Welcome to Inertia
Newton's first law states that every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force. This tendency to resist changes in a state of motion is inertia.
Humans follow the principle of inertia in different ways every day. A body in motion is likely to stay in motion, and a body at rest is likely to stay at rest.
To be great, we don’t have to stand at the peak of brilliance but rather reside on a stable platform of consistency. One of the little keys understood by so few is that consistency is about doing less and doing it often. People have a tendency to believe they can do so much more than they actually can (in terms of capacity, not capability). And this is why many of us over-commit and eventually overwhelm ourselves with this endless hunger for perfection.
Ironically, perfection is both impossible and unnecessary. At one point in my life, I tried to be everything to everyone. I tried to get everything right all the time. But as expected from part of a naturally cynical species, imperfections and overload became too much, leading to demotivation and inaction.
The point of this blog is to help you with motion. It is tradition for people to overwhelm themselves with new goals, hopes and ambitions. We try to take on the world, exploding with radiant energy and devoting ourselves to everything everywhere all at once. But once we either hit our target or stall, we almost always go back to our old selves.
Self-mastery to the untrained eye is a destination. But I want people to better remember that this is not the case. In the same way that Kung Fu and Zen are in everything we do, self-mastery is something we see through every second of our lives. And that is why the term Inertia is becoming more important to me. Because mastery is a part of it. Because it encompasses the path of continuous improvement, motion, and more. Finding peace and happiness in our movements, and doing the things we love and thriving the more we do it.
Out of all the little life lessons I’ve learned over the past few years, few have been stronger than the idea that proper action is the best reminder of what you should be doing. Sometimes we think more than we need to. Sometimes we find too much satisfaction in planning our lives that we forget the part where we actually live it. I’ve been there. Many of us have. But the truth is that true inertia is about committing to an amount that feels “just right” and putting everything at rest. Learning to say no. Having the discipline and skills that seamlessly move through us like a ripple.
Inertia is about letting go of harmful traditions and taking control and responsibility for our stalls: no longer changing everything at once or taking on too much mass. Inertia is one of the most important things of all. It is about the path of self-mastery and much more.