there on.
The first small action in that direction is the most crucial step.
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Mark,
With a new baby it’s easy to see why you fell off the writer’s wagon. Allow yourself this wonderful opportunity. It’s like taking a leave.
Getting back can be hard, as you say. But forcing ourselves to just start, with a small step, even just sitting down at the computer for a few minutes and typing jibberish, is a beginning. Oftentimes we have to fight against our resistances and push forward against the tide of inertia. And here you are, back again. Don’t let too many days go by before you’re back again. We’re waiting.
Harriet,
A pleasure to see you here again! I didn’t mention anything about the newborn in this post as I didn’t want to give any excuses… so I’m impressed that you remembered what I had mentioned in the earlier post!
Thanks for motivating me to write more often. It’s nice to know that someone is waiting for the next article. Seriously!
I plan to write at least once a week going forward, and increase the frequency as things progress. Can’t wait to have my new site up and running.
Thanks for a lovely comment! Much appreciated!!
Cheers,
Mark
There are times when my day gets off to a bad start … I check email and fiddle around and the next thing you know, its 2 pm and I havent achieved any of my goals yet. And then I feel like I’m “on a roll” to having an unproductive remainder of the day.
But if I can walk away — take a walk, etc. — I can restart fresh, and “get on a roll” — or as Newton says, get in “motion” — in the second half of the day. It’s all about establishing a mental shift that says “that was an hour ago. This is a new chapter.”
Paula @ Afford Anything recently posted… Escape Your Office Job!
Hi Paula,
An unfavorable start to the day is a problem that almost all of us face sometime or the other. I know I experience that sometimes. The mental shift to “get on a (new) roll” is very important. For me the mantra mentioned above has worked wonders. Taking a walk, as you mentioned, is also a great way to break away from unproductive inertia. Thanks for taking the time to add value to the conversation!
Cheers,
Mark
Mark of Success recently posted… You will not get any bigger than you think
I’ve heard some people say that they like to get up early (extremely early) and get a lot done. This way it sets the tone for the rest of the day, resulting in a very productive day!
World of Finance recently posted… What is the Law of Diminishing Return?
Hi Mary,
Getting up early (and this need not really be extremely early) and completing at least one item from your to-do list before you do anything else is a great way to gain momentum and set the right tone for the day. I’m trying to implement this these days… will keep you posted on the benefits I experience firsthand. Thanks for dropping by and adding value to the conversation!
Cheers,
Mark
Mark of Success recently posted… You will not get any bigger than you think
Hi, Mark,
We all can get caught in a rut or in a bad case of the doldrums from time to time. “Inertia” is a good word, isn’t it, to visualize the momentum that occurs when you just start to head in a more positive direction and actually lift a finger to DO something! Just that mere step of DOING is all one needs sometimes to turn the situation around and get going again. I like the early morning thing as long as it follows my cup of coffee!
sylmarsh recently posted… Wedding Planner Jobs To Get Started
Hi Slymarsh,
“Inertia” is a great mantra indeed! Inertia works both ways, and the mantra can act as a good boost at all times. You just need to remember to say it
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, and I hope to see you here again…
Cheers,
Mark
Mark of Success recently posted… Have you really tried to succeed?
[...] days, the desire to get back on track sets in and I try to move into the earlier rhythm. However, the law of inertia makes it quite difficult to get back on track and even more time is wasted until momentum is built [...]
RT @mark_my_tweets: The law of Inertia applied to Success http://t.co/02vRz8o7