Newton's laws of motion are one of the foundations of modern society. It has shaped the way we see the world and the things we have been able to create.
But I think there is something more profound in the idea that Newton shares specifically with the First Law.
Newton's First Law also known as the Law of Inertia states that an object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest UNLESS acted upon.
I want to focus more on the object at rest part.
The reason an object can remain at rest when not acted upon is because of something called Friction. Friction is a force that resists sliding, rolling, or movement of any sort of one object over another. This is why when you put a ball down on a flat surface it doesn't just roll away. Or if you park your car on a flat surface it doesn't roll away.
Friction is an annoyance when you need to move something. For anyone who has ever tried to move anything heavy by sliding it into place, you know just how annoying friction is. Crazy stat for you:
20% of a car's energy is consumed just in overcoming friction according to Britannica
So Friction is costing us so much money, I mean have you seen Gas prices recently.
The ironic thing is once you are able to break free of Friction, all of a sudden things move very quickly. We've all experienced that moment your car jerks you back into your seat all of sudden because you were not ready for it to move that fast.
This is the exact same thing that happens in our lives.
When we try to start something new, there is always some level of friction we face. It is literally THE HARDEST PART of starting anything. This friction shows up in multitude of ways:
Doubts about our ability to accomplish the goal
Unrealistic expectations
Comparisons to other
Lack of knowledge
Fear of failure
Over-analysis
The problem is all of these things compound!
The longer we go without breaking that friction. The harder it becomes to break.
Remember what inertia is: An object at rest stays at rest.
Because of these beliefs, it becomes much easier to do nothing. It becomes easier to remain in the same pace. It becomes easier to believe as the Bible says in Proverbs 26:
The lazy man says, “There is a lion in the road!
A fierce lion is in the streets!”
It becomes easier to believe that there is danger around every corner. To believe the risk of taking a chance is much greater than the possibility and the joys of success.
Because of this, we embrace REGRET.
We embrace being in the doldrums of life.
Accepting the bare minimum, when we know we are made for something greater.
We embrace living mediocre lives, when we know we can do more.
I am not talking about you becoming Elon Musk or whatever. I am talking about the daily decisions we can make to change our lives. From our finances to our health to our relationships:
It is the decision to not live in debt any more
The decision to not eat so much fast food
The decision to do some form of exercise
The decision to speak positively about yourself
The decision to listen to feedback
The decision to learn something new
The decision to take that one person you have been crushing on out on a date
The decision to travel to places you have said you wanted to go
The decision to mend a broken relationship
The decision to (fill in the blank what you know you need to do)
Once you overcome friction, the second part of the law of inertia kicks in: An object in motion stays in motion.
It gets easier and easier for you to keep moving forward. It becomes hard for friction to slow you down. For friction to bring you to a halt.
You don't even necessarily have to make the right first move. You just have to move enough to make things start moving. Think of a car, it doesn't matter if you go in reverse or forward. As long as you move in a direction, it will break through friction and begin to move.
It takes us moving to know if we are progressing or regressing. When you do nothing, you will never know what is happening or how to adjust.
This will be the hardest part of your journey. But once you are able to beat Friction. Everything else becomes easier.
So please,
Thank you for reading.🙏🏾
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